Stewardship Through
the Lens of Art
Witnessing the Water I
For the past 150 years we have been transforming our shared watershed(s) here in the Cowichan Valley.
Gone are the magnificent primary forests of huge red cedars, towering Douglas firs, lichen-draped, maple giants, sheltering acres of soft moss, salal, salmonberries, Nootka rose and so much more in the forest understory.
Largely gone too, is significant summer rain and thick snow-packs in spring that historically nourished our creeks and lake in the summer months. The transformed landscape we inhabit is also the victim of a changing climate. Yes, the rain still falls on the peaks surrounding the lake, flows downhill to the lake and then down the river to Cowichan Bay. Yes, the transformed watershed(s) is still where we live and play and yes, it is crucially important that we all take shared responsibility for the reality we now occupy.
The CLRSS asked community members to pause and reflect upon these profound changes and then to share their personal reflections in Our Watershed - Through a Creative Lens.
We had two components History Meets Climate Change and Witnessing the Water – A Moment in Time.
History Meets Climate Change asked longtime community members to locate older photos of special lake and river locations and then to compare them with the current image. These were documented on our website, and some were used in the Ribbon of River.
Witnessing the Water – A Moment in Time asked community members, visitors or tourists to pause at a series of temporary Witnessing the Water signs that we erected at 12 public access points along the 50km Cowichan River. “Witnessing” involved paying attention to that moment with all the senses. Participants were asked to record any natural, heartfelt, human responses to the location at that moment and send it to us. Some did this by taking a series of photographs, while others took just one and then made a painting or a poem or a song about it later at home.
Local artists and CLRSS members, Judy Brayden and Cim MacDonald, then took many of the photos and poems, and reproduced them as part of a 70 foot long and 17 inch wide, fabric ribbon, Ribbon of River. The results became part of the CLRSS contribution to a community-wide art show, curated in the CVAC Gallery, and co-sponsored by the Cowichan Watershed Board (CWB).
Ribbon of River
Witnessing the Water II
In 2023 CLRSS used many of those same photographs, alongside the professional photography of Cim MacDonald of Chemainus, BC, to publish a 56-page full colour, coffee table book called, Witnessing the Water – an Authentic Relationship. Each picture in the book invited readers to visit the Quw’utsun Sta’lo’ (Cowichan River) with the intent to ‘witness’ and to hold the moment. And in that moment honor the journey of this very important life-giving cycle. The imagery was accented with the authentic words of 14 local, river stewards, who knew and appreciated the river.
Why did we do this?
Climate change threatens biological life as we know it. No life element is more profoundly important to survival on this planet than the precious water in this very vulnerable cycle.
It is time to observe the Qa' (water) with respect and honour. For 150 years we have transformed the massive, primary forest, which blanketed Vancouver Island, into a third-generation tree farm. We have transformed Quw’utsun Sta’lo’ (Cowichan River) by dynamiting its falls and rapids and forcing it between dikes in the sensitive,lifegiving wetlands.
We have transformed our climate. It is now time to transform ourselves.
It is time to build that authentic relationship, seeing water with different eyes. Eyes that might be so bold as to borrow a lens from a valued Snuw’uy’ulh (Teachings) of the Quw'utsun Mustimuhw (Cowichan People) that everything is interconnected. Mukw’ stem ‘o’ slhilhukw’tul.
We invite you to ‘witness’ and to rethink your relationship with Qa' (water).
A complete guide to the fourteen access points on Quw’utsun Sta’lo’ (Cowichan River) is linked to a QR code on the back cover of the book. A complete map and chart of the locations can be found on pages 52 – 54 (see below).
