Crossing the Divide: Discovering a Wilderness Ethic in Canada's Northern Rockies

by Wayne Sawchuk

In Crossing The Divide Wayne Sawchuk takes us from his early days as
a logger and trapper to his role in creating the largest protected wilderness area in the Rocky Mountains.

Sawchuk grew up near Chetwynd in the province’s northeast, working with his father in resource industries. Then in 1985, he helped his uncle build a trapper’s cabin at Mayfield Lake in the Northern Rockies and eventually bought the trapline.

Through the 1990s he began taking extended horse packing trips into the area while helping shape the future of the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area, 6.5 million hectares of land where intact ecosystems co-exist with carefully regulated resource extraction. “It is,” says Sawchuk, “an incredible experiment where we can maintain a sustainable economy and keep the wild heart of Canada’s Northern Rockies beating strong forever.”

186 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2020

About the author

Wayne Sawchuk moved with his family from Saskatchewan to homestead in the Chetwynd area of British Columbia’s northeast when he was a year old. As soon as he was able, maybe sooner, he went to work with his dad falling trees for reservoirs and power line corridors in the Kootenays, the Fraser Canyon and the Telkwa Pass, but always with an eye to and a longing for the surrounding wilderness. In the late 1980s, Wayne bought his uncle’s trapline on the Gataga River in the Northern Rockies. It was a decision, he said, that meant a “drop in his standard of living but a corresponding increase in his quality of life.”

His love of the mountains evolved into a passionate campaign to preserve landscapes similar to those he once logged. Over the next decade he led extended horse packing trips into the mountains to promote the special nature of the area. And between 1992 and 2000, he served on four consensus planning tables, working to build a conservation framework for BC’s Northern Rockies that would respect ecosystem integrity while allowing for carefully planned resource extraction. One result of his work, and that of` several like-minded individuals, is the Muskwa-Kechika Management Area (M-KMA), a 6.5-million-hectare chunk of wilderness containing fifty undeveloped watersheds. The recipient of a national environmental award, Wayne is the author/photographer of Muskwa-Kechika, the Wild Heart of the North, a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and a Fellow International of the Explorers Club of New York. When he is not leading expeditions into the M-KMA, Wayne lives at Rolla, just north of Dawson Creek, with his wife, writer Donna Kane, and a couple of dozen pack and saddlehorses.

Reviews

[Ian Beardsell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wayne Sawchuk grew up in the Peace River area of Northern BC, just as that wild frontier was finally being tamed and ultimately exploited by big players in the forestry, mining, and industrial sectors. Although he grew up in a homesteading family that relied on the riches of the land, and was heavily involved in the forestry industry as a young man, the author eventually realized that the land that supported him needed the protection of people who cared about its preservation.

The book is part memoir, part travelogue, and part environmental call to action. We really see the evolution of the young forestry working and part-time guide and trapper into a mild political activist. Sawchuk seems to have struck a nice balance between working hard building consensus amongst diverse stakeholders to protect the environment while still leaving room for business interests to develop resources in ways that benefit the local economy of the Peace.

Personally I have never travelled much further north in my province than the city of Prince George, which is barely the midpoint. Yet, it was interesting to hear the names of towns, lakes and rivers that are a part of my family history, as my dad's family emigrated to the Peace River area from Britain in the early 1950s.

[Marjorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sobering book. Wayne Sawchuk, former logger and trapper has written a book on the damage we do to the environment with our activities. Dams, roads, mining, logging are the major contributors to the destruction of Nature in these areas. The large predators are the first animals to be effected. Man is going to do whatever he wants regardless of the outcomes. However if everyone read this book I think we would have a clearer understanding what our numbers and life styles are costing.

[Don Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting memoir about how the author became a committed conservationist after living a life dependent upon exploiting the wilderness. Good stories and great descriptions of some of last truly wild country left in North America.