The Tahltan or Nahani are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group who live in northern British Columbia around Telegraph Creek, Dease Lake, and Iskut.

Ten thousand years ago, the Tahltan people used obsidian from Mount Edziza to make tools and weapons for trading material.

Not only do these rivers provide a home to important salmon stocks, Tahltan oral history holds that these headwaters are the place where the earth was first created and where Talhtan culture began.

In 2004, Shell was awarded the oil and gas rights to the Klappan Valley, one of British Columbia's largest coal deposits with an estimated 230 km3 (8 trillion cu ft) of methane.

David Suzuki and Wade Davis have both criticized plans for coal-bed methane mining in the headwaters and, in June 2007, 14 different environmental groups sent a joint letter to Shell opposing the project.

[8] Representatives from Shell assert a determination to reach consensus in the community and note that the elected Tahltan Central Council (TCC) agreed to the exploration.

[8] Chief Jerry Asp was forced to resign in 2005 after protests from Tahltan members accusing him of a conflict of interest because of his involvement with two pro-development organizations.