Nearly 100 residents headed to the Nolan Center the evening of March 11 to preview a short film produced about themselves. Entitled “Water is Life,” the ten-minute video follows the Stikine River from its headwaters to its terminus and highlights its importance to nearby communities.
Shooting was conducted last fall by a film crew working for Inside Passage Waterkeeper, which visited Wrangell, Petersburg and Telegraph, British Columbia. In addition to gathering footage of the river and its wildlife, interviews were conducted with a variety of residents to document why clean water is important to them.
“It really celebrates what a rich resource Wrangell and Petersburg have,” explained the film’s director, Daven Hafey. “Everybody came out here for the Stikine River.”
Turnout was better than initially expected. The first showing was held in the Nolan’s smaller viewing room and was standing-room only.
“We weren’t sure how many people were going to show up,” said Hafey.
More people waited in the lobby for a second showing but were still too numerous for the room. The Nolan Center’s main hall was hastily set up instead, accommodating another 60 people for the second show.
The video was followed by a 30-minute question and answer period. Hafey felt the film’s content resonated with people. Individuals who had collaborated with the filmmakers also felt their stories were conveyed forthrightly.
“I think a lot of people heard that and a lot of people thanked us for getting it right,” he said. Hafey was especially thankful to Tis Peterman, Carol Snoddy and Arthur Larson, who helped host the crew during filming in Wrangell.
Their film was preceded by a video called “Sacred Headwaters,” a six-minute short which dealt with mining issues more directly.
“I didn’t want to bombard you with the resource politics, but it’s part of the story,” Hafey told his audience.
The Red Chris mine is of particular concern to communities around the Stikine River. The open-pit copper and gold mine is located near the Iskut River, a major tributary to the Stikine. The mine’s scale and its potential to produce acid that would find its way into nearby water systems pose significant concerns to residents and fishermen who depend upon the river for livelihoods and quality of life. After the permitting process was completed, the mine began operations last month.
Hafey pointed out as remarkable that one topic can bring together so many, often disparate, groups in Southeast as the transboundary mining issue has done.
Environmental groups such as Southeast Alaska Conservation Council have been joined by industry, civic and tribal organizations in opposing Canadian mining developments as currently envisioned. Wrangell’s Borough Assembly was among the opposition, issuing a letter to Alaska’s congressional delegation last October that urged legislators to take up the issue at the federal level.
Hafey and his team are currently producing a second video that will focus more on the potential impacts of mining development upstream of the Stikine.
“It would be a disservice to ignore that element of the story,” he explained. They also have plans to produce a third video on subsistence usage, called “We Are What We Eat.”
Copies of “Water of Life” are available free to those who would like them, by contacting Inside Passage Waterkeeper at info@insidepassagewaterkeeper.org or by visiting the group’s website.
“We want to distribute it as far as we can,” Hafey explained.
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