A love letter to a magical region
Author plans to produce three books in a comprehensive history of the Shuswap region
Every year, the sockeye return to the Adams River in the Shuswap region of B.C.’s Interior, churning the water with their scarlet bodies as they swim home to spawn.
This year promises to be one of the “dominant” years for the run, and ecotourists will no doubt visit the Shuswap region this fall to see the largest run in the four-year cycle.
U.S.-born environmental activist Jim Cooperman loves the Shuswap region and his new book, Everything Shuswap, is informed by that love. It’s a gorgeously illustrated book, rich with maps, photographs and closely researched essays on geography, watersheds, Indigenous and settler history.
Cooperman, who came to the Shuswap nearly a half century ago and has raised five children in the region, wants us all to know more about his beloved chosen home.
Cooperman is not the first to fall in love with the Shuswap. For more than 10,000 years the watersheds now known as the Shuswap have been the cherished territories of the Secwepemc people. (“Shuswap” is a mangled version of this Indigenous name, adopted by the relatively recent arrivals, non-Indigenous settler/colonists, who made their first appearance in the watershed early in the 19th century.)
Two of the many virtues of this lovely volume are a detailed and respectful account of what is known about pre-contact Secwepemc life in the Shuswap, as well as an account of the horrors of the residential-schools cultural genocide waged in the region, as it was across Canada. The work of Indigenous leaders and advocates Dr. Mary Thomas and George Manuel is described, as are current efforts to preserve the Secwepemc language.
All this human drama takes place within the bioregion defined by 12 watersheds. Cooperman tells the long geological story of the formation of the Shuswap, and details much of what is known about the plants, animals, fish and insects that (often uneasily) share the watersheds with human populations.
Everything Shuswap is the first volume of a planned three-book “geographic handbook.” It stands alone as a compelling portrait of land, waters, wildlife and human history in one of B.C.’s lesser-known regions. Proceeds from sale of the books will go to support outdoor education projects in local schools, yet another reason for readers to seek out and purchase this beautifully produced and useful resource.