What is the Redfish School of Change?

This video was created by Ryan, the Redfish School of Change Teaching Assistant

Talent Show Videos!

Sorry, I posted them all on my blog but here is the link
http://salimahsummer09.blogspot.com/2009/06/talent-show-videos.html

And here is the link to the Sally Sahore Redfish Love Song + Lyrics
http://salimahsummer09.blogspot.com/2009/06/sally-sahore-redfish-love-song.html

Still feeling that Redfish withdrawal...

Love,
Silly-mah

Singing to the Bunnies at the University of Victoria

Pictures and Videos

Here is a link to some pictures I've taken so far.
Sorry for all the scenery pictures!
http://cmd.shutterfly.com/commands/pictures/slideshow?site=salimah&page=salimah&album=151

Here are links to some of the music videos we made as well
Bearspray http://salimah.shutterfly.com/825
Stream Song http://salimah.shutterfly.com/826
Gratitude and Joy Got Me a Watch http://salimah.shutterfly.com/827
Water Privitization http://salimah.shutterfly.com/828

As you can see, I've been having a ton of fun!

-Salimah "Silly-mah"

Last Night at the Little Slocan Lodge

It's our last night at the Lodge. This place has provided us with so much and as exciting as it is to be heading to the river to start our paddle it is hard to leave.

The morning light on the front porch with a cup of coffee and the Colombian ground squirrels. The "classroom" which was also the living room and the dining room and the music/dance room and the yoga room and..........The kitchen always pumping out good food. The river that provided us with clean fresh water and an abundance of power (micro Hydro damn). The surrounding forest full of new friends and wild edibles. Bunk beds, guitars, swallows, and a burgeoning sense of belonging here.

The Learning has been one part the classroom book type and many parts this magical place, and the amazing people that live and love and work and play here.

I am full of gratitude for the opportunity to stay here for long enough to make friends with the place and I am truly looking forward to coming back here.

~Trina

Camping Trip!

Wild Foods Dinner

On our first full day off (Sunday, May 24), inspired by all of our newly-acquired ethno-botany knowledge, Trina, Sam, Lara and Alla decided to cook up a wildfoods/ locally-based dinner. In the morning, our guest Mike Keefer, an ethnobotanist, took us for a guided walk around Little Slocan Lodge, and we started gathering our foods. We found violets, fireweed tips and dandelion leaves for our salad, a few little morrels to fry up - and a giant patch of stinging nettle to steam for dinner. In addition, we roasted up a bunch of parsnips (from the local organic farm we visited earlier in the week) with carrots and potatoes, and fried up some local organic sausages.

(Alla, Lara and Trina serve up the wildfoods dinner)

End of Week 2

It's the end of Week 2 of the Redfish School of Change, and the last day of our stay at the beautiful Little Slocan Lodge.

The past week has been full of excitement, hard work, and new experiences. We started off the week with a workshop called "The Practice of Leading Change" with George Meier, a leadership coach in New Denver. Part of our course work includes developing a community action project, and George's workshop helped us gain some focus and do some planning for the future.

The next day, we headed down to the trailhead in Slocan City for the 8 km hike that launched our 3 day backpacking trip into Valhalla Provincial Park. On the hike, we had a chance to marvel at the incredibly diverse Interior Hemlock Forest, passing over several rockfalls, traversing beautiful sub-alpine meadows lush with spring wildflowers, and over gurgling mountain streams.
Camping at Evans Beach, we had the unique priviledge of being able to drink from an untainted stream and relax on the shore of Slocan Lake.

On Wednesday, we worked on a bioregional lab in the midst of the forest, learning how to work a compass and other field equipment. In the evening, special guests from Wildsight and The Land Conservancy gave us an insider's look at successful environmental initiatives in the West Kootenays, including designating the "Valhalla Mile" as a protected area.

Thursday was a long day of hiking back to the trailhead, and Friday and Saturday were focused on lectures and coursework. On Saturday afternoon, our group headed into Nelson for a guest panel of local community activists and change makers. The session, called "It Takes All Kinds" gave us a sense of the different kinds of approaches exist in trying to initiate positive environmental and social change.

~ Alla

Where are we going?

(Originally posted on www.schoolofchange.ca)

The Redfish School of Change runs May 18–June 26, 2009. The program begins in the Slocan Valley of British Columbia and ends in Victoria. Click here for a map of the region.

Follow us on our adventures:

May 17: Arrival at Little Slocan Lodge in West Kootenays
May 18: Program begins in the Slocan Valley
May 18– June 1: Activities, workshops, field trips and wilderness adventures throughout the West Kootenays, based from the Little Slocan Lodge
June 2: Group travel by bus to Hope
June 3–8: Voyageur canoe trip down Fraser River from Hope to Vancouver with various stops and guests along the way
June 9: Group travel to Victoria
June 10–15: Activities, workshops and field trips based at the University of Victoria
June 16–18: Wilderness marine trip
June 19– 26: Activities, workshops and field trips based at Pearson College
June 26: Program ends in Victoria

Why call it the Redfish School of Change?

