Columbia Lake (headwaters of the Columbia River, flowing north) and the Kootenay River (flowing south), pass within a mile near Canal Flats, B.C. (www.canmaps.com)

The Columbia Canoe Journey, Sea2Source, will arrive in Canal Flats, B.C.,  on Monday, October 28.  The intrepid paddlers have traveled 1240 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the uppermost headwaters of the Columbia River, bringing a message of restoration:  return salmon above the dams to their ancestral waters.

Canal Flats is an extraordinary spot in the geography of the Columbia Basin.  The upper Kootenay River passes by only one mile away from the Columbia, but the watersheds are separate.  The two rivers do not meet until after flowing for hundreds of miles in different directions.

The Sea2Source canoe journey has published a new video, which can be viewed on their Facebook page, Voyages of Rediscovery.

The Columbia Canoe journey is shoving off tomorrow, Monday September 30th, leaving Kettle Falls and paddling toward the international border and into British Columbia. They’ve built a beautiful new cedar plank canoe in the “David Thompson” style.

 

New cedar plank canoe headed to B.C. (photo: Adam Wicks-Arshack 2013)

The canoeists are bringing attention to lack of fish passage on the Columbia River and how that’s affecting upper Columbia people, tribes, cultures and ecology in both Canada and the U.S.

Yesterday they got a big welcome in Canada via an article in the Globe & Mail that shows the connections between their journey and the upcoming renegotiation of the Columbia River Treaty.  Link to the article here.

The original canoeists will be joined by Sinixt paddlers as they head into Canada.  The Sinixt are a transboundary indigenous peoples, recognized as one of the 14 Bands of the Confederated Colville Tribes, but (unjustly) declared “extinct” in British Columbia.  You can follow their journey at the Voyages of Rediscovery Facebook page.

Fair sailing, John, Xander, Adam, Jay and all who join you!

The Voyages of Rediscovery crew are in Kettle Falls, Washington, building a cedar plank canoe for the next stretch of their journey – across the U.S.-Canada border and on to the headwaters of the Columbia River.

Wellpinit schoolkids paddling their hand-made dugout canoe to Little Falls (Sept. 2013) (photo: Adam Wicks-Arshack)

The two big dugout canoes that paddled from the Pacific Ocean were built by students at Wellpinit, on the Spokane Reservation, and Inchelium, on the Colville Reservation.  Those canoes were returned to their communities in the past few days.  Students paddled the Wellpinit canoe, Salmon Savior, all the way to Little Falls, the original dam that blocked salmon passage into the Spokane River.

Adam Wicks-Arshack displays his trademark enthusiasm for the task of building a new canoe:

Columbia Cedar in Kettle Falls donated enough choice cedar to build the new canoe in the David Thompson style.  The wood comes from a sustainable harvest under the forest stewardship program (no clear cuts).  It is also the most beautiful, clear no-knots cedar we have ever worked with.  So we are excited.  And we invite people up to Kettle Falls Historical Center to help, learn and talk.

Voyages of Rediscovery has put out another short video of their journey from Grand Coulee to Little Falls:   http://vimeo.com/74886255

A remarkable Columbia River journey is underway.  Voyages of Rediscovery, a river-based environmental education program, is paddling two dugout canoes up the Columbia River — making the 1,240-mile journey from the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon to Canal Flats, British Columbia.   Their mission is to bring public attention to the lack of fish passage at dams on the Columbia River.

The hand-carved canoes were built with the help of young students from the Spokane Indian Reservation and the Colville Reservation.

Today, August 17, the Columbia Canoe Journey is in the Tri-Cities, having traveled 330 river miles from the mouth of the River since August 2.  Here’s a note from Adam Wicks-Arschak, one of the organizers:

We are currently at Tri-Cities.  The trip has thus far been blessed by great tail winds and we have sailed most of the way up river from the ocean where we started on Aug. 2nd.

We paddle in honor of the salmon who can no longer reach their ancestral spawning grounds of the upper Columbia River.  Along the way we have been talking to hundreds of people on the river and sparking conversations about salmon and fish passage issues.  Once schools start up we will be doing presentations and paddling events at the schools.

In particular the schools who carved the canoes will be joining us on portions of the trip.  The Spokane Tribe and Colville Tribe will join us from Chief Joseph (dam) up to their respective communities of Wellpinit and Inchelium.  This will be very powerful, to paddle these salmon-inspired canoes with the youth who carved them, up into the historic spawning grounds of the upper Columbia River.

You can check out a great video about the creation of the two canoes that are making the journey at Voyages for Rediscovery’s website.

Hood River News ran an article about the canoe journey on August 9, as the crew came through the Gorge.

We’ll keep you updated on the journey as it comes up the River.