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May/June 2007 issue	IN THIS ISSUE: Table of Contents Feature: Torngat Mountains Feature: Urban sprawl Feature: Crumbling mountains Feature: Dust doctor The Inside Story Editor's Notebook Reverberations Explorer À la carte Mosaic

Barcoding indigestion
For retail purposes, barcodes facilitate grocery checkout, but the barcoding of groceries was never intended to substitute for ingestion, digestion and assimilation. Similar considerations should apply to genetic barcoding ("Barcoding life," March/April 2007).

Barcoding of DNA, and related compilations of genetic codes, has the potential to make enormous contributions to biology if used in conjunction with other approaches. Genetic code information might help unravel taxonomic puzzles. For example, barcoding of recently ingested food materials might be used to investigate the feeding habits of small soil invertebrates. In addition, barcoding of DNA might facilitate biological surveys by making it possible to identify material at life-cycle stages that can not be identified by traditional means; e.g. insect eggs, moss gametophytes or fungal mycelia. But the idea that barcoding can entirely displace the need for traditional taxonomy is simplistic to the point of being destructive.

David H. Webster
Kentville, N.S.

Haida and the land
Haaw'a, thank you, for your photo sketch of Haida Gwaii ("Keepers of the forest," March/April 2007). In few words and great pictures you captured a great deal about this magical place.

Three and a half years ago I "retired" to Haida Gwaii, somewhat anxious about isolation. I am delighted to find that I am as busy here as ever I was in any city and happier in a vibrant mix of cultural communities. I too am trying to learn the Haida language from some of the elders you photographed, each one a precious source of their nearly-lost cultural heritage. Mildly put, it's a challenge — and a great privilege and much fun. It's time we recovered before it's too late that Haida respect for, and intimacy with, the land and oceans that give us so much. Living here we have the potential to demonstrate ways of living sustainably with each other and with our environment.

Sara Eaton
Queen Charlotte
Haida Gwaii. B.C.

Protecting my heritage
I am a Nova Scotian whose roots go back 250 years in Lunenburg County, and I presently live in Cape Breton. I was horrified to read of the plunder of Nova Scotia's shipwreck heritage — my heritage — in Heather Pringle's article ("Finders keepers," March/April 2007).

I am also an ecologist and a scuba diver. I fail to understand why our shipwrecks and associated artifacts and, more importantly, the archaeological information they contain, are not better protected. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I intend to distribute the story to other concerned, ethical divers and to pursue this issue with my elected representatives.

Shelley Porter
Sydney, N.S.

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As one of the people interviewed for the treasure hunters article by Heather Pringle, I want to point out important facts that were omitted.

A private company, Offshore Diving and Salvage, located remains from the Auguste in 1977. Robert Grenier and his team from Parks Canada had previously searched the same area using an array of sophisticated electronic equipment and had come up empty. This was not the first time that Parks Canada had searched for shipwrecks funded with our tax dollars and found nothing. After the Auguste was discovered by Offshore Diving and Salvage, the company soon found itself in a joint venture with Parks Canada. Offshore Diving and Salvage contributed its fair share of time and money toward recovering the more than 4,000 artifacts that are now in the custody of Parks Canada. Yet the company has never been publicly acknowledged by Parks Canada, and those artifacts have never gone on display to the public.

It's no secret that Parks Canada's underwater marine archaeology unit has been totally absorbed and obsessed with the Red Bay project in Newfoundland and has virtually ignored the thousands of shipwrecks in other parts of Canada. The unit's solution for the remaining shipwrecks in Canada is to try to gain control by promoting and endorsing the flawed unesco Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. This convention will never come into effect in Canada or even in the United States simply because it serves only the interests of the few. If you read the document in its entirety, they will see that it favours government-funded and -sponsored marine archaeologists only and does not allow any place for involvement from the private sector.

