The Watershed Council and the Wizard of Oz (we also call him Rob)

Work at the YRITWC has been progressing along. Lots to learn and so many opportunities to work on interesting projects.
The Yukon office consists of myself and Maya (another Canadian Lawyers Abroad intern), Loni - co-ordinating the Summit and Albert- our water tech and all-round authority on all things Yukon.

When I was hired/selected/roped in to this internship, I'd been talking to a man named Rob Rosenfeld. Rob is an Alaskan who lives in Homer and spends his time working with Aboriginal people from all corners of the globe. He is also the kind of guy who does all his business on the phone but will answer the odd email. Oh, and did I mention he is running for Govenor of Alaksa? Anyway, I had spoken to Rob on many occassions...from my car on the way home from a ski trip, in the campaign office in Kimberley when I was working there for Norm Macdonald's re-election campaign, from the office in Whitehorse when Rob was meeting with important people in Washington, D.C. However, for the first few weeks, Mr. Rosenfeld was simply a voice on the other end of the phone...and I started to joke that he wasn't real...he was like the Wizard of Oz and we would pull back the curtain and find a voice recording instead of a man. To make it even better, the day that Rob was supposed to arrive to our office, I was still living here...waiting, waiting, made extra dinner, cleaned the place up, waiting...no Rob. 1 am. No Rob. I thought for sure that he was not coming. In the morning I woke up and the door to the other bedroom was closed. But I hadn't heard anybody come in so I thought the wind had closed it. 8am, 9am, 10am...no Rob. Then finally, there was a stirring from the room and there was the man behind the voice...slightly travel worn but in general good spirits. It had apparently been an epic travel back up to the Yukon and a late night journey from Skagway.

The week with Rob in the office was both interesting and a lot of fun. He's been with the watershed council since the beginning, and has been working in rural and Aboriginal communities for much longer. I got to learn a lot more about the YRITWC and the work that is being done on both sides of the border. Also some background issues like why there are so few salmon left in the Yukon River Watershed and just how lame Sarah Palin is.

We are working on organizing for the big Summit in early August. I have been working to build a great agenda for the youth who will be attending the Summit and also getting the Yukon First Nation youth out. The summit is going to be held on the shore of Lake Leberge, so we are planning to have some paddling opportunities, time for the youth and elders to interact, a group art project, traditional skills and more. This year we are hoping to build the group to work together in the future and an incoming intern who will be here in mid-July will continue that work. Youth empowermet is pretty near and dear to my heart, as I was able to participate in so many great character and knowledge building events, not to mention made great contacts and friends around the world. There is so much potential for these youth to take real action to protect their land, it is a matter of bringing that out in them! I am excited for the Summit...it will be a full 3 days of learning, teaching and celebrating. Water....how it brings people together and connects us! It is one thing that we can agree on: we need clean water and healthy aquatic ecosystems for humans to survive...now it's what that looks like and how much we can take that is the difficult part.

Other projects that I've been working on include researching the regulatory regime in the Yukon for the installation of a hydrokinetic generator (I think I have already written about this), which I will be writing an article about for the Summit, researching some statutes and case law concerning the Nations and Tribes adopting their own water quality standards in the Watershed (which is really interesting if you are a super nerd like me), doing outreach to Yukon municipalities to join the Council as affiliate organizations and just generally helping out where help is needed.

Next week I will go present to the Whitehorse City Council about the Watershed Council, invite them to the Summit and invite them to sign on as an affiliate organization. It will be my first time attending a council meeting on "the other side" of the table since leaving Golden Town Council. Just going into City hall and asking to be put on the agenda brought all sorts of nostalgia running back!

Over the time that Rob was here we also went to meet with the Yukon gov't about a major funding opportunity. I have also been researching potential funding sources for the Council to both continue our water quality monitoring program and to build our youth programs. It is definately a bit of a flashback to Wildsight days and it made me thankful for the experience that I got there and the work that we did. The ENGO world is a small one, that is for sure!

One month has already gone by and it's been going fast. So much to learn and so much to do...just the way I like it!