animated man
NATURE
· Fastest-growing Mountains in the World
FIRST PEOPLES
· The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations
HISTORY
· A Dazzling Landscape
This is a link to a map of the mountains of British Columbia and a close up of the Tatshenshini.

FOCUS  Tatshenshini

The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations
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This is a photograph showing a yellow tent in the foreground and Tatshenshini River in the background.
Tatshenshini River. S. Gaunt, CAFN.
The ancient history of this area is not particularly well known. The oral history of the Champagne and Aishihik peoples indicates a long, enduring relationship with this area – that their people have been around since Crow, the Creator, made the land. Their oral history also documents environmental changes such as surging glaciers damming rivers, creating glacial lakes, blocking salmon migrations, and shifting drainage patterns. It has been speculated that human colonization of the Alsek-Tatshenshini and upper Chilkat basins may have been dependent on the successful colonization of the area's rivers by salmon.
Travel on the Tatshenshini River once was by dugout canoe. The river is a popular route for rafting groups. S. Gaunt, CAFN.
This is a photograph showing rafts tied up on the banks of the Tatshenshini River.
Michael Jim regularly travels the Tatshenshini River in his job as Tatshenshini-Alsek Park warden. CAFN.
This is a photograph of Michael Jim, a park warden at Tatshenshini-Alsek.
Little archaeological work has been done in the area, however, to find material evidence of the early human presence here, of the region's environmental changes or even of the nineteenth-century native villages known to have once been present along the Tatshenshini River. The Yukon portion of CAFN territory is much better known archaeologically, and here there is strong evidence of a 9,000- to 10,000-year-old tradition of hunting in the mountains.
A hundred years ago, CAFN people pursued a subsistence-hunting and fishing lifestyle. Caribou, moose, Dall's sheep, mountain goat, gophers and small mammals were hunted and trapped for food and clothing. The annual runs up the Tatshenshini of sockeye, coho and chinook salmon were a time of plenty and for celebrations. People would walk from as far away as Aishihik, 200 kilometres north, to the settlements on the Tatshenshini River and its tributaries. Resident fish species in the lakes and rivers were also an important food source and were taken throughout the year. In addition to this abundance, berries were also gathered by the women and preserved in grease to add variety to the diet.
View to Haines Road and Kelsall Lake, a good hunting area. S. Gaunt, CAFN.
This is a photograph of the view towards Haines Road and Kelsall Lake, hunting areas used by the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.
Remains of a collapsed teepee style brush house, a traditional dwelling, found near one of the old fishing villages. S. Gaunt, CAFN.
This is a photograph of a collapsed teepee style brush house near an old Champagne and Aishihik First Nations fishing village.
The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations - 
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