The Canadian Geographic article is a glib portrayal of Nova Scotia's Treasure Trove Act. While the article briefly touches on the 90 percent split, very important facts were left out. For example, all non-treasure-trove artifacts automatically become the property of the Nova Scotia Museum. They must be catalogued, recorded and conserved by the salvage company at its expense and recovered under the terms of the excavation permit. The salvage company is allowed to keep only 90 percent of the actual treasure and does not even get to choose what it can keep. The Nova Scotia Museum and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic get first pick.

Many successful salvage projects have taken place under the Treasure Trove Act, and the Nova Scotia Museum and the people of Nova Scotia have received thousands of artifacts and hundreds of gold and silver coins from shipwrecks such as Le Chameau, the Auguste, HMS Leonidas, HMS Feversham and HMS Tilbury. However, to date, less than one percent of these artifacts have gone on display. Why is this? Why do Parks Canada, the N.S. Museum and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic dedicate precious little time, space and resources toward shipwreck displays, but have an unlimited amount of space for storage? They seem to have all kinds of resources for other projects, yet they have not hired a full-time marine archaeologist.

Regarding statements made by Jonathan Kyte, the marine archaeologist subcontracted by Deep Star Exploration, he arrived late — one week after the official project start date. That was his fault, not ours. When he did arrive on site, we were laying out buoys and setting up grids. We were also conducting sweeps and running search patterns with underwater metal detectors. For the record, nothing was recovered or disturbed in any way by our team without a marine archaeologist being present.

The article states that "in anticipation of a big find, Dwyer and his associates had already outfitted their chartered boat with a costly lift and large compressor so that they could begin raising artifacts immediately. The atmosphere on board resembled a scavenger hunt." The project dive boat was outfitted with an air lift for uncovering sand from any target areas. This is standard excavation equipment. The metal detectors frequently registered hits that were as much as a metre below the sand. The dive team was professional, organized and experienced. Our search was scientifically conducted under the direction of the senior project marine archaeologist.

If it weren't for private-sector salvage companies, many wrecks would never have been discovered, let alone salvaged. Shipwrecks are no good to anyone on the bottom of the ocean, as less than one percent of the public can scuba dive. Most Canadian museums, as well as Parks Canada, would have very little in their collections if it weren't for the private sector.

Terry Dwyer
Halifax

Peat and repeat
I read with concern in "The inside story" ("The ring cycle," Jan/Feb 2007) that peat extraction is turning "once thriving peatlands into fields of clay." This is incorrect. The Canadian peat industry has a preservation and reclamation policy which requires that a thick layer of peat be left on fields when harvesting ceases. Our industry now restores or reclaims nearly all the bogs that have been harvested.

The restoration techniques we use were developed through extensive research by Université Laval and other universities and were funded by the industry. More than $3 million has been invested and, using the techniques developed, several hundred hectares have been restored. Canada is now a world leader in peatland restoration. You may recall that you published an article in your July/Aug 2004 issue entitled "Our lady of the bog" which describes this research.

Gerry Hood,
President Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association
St. Albert, Alta.

Heather Pringle's article is a good, balanced account of the controversy over the Treasure Trove Act here in Nova Scotia. However, despite the subheadline that says the rush to salvage sunken riches has "historians fuming," she appears not to have interviewed a single historian. I have myself interviewed several of the people she mentions, but none of them is a historian. Having done archival research — and given a lecture at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on HMS Fantome — I want to rectify the statement she makes in the sidebar "Legend of the Fantome."

There is no "legend" of the Fantome, except as a fantasy among divers here, and what it purports to say is historically wrong. The Fantome operated in the Bay of Fundy the whole of 1814 as a tender providing provisions from Saint John, N.B., to Maine, whose Down East coast had been captured by the British that year. Her log states that she was "moored in St. John's Harbour" on Aug. 24, 1814, when the White House was burned by British troops. Furthermore, HMS Tonnant, a double-deck, 80-gun ship of the line and flagship of Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane, would have been chosen by the Royal Navy to convey back any White House treasure, not a small 18-gun brig, such as the Fantome. Indeed, it was the Tonnant that brought back Cochrane and the body of Major General Robert Ross after the attempt on Baltimore on Sept. 11, 1814, arriving in Halifax on Sept. 28 together with several other large Royal Navy ships. It is simply a phantom to suggest that Fantome was carrying treasure from Washington, of which there was none. By dignifying this fantasy as a "legend," Canadian Geographic is perpetrating a media myth. It may be delightfully tantalizing to treasure hunters, both actual and vicarious, but surely historical truth should take precedence over popular humbug in such a beautifully published magazine.

