In 2010, Paul Colangelo submitted the “Sacred Headwaters, Sacred Journey” project to Big Wild Bucks, our granting program that awards grassroots conservation efforts across Canada. More than 15,000 Canadians voted for their favourite projects and, in the end, Paul’s vision of the Sacred Headwaters captured supporter hearts and his project won first place.

 

Thanks to your votes, The Big Wild was able to help sponsor Paul’s remarkable photographic journey through one of Canada’s most delicate, wild ecosystems. Paul has since partnered with Mountain Equipment Co-op and part of his photography project is currently on display at Vancouver's MEC location. The exhibit showcases photos of the threatened Sacred Headwaters region of northern British Columbia.

 

We feel immense pride when we think about the show of support Canadians put forth to support Paul’s vision and commitment to conservation. Paul has given us permission to share a few of the photos on display as part of Sacred Headwaters, Sacred Journey, below.

In a remote mountainous region of northern British Columbia lies the Sacred Headwaters, the shared birthplace of three of British Columbia’s most important salmon rivers, the Stikine, Skeena and Nass. Known as the Serengeti of the North, it supports one of the largest predator-prey ecosystems in North America, and it is the traditional territory of the Tahltan First Nation. Largely unprotected, numerous mining projects are proposed for this region, threatening everything that makes it sacred. Incredibly, a small group of Tahltan elders succeeded in halting the world’s second largest corporation. But the fate of their homeland hangs in the balance as the moratorium on the largest mine expires in December 2012 and a new wave of development approaches.

 

Paul is a National Geographic Explorer and a member of the International League of Conservation Photographers. Paul has explored northern British Columbia for the past three years, telling its stories of culture, wildlife and a changing landscape.