The Pathways of Life

Rivers are the veins of the Earth

If water is life then rivers are the veins and the pathways of life.

Up in the headwaters of the Coastal Mountains are game trails etched forever in the land. These trails are the ways of the bear and wolves and lead down the valleys of creeks and then rivers to the estuaries where fresh water and saltwater meet, mix and provide the richest of ecosystems. Humans too have followed the ways of the bear to find sustenance and share in the abundance of fish, berries and medical plants.

Not surprisingly, significant First Nations villages are located at the river mouths and though they may not be visible to the eye of the casual visitor today, those villages are known, marked by forest gardens and very much here. The original stream keepers, the salmon chiefs, the protectors of river life have not left—rather they were dispersed by colonial encroachments and severe population loss.

But the love of rivers by the people continues and every time we visit these rivers the elders rejoice and remember and the children play and rediscover. The adults take time from the burdens of life to bathe, refresh and renew.

Rivers continue to provide regeneration. They provide food and fresh water, transportation and energy essential habitat and refuge. But rivers too require care—special care. Deeply embedded in First Nations culture are the values and understandings of respect and responsibility, relationships and reciprocity. It is from the wisdom of the elders that we find ways to care for the rivers, not just as a once use commodity but as a whole life giving entity—sacred from the headwaters where the bear walks down to the villages at the estuary where all come to share.