The late Alex VanBibber had a favourite refrain: “An outdoor life is a healthy life.” This is
according to his friend, Harvey Jessop. Jessop wrote some remarks about VanBibber’s life for the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board, pertaining to a new scholarship it is offering in VanBibber’s legacy.
The Alex VanBibber Sharing the Land Scholarship is available for any Yukon post secondary student whose studies allow them to make connections between people and the land.
Students may be pursuing a degree in science to research wildlife. Or, less obviously, the student may be enrolled in an arts program, and hopes to write or draw about the land. Further, the scholarship may be awarded to a business student whose aim is to create a company that works to create stewardship with the land.
The Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board is offering two $1000 scholarships in VanBibber’s name. To apply, students must write a 1000-word (one dollar per word) essay about the significance of the Yukon wilderness to their life, and how their studies will “enable you to continue sharing the land with fish and wildlife in a significant way.” This is according to the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board’s scholarship application information sheet.
Along with the essay, students must submit copies of transcripts and proof of post-secondary enrolment to the management board by August 19.
VanBibber lived to be 98-years old. He “lived a lifetime on the land,” says Jessop. He was a member of the Champagne Aishihik First Nation, and he never turned down an opportunity to teach about the land, wildlife, and “how people are linked to and benefit from a healthy ecosystem.”
VanBibber worked with the Yukon Government to develop a trapper-training program that is still running today. His passion for passing on knowledge through education is carried on in the spirit of the scholarship.
Students should submit scholarship applications to [email protected] with the subject line: Sharing the Land. They can drop them off in person at on the second floor of 509 Black Street in Whitehorse, or mail them to
Sharing the Land Scholarship, Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board, Box 31104, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 5P7.
