Jill Weitz
"I had always heard stories about Alaska and especially from my dad, who traveled to Alaska from Minnesota every year to go fishing. The first time I ever visited Alaska was when I was in high school, during a family trip to Anchorage and Kodiak.
Five or so years later, after graduating from college, I moved to Juneau to complete a national term of service with AmeriCorps. I was the experiential education coordinator for SAGA, and was based out at Amalga Harbor in Juneau, but traveled to Hoonah, Tenakee, and Skagway for multiple trips with youth from around Southeast.
It was so cool. I was infatuated with the float plane flights from Juneau to Hoonah — every spot on the water, I was sure was a whale. The Chilkat mountains blew my mind, and still do to this day — and I just absolutely fell in love with Southeast. It was exciting for me, to be in these really remote places, and different communities, and amongst these giant trees in the Tongass. After another year with SAGA, I left Juneau and went to grad school at the University of Denver to earn a Masters in Resource Law Studies. Two days after I finished my program, I moved back up to Juneau and got a job with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. I spent the next few years flying around the state inspecting mines, seafood processing plants, and large-scale construction projects as a Compliance and Enforcement Officer.
I learned a lot, but, to be honest, that work wasn’t for me. I wanted to be more involved at the community level…because that’s what I fell in love with when I first moved to Juneau — not only was it incredibly beautiful, but being able to connect with the people who make this place what it is. This was home. And I knew, in grad school, that I needed to go back home."
— Jill Weitz, Salmon Beyond Borders former director and new Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Natural Resource Manager
“For my undergrad thesis, I wrote about a hydro dam project in Belize, and Tim Bristol (now SalmonState’s executive director) hired me to analyze the proposed Susitna dam project. And he also said, “You know things about mining, right? Look into this transboundary thing, because apparently there are a bunch of mines going up in B.C.” The rest was history.
I came into this work at a really unique time, as much was unfolding regarding proposed development in Northwest B.C. It turned out there were a lot of folks in Southeast Alaska that were really interested in this issue and wanted to figure out how to tackle it. It became pretty apparent pretty quickly for me and other colleagues that there was a need to amplify the fact that B.C. is ramping up a wild west repeat, a gold rush, and Southeast Alaskans better put their heads together.
After organizing a series of public comments for KSM in the fall of 2013, I remember sitting on Basin Road in Spring of 2014, pre Mount Polley, with a lot of our partners who are still working together on this issue today. The formal Salmon Beyond Borders campaign started in April 2014, and a few months later when I was putting in on the Tatshenshini River on August 4, 2014, little did I know that the Mount Polley dam was failing simultaneously.
I got back two weeks later from the river trip and had 400-some emails about Mount Polley, which I had never heard of. It really catalyzed people's attention in Southeast Alaska, so Salmon Beyond Borders started asking B.C. for Alaskans and tribes to have a meaningful seat at the table, and still, to this day, we haven’t really gotten answers. Mount Polley was an incredibly catastrophic event for the people that depend on the Fraser River. What if that was the Taku, or the Stikine, or the Unuk? All these reasons and more affirm the need for our federal and Indigenous governments to take the lead on the management of these rivers. Because at the end of the day, B.C. is running the show, and B.C.’s show leaves Alaskans unprotected.”
— Jill Weitz, Salmon Beyond Borders former director and new Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Natural Resource Manager Tlingit & Haida
"One of my most memorable transboundary experiences on the U.S. side of the political border was getting to fly down to Ketchikan to meet up with the SeaWolf — a small cruise boat that focuses on providing conservation-focused and handicapped accessibility for folks to experience Glacier Bay National Park. Kimber Owen, who runs that company, is one of my favorite people of all time. She donated this trip for folks to come together and learn more about conservation issues facing Southeast Alaska and the region while traveling up the Inside Passage as she returned her boat from Washington to Gustavus, where she lives.
While docked in Wrangell, we also had the opportunity to go on a jet boat up the Stikine. And it was springtime, and the herring were running, and there were whales, and birds, and sea lions, and the delta of the Stikine — the Earth was alive in all her glory."
— Jill Weitz, Salmon Beyond Borders former director and new Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Natural Resource Manager
"On the B.C. side of the political border, my favorite transboundary experience over the last decade was at the Sacred Headwaters of these systems.
My dog and I took the ferry to Skagway and made the road trip down to Iskut to connect with members of the Tahltan First Nation and other B.C. partners.
I remember something that a young Tahltan boy said to me — and I will never forget it. He said
“My grandma always says, how can we protect our land if we can’t speak our language?” Getting to be there, and to hear community members’ and Tahltan Elders' concerns, was a really significant experience for me.
I also had the opportunity on that trip to fly in a helicopter with Rhoda Quock’s sons and Peter Jakesta, her husband, up to their hunting camp in the Klappan. The Klappan is the source of the sacred headwaters. It’s where the Tahltan protests against Shell took place. To go up there and listen to and experience their stories, while flying over the headwaters — I was just like — there’s magic happening here. I felt it. I still feel it.
Walking on this land and through the tall grasses with Peter Jakesta, his sons, and Nikki Skuce (of B.C.’s Northern Confluence) was one of the most memorable moments of my life."
— Jill Weitz, Salmon Beyond Borders former director and new Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Natural Resource Manager
"What gives me hope for the future of our wild salmon rivers is knowing that there are a lot of really brilliant and passionate people who not only care about the incredible resource that wild salmon are, but who care about the relations that these rivers have provided for generations. Bridges are building across the political borders. As we race the changing climate and the decline of salmon runs that have fueled communities since time immemorial, these rivers require all of us to do what is needed to protect them — and there is a mighty and growing movement to defend and sustain these rivers that feed us."
— Jill Weitz, Salmon Beyond Borders former director and new Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Natural Resource Manager