(Originally posted on the www.SchoolofChange.ca website)

The Chinese see the redfish as a sign of good fortune and prosperity. Poems of Celtic origin depict the redfish as a symbol of wisdom and knowledge. Of course, Dr. Seuss knew a redfish, and indeed it is a common term for many fish: the deep-sea Sebastes, the reef-dwelling snappers, the slimeheads or roughies, and the alfonsinos.

Redfish comes from the native word Kokanee, which is a landlocked cousin of the sockeye salmon found in the interior of British Columbia — where this field school begins its journey, in the Slocan Valley. Sockeye salmon are an icon in British Columbia, and those that spawn in the Fraser River are endangered. As the program makes its run down the Fraser River from Hope to Vancouver, we explore the past, present and future of this watershed.

As a school of change, we are a community seeking to learn from the ways of nature and patterns of history, and to live the possibilities of a better future. Creating change is a journey much like swimming upstream: it involves leaping up waterfalls, navigating past nets, and stopping to rest for awhile in an eddy. Creating change takes many strategies and some creative thinking. It means working alone and within the larger group that is walking the same path. It also means journeying back home to initiate new ideas, challenges and solutions.

Redfish Name Results Revealed

The venerable Redfish School of Change mascot has been named. Based on a democratic selection process, his official name is now Rudy Redfish, Rudy for short.

Today, Rudy participated in an afternoon long outdoor lab with the Slocan River Streamkeepers, helping to sample dissolved oxygen, stream flow velocity, and the benthic insects in the stream as indicators of stream health.

What not to do when you see a bear

Today, a few of us decided to go look for some bears! There is a large clearing by the nearby river where you can go watch them from a safe distance. However, being the inquisitive University folks we are we decided to walk up the logging road to see if we could get a better look! There were four of us in the group, the adventurous Joy and Marten decided to walk down a steep hill from the road to go get a look at one of the bears in the meadow, while the sandal clad Rachel and height fearing Salimah decided to stay on the road. While Joy and Marten were observing the field bear, Rachel and Salimah started singing camp songs! Whilst they were singing "The Bumblebee Song," a look of fear fell upon Rachel's face. Salimah turned to look in Rachel's direction to face a big black bear 30 feet away! The details of the next part are fuzzy, but Rachel (or Salimah) dove into the woods down the hill towards Joy and Marten (who had the bear spray). Salimah yelling "Bear! Bear spray!" the whole way down. The other bear in the meadow turned to look at Joy and Marten, but luckily it did not really care. Once Salimah and Rachel got to the meadow the group was in an interesting predicament, with one bear in the meadow staring at us, and another on the road out of sight. We were literally trapped. Well not really...

Joy took up the CHALLENGE and walked up the hill first (bear spray in hand). Luckily the bear had left when we got to the top.

When we got back to the lodge and recounted the story, our instructors did not find our tale so amusing. Evidently when you encounter a bear the last thing you should do is run. You are actually supposed to make yourself as tall as possible and let the bear know you are there! This was actually explained to us that morning, however, our flight instinct overcame us.

Well, the experience for us was very valuable, not only did we have a close encounter, and the adrenaline was great, but we also learned what not to do next time we go on a bear search!

All joking aside, this is one of the great things about learning in an outdoor environment. As a group we've had 5 encounters with bears on this trip, something that would never occur in any other learning environment. As Enviromental Studies students, its very special to have these encounters with such magnificent and beautiful animals which are very much threatened by encroaching development.

Week One

A Few Photos from the Redfish Program's first week
1. Alan gives the group a tour of the amazing Little Slocan Lodge
2. The group listens intently
3. A gigantic beaver lodge of the Little Slocan Lodge property

The Incredible Adventures of Redfish

On Day 1 of the program, in addition to meeting each other, we also became acquainted with our little Redfish mascot. Focusing on making on decisions in community, we decided on a d0t-mocracy system to determine his new name.

We decided to develop a "show name" - the formal, official title for our venerable fishy friend. The "barn name" is our commonly used familiar name for our dear mascot.

Here are the options! Stay tuned for updates on the group's final decision.

Show names:

Mr. Fishy
MC - Squish
Reginald Redfish
Lord Thaddeus
Ichthy Rojo
Pesky
Redfish
Sir Toppenhat
Larry the Cable Fish
Reddfish

Barn names:
Rudy
Archie
Bob
Luna (famous orca)
Rouge
Row(e) Jo(e)
Rolo
Makuru
Red
Reddie
Redd (salmon egg sac)

Welcome to the Redfish School of Change Blog!

The Redfish School of Change is a non-profit program designed for people who want to lead the way in creating ecological sustainability and social equity in their communities.

The inaugural year of the Redfish School of Change started on May 17 at Little Slocan Lodge in the West Kootenays. While participating in this intensive six-week field school, our group of 16 students, 3 intrepid instructors and special guests along the way will travel from the mountains of the Slocan Valley to the marine coast of southern Vancouver Island. We will visit innovative sites and engage with experts in the field of environmental and social justice. We will explore the wilderness of Valhalla Provincial Park, and witness the changing nature of the Fraser River as we paddle from Hope to Vancouver. We will learn critical skills for creating positive change, putting them into practice during and after this unique program.

Living and learning with 15 other participants, each of the students will endeavour to develop the capacity and confidence to be agents of change in our community on the issues that matter most.

Follow our blog for updates and photos from program participants, instructors and special guests as we continue on our journey.