Chief Roy Mussell Bursary Recipients

Courtenay Campbell | Recipient of the 2024-2025 Bursary

The Fraser Basin Council, the FBC Youth Program team and the Bursary Selection Committee warmly congratulate Courtenay Campbell, recipient of the inaugural (2024-2025) Chief Roy Mussell Bursary for Indigenous Youth in BC.

Photos: Courtenay Campbell says Kukwstsétsemc, which is “thank you” in Secwepemc. Here are a few images from her project work on the land.

Courtenay Campbell is a proud member of Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc and is in her fourth year as an Honours Natural Resource Sciences student at Thompson Rivers University. Her passion lies in combining Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with scientific methods to address pressing environmental challenges, particularly in fire ecology, forestry, archaeology and medicinal plants. With a strong connection to the land and also having a passion for lifelong learning, she strives to create a healthier, more sustainable future, while promoting reconciliation.

Courtenay’s Honours research is focused on the regeneration of culturally significant understory plants after multiple wildfires in the Ulkatcho First Nations territory. By integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge with scientific methods, she aims to contribute innovative, collaborative solutions that emphasize Indigenous perspectives in sustainability and biodiversity conservation.

Prior to Courtenay collecting data for this project, she participated in a community meeting with members from Ulkatcho to discuss with them the research projects underway on the land and to gather more information on cultural plants of interest. At this point in time, vegetation data has been collected from 5 different fires in the Ulkatcho territory, and Courtenay is focusing on the recovery of Soopolallie, Wild Blueberry, Kinnikinnick, Wintergreens, Bunchberry and Yarrow. Her next step in this journey is to analyze the data and run statistical analysis on these 6 plants so see how they have responded to wildfires over time.

Learn more about the Chief Roy Mussell Bursary Fund.