magazine / apr10
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April 2010 issue |
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Reverberations
Polar points
If the Jan/Feb 2010 issue is not
the finest yet, well, blow me over with
a feather. Not to get into politics, but one
thing that our present federal government
is emphasizing is our presence in
our great northern land mass. A study of
history has shown that countries which
do not populate a region in time often
lose that region to an aggressive neighbour.
This issue of Canadian Geographic
complements this initiative superbly.
Tom Atkinson
Toronto
The issue on International Polar Year was truly outstanding. However,
I was surprised and saddened to see
no mention of the Canadian Polar
Commission, which works so diligently
nationally and internationally, perhaps
too quietly, contributing and promoting an awareness of all aspects of the changes
that are taking place: sovereignty, development,
climate change and more.
Laurence (Laurie) Bennett
Mississauga, Ont.
The comment in the “Editor’s notebook”
(Jan/Feb 2010) that “the
effort in 1957-58 was, in essence, an IPY, but in keeping with its focus on geophysics, it was titled International
Geophysical Year” is somewhat misleading. The 1957-58 IGY was inspired by and modelled after the first two IPYs,
but it was much more than an IPY. A truly worldwide collection of scientists studied virtually every aspect of the
whole Earth, the sun, the moon and the space between. I recommend the very readable and informative 1961 book
I.G.Y.: The Year of the New Moons by J. Tuzo Wilson. (I was a student in his department at the University of Toronto
between 1958 and 1961, and I assisted in the proofreading.) In 1957-58, Wilson was president of the International Union
of Geodesy and Geophysics, one of the founding organizations of the IGY. For many years, he was an honorary
vice-president of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
Robert Roden
Toronto
I thought I should drop you a note to say that this was a very good issue. We really do not get much information in
the media about International Polar Year, which is more important than most of the filler news we get.
Frank Pope
Ottawa
Snowflake study: good idea! Studying reindeer herders and arctic spiders: you never know until you find out. But the Catabatic Experimental Platform for Antarctic Culture to create carbon neutral mobile research centres at a cost of $733,981 shared among 20 countries, including Canada? Since nobody but scientists “from away” live in Antarctica, what is “Antarctic culture” anyway? Read on breathlessly to find out the researchers’ “notable discovery or technique” — bagging their own urine and spelling out “Friday” in honour of Robinson Crusoe. Perhaps a clue to how this relates to scientific achievement is that catabatic comes from the Greek word katabatikos, which means “going downhill,” and usually refers to currents of high-density air.
Seymour Hamilton
Chelsea, Que.
Congratulations on the recent issue dedicated to the Arctic. As a Canadian landscape architect who is currently pursuing a master of science in world heritage management in Dublin, Ireland, I found the recent issue was informative and timely. I am currently researching the Arctic as an under-represented region at the UNESCO World Heritage level, and I devoured every word of the magazine with a mixture of fascination, admiration, fear, surprise and pride. The importance of the Arctic within Canada and around the globe cannot be overstated. Thank you for highlighting some of the important and diverse work, along with the challenges encountered, being performed by a dedicated group of very special people.
Andrew B. Anderson
Dublin, Ireland
The wild life revisited
Brian Payton’s article (“The wild life” December 2009) captured the essence of the human condition. We are the most destructive species on the planet, the most intelligent, resourceful and, yes, compassionate. Humanity is in an ongoing struggle between its animal instinct and higher being. I am a more spiritual man than religious one, and I agonize over where our humanity is headed. Religion and science have always been in conflict but they are not as polarized as they once were.
My hope for the future comes from the peace I feel knowing we are not in control and that, unlike the other species that share this beautiful planet, we have choice. Payton has it right: we do not have dominion over the Earth and all the things. Our species continues to slowly evolve, but we have a long way to go. Noah’s Ark is taking on water.
David
Via e-mail
“The wild life” left me breathless. Wilderness has inspired me from the first time I explored my backyard as an inquisitive child. I made friends with squirrels and crows and spent countless hours swaying from tree branches, making camps and exploring the forest. Farley Mowat’s Never Cry Wolf had a profound impact on me and led me to take my love for the outdoors to the realm of the environmental activist. I have been involved with many environmental organizations, big and small, all over the world. Australia is now my home and I continue to participate in the environmental movement and also work as a hiking guide.
The author’s description of the evolution of humankind’s belief systems on wildlife management was absolutely astounding. To think that humans were responsible not only for the near extinction of the most numerous mammal (bison) in North America but also for its recovery program highlights our changing beliefs from one of domination over nature to a more philosophical awareness of our connection with the natural world.
As wildlife managers, we need to adopt a new stance, one that recognizes our place in nature and harnesses our power in a more positive way. Creating wildlife corridors to help wild animals cope with a warmer planet by allowing them to move north is just one way we can help our fellow beings on this planet.
Dawn Green
Yallingup, Western Australia
Your readers may be interested to know that radio-telemetry as a means of tracking wildlife was invented by a Canadian. I published the first paper describing the technique at the American Institute of Biological Sciences meeting in Indianapolis in 1958. The method was developed for tracking woodchucks (groundhogs) while I worked at Cornell University.
Gray Merriam
Arden, Ont.
I am 26 years old and I had a subscription to Canadian Geographic that I didn’t renew because the magazine was different from what I thought it would be. I love reading and learning about wildlife, but did not find I was achieving this with the magazine. I am writing, however, because I received the special anniversary issue and loved it. I loved reading about the blue whales, black-footed ferrets, red foxes, and others. It was exactly what I was thinking each issue of the magazine would be. I understand it is difficult to continually have articles like these, but if all the issues were similar, I would still be subscribing. Just thought I would let you know to be fair to you.
