Staff from Gibraltar Mine were out at the Whispering Willows Campsite on Oct. 2 and 3 to teach Xatśūll members how to trap beavers.
The training was led by Joanne Phillips and Kelsey Pop who are Environmental Monitors at Gibraltar.
“Gibraltar and Xatśūll have been working together on this initiative for quite some time and we are pleased to see the training come together. Joanne and Kelsey are certified BC Trappers as well as Xatśūll community members,” said Kourtney Cook, First Nations and Community Relations Coordinator for Gibraltar.
Cook noted that the training went extremely well and everyone was engaged and eager to learn. “We had a total of ten training spots available, and it was great to see all ten spots filled.”
Besides learning how to set traps, the group was also able to participate and take part in processing a beaver. They also had the opportunity to set traps overnight in hopes of catching beaver the following day.
Natural Resource Coordinator, Mike Stinson, says he’s “really happy Gibraltar came out to do the training and that with more trained staff in the community it’ll hopefully diminish their current beaver problem.”
He says a big part of why they wanted to bring in the training is to offer a traditional trapping and cultural component as opposed to just going out and shooting the beavers.
He also thanked Gibraltar for donating trapping materials, including traps and snares, so that the community will be able to continue practicing trapping and keep the beaver population at a more manageable level.
Xatśūll members learn to trap beavers (PDF)