George F. W. Young
Professor Emeritus
History Department
Saint Mary's University
Halifax

The stories about the vanishing cedars of Haida Gwaii ("Keepers of the forests," March/April 2007) and the treasure hunters at work in Nova Scotia ("Finders keepers," March/April 2007) make it abundantly clear that, as a society, we want to make the next pickup truck payment, buy the newer dishwasher or pay down the latest bank loan more than we want vibrant cultures to remain intact and strong. That's a pretty sad indictment of what we value as a nation. Once these cultures and histories vanish, they are gone forever. Period. And all for a few more zeros in the bank account.

Stephen Gale
Westbank, B.C.

In the article "Finders keepers" I noted a photo of the ship the Agnes G. Donahoe sinking in New Brunswick waters in 1913. That ship was owned by my grandfather, James Donahoe of Halifax, and was named after his daughter Agnes, who became a member of the Sacred Heart Order of nuns. Her sister, my mother, Geraldine, had a ship named after her as well. My grandfather was an enterpreneur who had a number of business interests, including whaling and sealing vessels.

W.J. Curran
Ottawa, Ont.

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Nova Scotia's callous disregard for its archaeological heritage comes as no surprise. We saw the same attitude on land.

A few times a year, on our way from Ontario to Halifax, we entered Nova Scotia at Amherst and watched with interest as a group of volunteers excavated a fort on the plain behind the Tourist Information Centre. They traced old foundations, raised berm defences, erected stockades and built replica workshops and barracks using period hand tools while dressed in period costumes. Cannon were placed at the berms. An information centre was built and featured a model of Fort Lawrence made from drawings found in England. Clothing and artifacts were placed on display by families who had held them for generations. For our three children, this activity added colour and relevance to their studies of Canadian history.

Then, on our trip in September 2004, we found to our amazement that the whole site was gone. The buildings were missing, the berms had been bulldozed and the cannon were grouped at the front walk. The interpretative centre was closed and bore no signage about the fort. Upon inquiring at the Tourist Information Centre, we received vague replies from staff, with eyes averted, that the artifacts had been removed because there had never been a fort at the site.

Researching this claim, I learned that an Acadian village had been burned by the French and that the inhabitants had fled to New Brunswick, where many had perished in winter. The British then moved in and built Fort Lawrence, which was occupied from 1750 to 1755 and then abandoned.

The extraordinary destruction of so much volunteer effort seems to be an Orwellian effort to deny history or, perhaps, a desire to develop the site commercially. The victims are heritage, Canadian awareness and truth.

My family has not returned to Nova Scotia.

Garry Marnoch
Pontypool, Ont.

(Editor's note: According to Linda Brown, secretary of the Fort Lawrence Heritage Association, the site was bulldozed because the association was unable to obtain government funding to keep it open. She says she was one of the volunteers who worked on the fort and was sincerely disappointed by its loss.)

Policeless in the passage
Does Canada have the ability to demonstrate sovereignty ("Policing the passage," Jan/Feb 2007) in the Canadian Arctic? The answer is both yes and no. At present, Canada has absolutely no capability of maintaining an all-season marine surface or subsurface presence in the Canadian Arctic. Some years back, when this country decided to purchase diesel-electric instead of nuclear-powered subs, it forfeited a subsurface presence. When Canada decided to scrap the building of the Polar 8 icebreaker back in the 1980s, we gave up any hope of maintaining a strong, all-season surface presence in the Arctic.

