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NATURE
· Mammals in Winter
FIRST PEOPLES
· Living In A Storied Land
HISTORY
· Forts and Traders
This is a link to a map of the forests of British Columbia with optional close-ups of Northeastern British Columbia, Cariboo-Chilcotin and Central Coast.

FOCUS  Northeastern British Columbia -- Cold Forest

Living In A Storied Land
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Dane-zaa stories about their land go back to an ancient time when giant animals lived by hunting people. Saya, the Transformer, is associated with Swans who can fly through to Heaven and return to earth. He overcame the giant animals with the help of his wise grandmother, Asun. She still guards the land, the elders say, wherever there is one tall spruce tree standing higher than the others. One such place is called Guh tha the, which means "Spruce Tree Hill." Billy Attachie states:

"That place never been fire.
I think my grandma generation, fire went through there.
Every time the fire come near, it go around. Never burn.
That place never burns, how many generation.
There's a spiritual thing in there."

Oral histories of the Dane-zaa describe how, in ancient times, Saya, the transformer, watched the giant animals and learned how to hunt them. He taught the people to become hunters instead of prey. Saya placed the giant animals beneath the earth. The elders say that pools of grease from the bodies of the giant animals lie beneath Dane-zaa territory. Charlie Yahey predicted that the white people would discover this resource and drill wells into the earth. He warned that the grease from the giant animals would power their vehicles and airplanes, and as a result, "make the world too small."

Chief Garry Oker of the Doig River First Nation explains that, "The Dreamers predicted many changes for the Dane-zaa people. They warned us about the loss of land, the destruction of animal habitat, the earthquakes, the giant snakes (pipelines) and the burning matchsticks (natural gas flare stacks). Our storied land is now being industrialized; these things are becoming our reality." But the Dreamers' songs, he said, "connect contemporary Dane-zaa to our storied land."

Image 1
This a photograph of Dane-zaa elder Mary Apsassin, in profile above Peace River.

Image 2
This is a photograph of Tar Davis, Eddie Apsassin and Ricky Apsassin in a wagon led by horses.

Image3
This is a photograph of Jack Askoty at the edge of a community pond, Doig River Reserve.

Image 4
This is a photograph of Alex Moose at a snow covered trapping cabin at Prophet River.

Image 5
This is a photograph of a hunter setting in the snow at Prophet River.

Image 6
This is a black and white photograph of Johnny Chipesia setting beaver snares at Prophet River.

Image 7
This is a photograph of a camp, with teepee and temporary shelter, at Halfway River Reserve.

Image 8
This is a black and white photograph of Murray Attachie and son Tommy carrying the dead bear they hunted at Doig River Reserve.

Image 9
This is a photograph of people and horses at a hunting camp in the mountains west of Prophet River.

Image 10
This is a photograph of two men in the snow preparing a bed of spruce boughs for butchering moose, at Prophet River Reserve.

Image 11
This is a photograph of Johnny Chipesia, in the snow skinning a moose at Prophet River Reserve.

Image 12
This is a photograph of a woman, Eskmama, fleshing moosehide with a bone fleshing tool at Doig River Reserve.

Image 13
This is a photograph of Daeda (Mary David) making drymeat, (hanging strips of meat), with a child at Doig River Reserve.

Image 14
This is a photograph of Lori Makadahay cutting moose for drymeat, meat hanging in the foreground.

Image 15
This is a photograph of the flame of a gas flare pit in the Dane-zaa territory.

Image 16
This is a photograph of four male Doig River First Nation members with Howard Broomfield, at an oil well head.

Image 17
This is a photograph of the front of a red truck with an oil rig driving near Chinchaga Lake.

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