The purpose of the Secwépemc Landmarks Project is to create awareness of Secwépemc traditional territory through the installation of approximately 100 trailhead posts, 8 Secwépemc Landmark sculptures modelled after Secwépemc Coyote Pillars, and 8 connected interpretive panels that feature Secwépemc oral histories, place names, culture and stories connected to the Shuswap Lakes region.
The trailhead posts have been carved by youth from Chief Atahm School (Adams Lake Band), Shihiya school (Splatsín), and four schools in School District No. 83 (Shuswap Middle School, Jackson, Sullivan, and South Canoe Outdoor School), under the instruction of Secwépemc storyteller Kenthen Thomas and Secwépemc carvers Hop You and Vern Clemah. These trailhead post is to highlight Secwépemc stories, voices, and relationships with the landscape from past, present, and future generations. The students’ carvings tell the stsptékwle (oral history) of “Coyote and the Salmon”, which Secwépemc storyteller Kenthen Thomas describes as telling the story of how Sek̓lep (Coyote) brought salmon to the Sxwesméllp (also known as Sxwetsméllp or Salmon Arm) area. The trailhead posts and landmarks are a deep reminder of the presence and significance of past, present, and future generations of Secwépemc communities and their relationship to lands and waters in the Pespeséllkwe caretaker area of Secwepemcúl̓ecw.
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The purpose of the Secwépemc Landmarks Project is to create awareness of Secwépemc traditional territory through the installation of approximately 100 trailhead posts, 8 Secwépemc Landmark sculptures modelled after Secwépemc Coyote Pillars, and 8 connected interpretive panels that feature Secwépemc oral histories, place names, culture and stories connected to the Shuswap Lakes region.
The Shuswap is a place of water – lakes, rivers, creeks form a complex watershed that meet in Shuswap Lake before flowing through the Little Shuswap into the South Thompson River.
These waterways are the ancestral paths of the Secwepemc people, and the nursery of the great interior Sockeye Salmon runs. The trails, rivers, and lakes remain the true routes of travel throughout the region and an important reminder of the responsibility to care for the land and water.
The Shuswap offers a multitude of road and gravel cycling opportunities. Nestled in the Monashee Mountains the Shuswap offers spectacular and varied roads for road riding, cycle touring and gravel grinding.
Motorized and non-motorized recreational user groups throughout the Shuswap have made a commitment to work together through the Shuswap Regional Trails Roundtable and share in the responsible management of all recreational travel throughout the region. Together we are upholding the Secwepemc values of working together to take better care of the land through mutual respect, collaboration, and stewardship.
The Monashee mountains are known for deep powder and steep well-spaced tree skiing. Well there are no formally developed ski touring areas there is a vast landscape to explore.
Fostering a healthy, engaged community in the Shuswap Region – economic/environmental/social – through well designed, maintained, and promoted trails connecting people, culture, and landscape