Jody Chanel
Winnipeg
Steven Fick’s map and Emma Lehmberg’s text on the location of endangered species in Canada (“A crowded neighbourhood,” December 2009) is spoiled somewhat by the fact that some of the species on the list are not endangered in a worldwide sense. This became news when the black rat snake in eastern Ontario was identified in the press as an endangered species in Canada. True, but then it was revealed that the snake here is at the northern edge of its survival and it is found readily south of the border, where it is not endangered. The policy of including species that periodically survive for intervals north of the border damages the raison d’etre of the list and now it is blurring research efforts.
Steve Giles
Cloyne, Ont.
As an Albertan, I could relate to the article “Not in my backyard,” (“Discovery,” December 2009). It’s not uncommon to see signs posted on trails in the Rockies that read “Warning — bear in area.” What’s sad about these occurrences is that we have taken over the bear’s habitat, making it no longer welcome in its own home.
Yes, some system has to be implemented so that humans and bears are kept a safe distance from each other and no bears are killed in the process. We also have to realize that many of these places were their home first, and we can’t just take over the land and expect them to disappear. Until an adequate system is developed and implemented to keep them out, we will just have to understand that it’s their space too.
Christi Kepe
Calgary
I’m a little confused by the message being sent in the editorial of the December issue. Is this magazine taking an anti-hunting stance? If so, it might be important to research the points you are making in the editorial.
Many of the wildlife refuges you refer to are funded completely with money raised by and from hunters. Hunters and their associated clubs and associations are solely or partially responsible for most of the wildlife enhancement projects and habitat improvement projects across the country. Many dollars are collected and volunteer hours are spent by hunters in support of wildlife and wild-space protection. Hunters are highly regulated and, for the most part, highly ethical stewards and protectors of the wildlife that you so beautifully display in the magazine. I think you would find the name change of the government department you refer to was not the result of a book and realization that wildlife is not a target but a realization that the department’s mandate is greater than just game animals and that it is responsible for all wildlife. I think you’ll find this is the standard department title across most jurisdictions in Canada, not just British Columbia, and has nothing to do with a sensitivity toward anti-hunters, who again are funding the majority of the game and nongame wildlife projects, and a significant portion of that ministry’s operating budget.
I would guess that a large percentage of your subscribers are hunters and fisherman and women who appreciate the magazine, revel in the accounts and pictures of this great country, and would be loathe to support the magazine if they felt it did not support what they do as a legitimate pastime and a huge contributor to the health of the Canadian wild places and wild creatures.
David Noddin
Sackville, N.B.
The article “A crowded neighbourhood” (December 2009) made a statement that “protecting large areas from development is an effective conservation tool.” While on the surface a noble notion, this may increasingly prove to be a rather dated viewpoint of limited science-based merit in offering a strategic approach for effective conservation of at-risk species, regardless of geographic location.
A growing collection of research over the past decade in the northwest United States and Western Canada has interestingly discovered that some species within protected areas are unfortunately equally prone to declining fitness despite their habitat’s protected status. This perhaps suggests that a number of other factors may be at play that we are only beginning to understand. It is arguable that many species residing in those existing parks depend on broader landscape connectivity and ecosystem health than that provided by the administrative boundaries we create. Let’s not forget that such boundaries are ultimately all rather foreign to those species and the larger landscapes that some use.
Our history of delineating lands into protected and other categories of “lesser” land is also a rather foreign concept widely rejected by most aboriginal cultures. In the end, ecosystems are not readily confined by artificial boundaries, and are certainly more complex than we sometimes give them credit for. Species interdependence on landscapes on both sides of protected-area boundaries is perhaps readily demonstrated by case studies on the eagles in Yellowstone National Park, and the woodland caribou that struggle in national parks in the Rocky Mountains.
It is also not beyond possibility that climate change is already at play in the story of endangered species. It will be a continuing factor in causing northward shifts of habitat and ecosystems, and we might expect this to outpace the capacity and dispersal mechanisms of many species to migrate with that climate change. Canadian scientists are already forecasting a probability of northward shifts in climate patterns at a magnitude of 300 to 700 kilometres by 2100. Under such potential outcomes of change, the creation of new parklands with traditionally static boundaries is a notion that offers questionable value as a solution and could be increasingly ineffective as a conservation strategy for sensitive species.
Ecology professor Jeremy Kerr’s suggestion of a new model that strives to establish a “network” of wild biologically diverse land parcels amid the mosaic of human development is perhaps a more realistic alternative for the future.
Shared voluntary stewardship initiatives among landowners is a concept the Nature Conservancy of Canada, among other organizations, has been working diligently to promote. Ecological-based management on working public landscapes where forestry, mining and energy activities occur represents another avenue of working toward improved landscape connectivity, habitat structure and resilience to climate change. Better harmonization of public-landscape management plans with protected-area management plans also represents a largely untapped opportunity within Canada that would benefit sensitive species.
Were land taxes, policy and other forward-thinking incentive systems in place to reflect the value society gains from such innovative ideas, we could perhaps more readily provide the broad landscape connectivity, diversity of habitat and complexity in habitat-structure that may become critical in assisting species resiliency to the change coming our way.
J. T. Witiw
Peace River, Alta.
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* Letters may be edited for length, accuracy and liability.
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