Nisga’a Environment Heroes

Nisga’a Environment Heroes By Regie Plana-Alcuaz, CASJ Peace and Global Education Action Group and Nisga’a teacher DEVELOPING AN ENVIRONMENTAL MINDSET IN PRIMARY GRADES

Many organizations provide financial support for classrooms. An email from one such organization found its way to my inbox. The World Wildlife Fund offers a Go Wild School Grant for students in the amount of $500 for educational, hands-on projects that bring students out into nature. The project I proposed for my Grade 3 class to be Nisga’a Environment Heroes by picking up trash at the Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park was one of the projects that received this grant.

Anhluut’ukwsim Laxmihl Angwinga’asanskwhl Nisga’a has major historical significance for the Nisga‘a because their ancestors were buried there as the result of a volcanic eruption that occurred approximately 250 years ago. According to legend, some Nisga’a children tortured salmon in the river by placing burning sticks and stones on their backs. An elder cautioned them against doing this but was ignored. As a result, the Tseax Cone volcano erupted and covered two villages, diverted the Nass River, and killed more than 2,000

Nisga’a. Nowadays, it seems that the equivalent to those children are the people who litter in the park and dispose of trash improperly while driving along the Nisga’a Highway.

The lava beds are home to a variety of wildlife and interesting plants. For example, we learned from a resource person who spoke to our class about the biodiversity in the park that trees vary in growth depending on the amount of water they can access. For this reason, trees are taller on one side of the park than on the other. Our visitor brought in some plant samples, including Old Man’s Beard lichen and moss. These plants fascinated our third graders, who identified them while we were collecting trash in the park.

My students and I designed the capes that we would wear for visibility while out on the lava beds and then had them made at a store on Granville Island in Vancouver. Each student had a grabber and each small team carried a bag to collect the rubbish. They went about enthusiastically picking up the debris found in the park. My students identified the different types of waste, leaving items that would easily decompose into the soil and gathering the ones that were likely to stick around for a long time. We found plenty of single-use plastic materials as well as styrofoam containers, metal cans, broken glass, labels, and wrappers. The students were eager to walk around and find scraps, but they were also dismayed at the quantity of trash other people had left behind.

The RCMP came by and helped us out, providing each student with a whistle that had a little light for added safety. One of our board members, who had inspired this project through her passion for cleaning up the lava bed with her husband, also joined our group, guiding one of the teams around and showing us what to do. She had spoken to my class a few months earlier, explaining what she did at the park to help clean it up and describing what she had found. She selected the safest location for the students to pick up trash and assigned us different areas. After an hour, we came back and assembled at the sign to take a few photos.

Among the lessons the students learned from this activity was that it is important to dispose of litter properly in order to respect our environment and keep the park free of unsightly filth. As part of this outing, we also learned about the effects of using plastic and how unhealthy this practice is for Mother Nature. It was with a sense of pride that we did our best to be part of the solution. We will try to make it a habit and will teach our families why we should maintain the cleanliness of our surroundings, especially our provincial parks.