Youth experience life on the wild side
Wild Side trial builders - June 25th celebration
Wild Side trial goes through an ancient Sitka forest to top of Mt. Flores(left background).
Boardwalking, Hole-in-the-Wall section of trail.
Boardwalk spans muddy area of traditional trail.
by Lisa Stewart
Published in The Westerly News, Thursday, July 4, 1996. Reprinted with permission of Lisa Stewart and The Westerly News.
The young people working on the Ahousaht Wild Side Heritage Trail know where they will be when the last of the trail is cleared and the remaining boardwalk is hammered in place--at the top of Flores Mountain. But the trail project is about more than the trail itself - it's also about where 14 young people are in life and where they want to go when their work on Flores Island is complete.
Andrew Dick is one of the young people working on the eco-tourism project.
"I was born in Victoria, but lived all my life in Port Alberni," said Andrew during the lunch break for an open-house held recently as an introduction to the project.
His mother is originally from Gold River and his father from Ahousaht, but Andrew did't spend much time in Ahousaht until he started work on the trail project in March.
At 22, Andrew is soft-spoken and perhaps a little shy, but as he talked about the last ten years of his life it became clear times had not always been easy.
"I basically grew up on the streets since I was 13," he said. "When I came here it shocked me how beautiful it is."
Sitting on the beach after a leisurely walk through a prime example of the area's coastal temperate rainforest, it was easy to understand why the area has had an effect on Andrew and the rest of the trail crew. For Andrew the experience has also reconnected him with his First Nations heritage.
"It changed my life," he says of the experience. "I've learned a lot out here."
The learning, he says, is not only about First Aid or water safety or trail building or boardwalk construction or cooking for a large group--it's also about how to get along with a diverse group of people, how to work as part of a team, how to be patient and why it's important to follow through with a promise.
He learned of the opportunity through the Port Alberni Friendship Centre and since he wasn't working he applied to be on the crew.
"Working with the WCWC program has been most exciting for me. I certainly enjoy working with
young people. It's a great feeling when we are able to work together in harminy. This program
also makes me very aware of our outdoor surroundings, the upkeep of protecting and respecting
our wilderness."
-Betty Keitlah, Ahousaht Project Cook.
"I faxed the application in just before the deadline," he says, "and was accepted". He remembers one of the requirements for the job was willingness to work hard. And, he says--"they weren't kidding."
"Two and a half months of rain," he says of this past spring that had drenched the coast with the most precipitation the area has experienced in 50 years. "People were getting sick. We were in mud up to our knees in some places. It was hard work."
But looking on the bright side he says the hard work makes the crew's accomplishment that much more impressive.
"And I lost a lot of weight!"
The trail will be 16 kilometres long when completed and the target date for the end of the project is August 23. At this point the crew has finished 8 kilometres of trail with almost 2 kilometres of boardwalk. For the rest of the trail only a small portion of the trail will be boardwalked so the hardest part of the work is over.
"When I came out here I didn't know what to expect. What I found was a beautiful island. I have
learned a lot, seen a lot and worked a lot. Ihad the opportunity to hike the proposed trail route
and I am quite confident that it ranks with the best in Canada and probably the world."
-Regan Thomas, Project Participant from Port Alberni.
If the participants in the program develop a plan for their future either going back to school, starting a small business or choosing a field of employment--they will earn a program completion grant.
Andrew says he's decided to go back to school, likely to North Island College. And he thinks he'd like to study computers or work toward becoming a chef.
Sitting on the beach with over 200 friends, guests and trail crew members, munching on bannock and spring salmon just barbecued on a beach fire, soaking up the sun that's just broken through the clouds, waiting for the First Nations hosts to perform the traditional Ahousaht welcoming dance...Andrew can only smile.
"I sure lucked-out getting in on this."
