The 2012 Journey

The 2012 Sustainable Living Leadership Program was a great success! Scroll down for updates and images of the journey. 

2012's Participants

The Rivershed Society of BC selected seven participants for the 2012 Sustainable Living Leadership Program. The participants, their home towns, and their project ideas are listed below:

• Brittany Coulter, 21, North Vancouver
  Brittany aims to improve her community by creating a local bee garden to make honey, encouraging people to reduce their meat consumption, and inspiring people to preserve and restore the Fraser River through story-telling.
  
• Caitlin Hill, 23, Coquitlam
  Catlin plans to increase the amount she fundraises for her employer's (the Pacific Parkland Foundation) Kanaka Creek Project.
  
• Jacquie Lanthier, 29, Gold Bridge
  Jacquie's project idea is to create a community garden at the Gold Bridge Community School, where she teaches.
  
• Jillian Simpson, 20, Quesnel
  Jillian intends to develop an offshoot program of Fresh Air Learning for pre-school students in Quesnel.
  
• John Redan, 19, Lillooet
  John plans to build a wildlife inventory during the trip and pass along the info gathered to the new rafting company that his Cayoose Band is starting. He also aims to blog about his SLLP experience.
  
• Phillip Douglass, 26, Lillooet
  Phillip's project goal is to develop a trilogy of radio shows about his SLLP experience for Lillooet community radio and blog about the trip.
  
• Wannes Luppens, 33, Rossland
  Wannes intends to improve BC Rivers Day at Teck (where he works), get involved with a local streamkeeper group and the Columbia Basin Trust and develop an eco-tourism project for his cross-country ski club.
  

We had the pleasure of seeing these seven individuals learn and grow over the summer, and are excited about the positive impacts they will make in their communities.

Updates from Along the Way

August 22nd - Photos and an update from the second leg of the trip (Williams Lake to Hope) have just been received! The facilitators are still really happy with the group, saying it has been one of the best ever. Since the last update, the group has been rafting from Soda Creek to Yale. Along the way they took part in a fish demonstration by DFO, saw some ancient petroglyphs, and had the honour of having Grand Chief Perry Redan and Chief Michelle Edwards from the Cayoosh Indian Band join the group in the raft  from Lillooet to Lytton. 

In addition to their educational activities, the participants have been hard at work on their community sustainability projects, all while taking in some amazing scenery along the way, including a herd of big horn sheep. The second leg of the trip culminated with the group braving some fast rapids.

The program is now on its last leg, with the group arriving in the Lower Fraser River. For the next several days, they will be traveling by Voyageur Canoe from Hope to the shores of Vancouver, where the trip finishes. They will reach Vancouver on Saturday, August 25th, the program wraps up on the morning of Sunday, August 26th.

August 17th - Photos from the first leg of the trip (Mount Robson to Williams Lake) have been received! The facilitators say we have a great group this year. In addition to the seven participants described above, Amy Law (a 2011 participant) is traveling with the group again, but this time as a facilitator-in-training.

So far, the group has traveled by Voyageur canoe through the Robson Valley, hiked and helped maintain the Goat River Trail, and toured the Cariboo Pulp & Paper Mill in Quesnel before joining community members near the Fraser River for a dinner catered by Bliss and sponsored by MLA Bob Simspon. The group is now rafting from Soda Creek to Yale before finishing their journey with a 4-day Voyageur canoe paddle from Hope to Vancouver.

To view some photos from along their journey, please click here.