From kwiǂqǂi (Rocky Mountain big horn sheep) to ʔa·q̓uku kaǂmuxu (woodland strawberry), the east side of Columbia Lake provides valuable habitat for animals that are culturally meaningful to Ktunaxa ʔaqⱡsmaknik (people), as well as traditionally harvested foods and medicines. To increase the cultural value and resiliency of this ecosystem, Ktunaxa Nation Council, in partnership with ʔakisq̓nuk First Nation and the Nature Conservancy of Canada, will be thinning the forest and doing prescribed burns on 101 hectares. The five-year project takes place on Nature Conservancy of Canada conservation land, and will also reduce wildfire risk to nearby communities and culturally and archeologically important sites.
“Ktunaxa have always used fire,” said ʔakisq̓nuk Elder Alfred Joseph. This resulted in more open areas, including grasslands in key wildlife habitat. Jospeh recounted what Granny Sabine Kaius had told him, that Naⱡmuqȼin (the giant whose body is now the Rocky Mountains) grew hair (meaning trees). When she was a young girl playing outside, she could hear the snowslides coming down the mountains. Since those times, the slopes have become much more ingrown with trees.
Jaime Vienneau, Ktunaxa Nation Council Lands & Resources Sector Director, said, “The east side of Columbia Lake is a spiritually important place for Ktunaxa ʔaqⱡsmaknik. Through this project, Ktunaxa will exercise our inherent right and sacred responsibility to steward our homelands, which will support ʔa·kxam̓is q̓api qapsin, all living things.”
