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A piece of the Ktunaxa Traditional Territory will play an important role at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, as a donation of Western Larch by Nupqu (noop-koo) Development Corporation has been used to build the medal podium for Pacific Coliseum, the Figure Skating and Short Track Speed Skating venue.
The podium is 619 cm long, 185 cm deep, 60 cm at its tallest point and assembled from 227 pieces.
The donation of wood was part of an initiative through the Ministry of Forests and Range, in conjunction with VANOC, to showcase the diversity of B.C. forestry resources.
The Western Larch, or k’ustit’ (koo-stit) in the Ktunaxa Language, was harvested from the Ktunaxa Community Forest, which was recently awarded a 25 year, long term license by the Ministry of Forests.
The community forest license has allowed the Ktunaxa Nation to establish stewardship over traditional lands and has created opportunities for Nupqu, its natural resource business arm, for additional forest tenures, resource management contracts and other natural resource business opportunities.
The donated wood was custom milled at the Tobacco Plains Sawmill, owned and operated by the Ktunaxa Community of Tobacco Plains.
Norm Fraser, Business Manager of Nupqu, was excited to take the lead in this donation for the Olympics.
“I have vivid memories of attending the Winter Games in Calgary with my classmates from the Enoch First Nation in Edmonton,” said Fraser. “I hope young people in B.C. are inspired by our athletes to pursue a healthy active lifestyle, as I was. That is in part why I chose to live and work in a region that provides so many recreational activities.”
In B.C., the Western Larch is found throughout the Ktunaxa Traditional Territory in the southern interior.
Western Larch is a unique conifer that loses its leaves every year; in the spring the needles emerge a vibrant pale green, through the summer they are a traditional emerald evergreen and in the fall they turn a brilliant golden colour.
Western Larch can grow up to 80 metres in height and 850 years in age.
The wood is one of the strongest in Canada and is well known for its strength, decay resistance and beautiful fine grain.
“K’ustit’ has significant meaning to our people,” said Kathryn Teneese, Ktunaxa Nation Chair. “How the Larch adapts to seasonal change is symbolic of the Ktunaxa People’s ability to endure and succeed through adversity.”
“One of our legends tells of when the Creator was first making trees, k’ustit’ was not satisfied with its qualities and complained to the spirit, wanting it to be different. So the spirit started naming options — trees that bear fruit, flowers or different leaves - but k’ustit’ insisted on being unique. Eventually, after listening to ongoing complaints, the spirit agreed k’ustit’ would be different. To this day you can tell k’ustit’ in the fall, when as the temperature drops, it turns a brilliant golden colour before it sheds its needles, the only conifer to do so.”
“The Ktunaxa are very proud to be a part of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and hope to see many Canadians atop the podium made from our donation of Western Larch.”
The 23 podiums of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games are made of 18 wood types from all over the province.
Wood for the podiums have come from Clayquot Sound (Coastal Western Red Cedar), the Westbank Firs Nation Community Forest (Lodgepole Pine), the Prince George Community Forest (Blue-Stained Lodgepole Pine) and the Bella Coola Valley (Sitka Spruce).
The Interior Lumber Manufactures’ Association donated Grand Fir for the podium for the biathlon event. The wood was harvested and milled near Castlegar.
