Despite the heavy, wet snow making roads throughout the Chilkat Valley difficult to traverse, about 40 people trickled into the Haines library to honor Klukwan couple Jones and Lani Hotch on the last day of the bald eagle festival.
The ceremony is in its third year. It honors Chilkat Valley residents for their conservation efforts, particularly for work that supports the bald eagle population.
After a short introduction from Mayor Tom Morphet and Takshanuk Watershed Council science director Stacie Evans, the Hotches were presented with a granite stone with the inscription “For your unwavering commitment to the eagles and natural heritage of the Chilkat Valley.”
Then, Lani Hotch told the crowd about some of the ways conservation is embedded in Lingit cultural practice, particularly around salmon, and the way she was taught to hang fish.
“We hang them like they’re still swimming up the river, out of respect for the salmon. We use all we can from the salmon,” she said. “There’s a lot more usable parts to the salmon than you can get from the grocery stores.”
She also told a story about some of the first people to claim a territory that extends from Berner’s Bay up to a spot about 18 miles past the Canadian border.
“Our ancestors said the mountain peaks on both sides, the Takshanuk Range, the Chilkat Range, the Alaska Range all the way down to Berner’s Bay. Those are our fenceposts,” she said.
And along with that territory, she said, came the responsibility of being stewards of the land.
“I know the bible says we have dominion over the earth,” she said. “But my take on this is, dominion doesn’t mean you can just use whatever resources with impunity. No, it means you have a responsibility to take care of it. We all have a responsibility to take care of our environment.”
When she cracks open a window for fresh air in her Klukwan home, Hotch said she can hear the eagles, particularly this time of year when they converge on the Chilkat and Klehini rivers’ late fall run of chum salmon.
“They’re just as much a part of this valley as I am. It’s their ancestral land too. We have a responsibility to take care of it,” she said.
Jones Hotch joked that he was only on hand because his wife didn’t want to accept the award on her own.
“She could fill up a wall with the certificates of recognition that she’s received over the years,” he said.
He went on to share with the crowd his vision for a unified Chilkat Valley.
“If something happened to somebody at the border, the whole valley is concerned about it. If something happened here in town, that was cause for celebration, the whole valley joined in celebrating that,” he said.
Hotch acknowledged that politics, particularly now, divide the valley’s communities.
“You might say we’re neighbors,” he said. “I want to go deeper. Let’s be family and friends. Care, genuinely care, about each other.”
The ceremony marks the unofficial end of the weekend’s bald eagle festivities though, as Mayor Tom Morphet said, it’s likely that photographers and visitors will linger for the next several weeks, particularly given the fresh snow.
“The photos are always better with the white backdrop there,” he said.
Stacie Evans told the group that she often walks down to the Chilkat River from her office, sticks her hands in it and grounds herself in the water.
It helps her keep sight of the mutually beneficial relationship of environmental preservation. During a recent moment of reflection by the riverside, Evans said the phrase “you heal me so that I heal you,” sprang into her mind.
She turned to the Hotches and repeated that spontaneous prayer.
“Jones and Lani, you do so much for us. My hope is that being in this room right now — you feel your generosity radiating back at you,” she said.