Stikine
S P E E D T R A P But even B.C.’s most remote rivers are within range of the
crosshairs of industry, and the scopes of two industrial giants are set on the Stikine. Shell Canada has announced plans to develop coal-bed methane fi elds in an area known as the Sa- cred Headwaters—the rolling, wildlife-rich plateau where the Stikine, Nass and Skeena Rivers come to life. Downstream in the headwaters of the Iskut River, the lower
Stikine’s main tributary, Teck Cominco and NovaGold have permits to create in Galore Creek the world’s largest copper- gold mine—an open-pit operation involving more than 80,000 hectares of Stikine wilderness, processing 65,000 tonnes of ore a day. Skyrocketing access and construction costs in booming B.C. have led to the recent suspension of the project, although the mineral giants have promised to “reassess the project and evaluate alternative development strategies.” As paddlers, we sought out this pocket of the old world, a place
still unscarred by modern industry. We are like the gold seekers who came before us, searching for something rare and precious. Like daring to paddle too hard on the already fast waters of
the Stikine, if we rush to industrialize our last wild areas, we may fi nd we come to the end of them too soon. T e power of the Stikine is such that to paddle it is to appreciate the impor-
tance of knowing when to stow your paddle. DAVE QUINN wrote about paddling on Banks Island in the Northwest Territories in the August 2007 issue of Canoeroots.
If You Go ACCESS:
T e drive up the Stewart-Cassiar Highway and along the 113-km gravel road to Telegraph Creek is an adventure in itself. Park your car and rent ca- noes at Stikine Riversong Inn at Telegraph Creek (
www.stikineriversong.com). To return arrange a jetboat shuttle with Riversong ($2,200 Cdn).
You can also fl y or take the ferry from Seattle to Wrangell and arrange a jetboat shuttle to Tele- graph Creek with either Riversong or a Wrangell- based operator. Due to border bureaucracy air shuttles are no longer available.
RECOMMENDED READS:
Trail to the Interior, R.M. Patterson Travels in Alaska, John Muir
Paddling the Stikine–A Guide to the Great River, Jennifer Voss
Friends of the Stikine:
www.panorama-map.com/ STIKINE/
stikine.html Sacred Headwaters:
www.sacredheadwaters.com
“ r e a s s e s s t h e p r o j e c t a n d e v a l u a t e a l t e r n a t i v e d e v e l o p m e n t s t r a t e g i e s ”
30 ■
C ANOE ROOT S summer 2008
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