Canada's two Arctic-class icebreakers, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent and the CCGS Terry Fox, are beyond their designed life. Canada has all but abandoned its major shipbuilding industry, and its ability to build replacements for these two vessels diminishes yearly. All is not lost, however. While we can no longer compete with the heavily subsidized shipbuilding nations of the world, we can take a bold step and have our heavy Arctic-class icebreakers built abroad and delivered to us at a fraction of the cost and time of having them built in Canada.

The stakes in the Canadian Arctic will be huge in the not-too-distant future. We must not rely on the international courts to protect for us. We need to show some initiative in protecting ourselves.

L. G. Meisner
Capt., Canadian Coast Guard (ret.)
Lunenburg, N. S.

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Bear numbers
I read with interest Ian Stirling's concerns about the polar bears of western Hudson Bay ("The inside story," March/April 2007). However, before spreading too much gloom and doom over the fate of the polar bear, please refer to Nunavut biologist Mitch Taylor's observations on the fate of the species, cited in a recent issue of The Outdoor Edge (British Columbia). Taylor writes: "No evidence exists that suggests that both [polar] bears and the systems that regulate them will not adapt and respond to the new conditions. Polar bears have persisted through many similar climate changes."

Taylor notes that there are 20 significant populations of polar bears around the top of the globe. Of the 13 in Canada, 11 are either stable or increasing in size. The western Hudson Bay population is under stress, but "the reason seems to be that the conditions for the bears there in the mid-1980s were exceptionally good." This population peaked two decades ago, and "their current decline is neither precipitous nor unnatural."

In fact, the polar bear population in Canada has increased 25 percent in the past decade. Worldwide, there are 22,000 to 25,000 polar bears, whereas 50 years ago, there were only 8,000 to 10,000 — a 150 percent increase, according to Taylor.

Dr. James F. Striegel
Tofino, B.C.

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Peat and repeat
I read with concern in "The inside story" ("The ring cycle," Jan/Feb 2007) that peat extraction is turning "once thriving peatlands into fields of clay." This is not correct. The Canadian peat industry has adopted a Preservation and Reclamation Policy, which requires that a thick layer of peat be left on fields when harvesting ceases. Our industry now restores or reclaims nearly all the bogs that have been harvested.

The restoration techniques we use were developed through extensive research by Université Laval and other universities and were funded by the industry. To date, more than $3 million has been invested in the research and, using the techniques developed, several hundred hectares have been restored. You may recall that you published an article in your July/Aug 2004 issue entitled "Our lady of the bog" which describes this research. The investment made by industry and the success of Line Rochefort's research have made Canada a world leader in peatland restoration.

Gerry Hood, President
Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association
St. Albert, Alta.

Quarry watchdog
Your Explorer article ("The almighty Bruce,"Jan/Feb 2007) brought welcome attention to the Niagara Escarpment, which is undoubtedly the most prominent and spectacular topographical and ecological feature of southern Ontario. Those who treasure it are grateful for the protections from most development provided by the Niagara Escarpment Plan, which was the first large-scale, environment-first, land-use plan to be approved in Canada, covering almost 184,000 hectares. It is also fortunate that there is a forward-thinking provincial agency, the Niagara Escarpment Commission, to implement the plan and recommend new policies to better protect the escarpment.

Jean A. Hilborn
President
Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment

A plague of us
Thanks for the excellent article on the pine beetle ("Pine plague," Jan/Feb 2007). Some will tell you that the beetle plague is a problem, but it isn't. It's a symptom. Some will tell you that the beetle plague is a symptom and that the real problem is global warming, but it isn't. Global warming is a symptom too.

The real underlying problem is another plague: us, six billion of us insanely striving for growth in a finite space. Six billion of us living some real-life sci-fi horror, enslaved so deeply by our hydrocarbon-guzzling machines that our bodies are becoming obsolete.

Think this is far-fetched? If we were any other creature, the problem of our plague proportions would have been making daily front-page headlines long before we got to this point.

Jonathan Wright
Carbon, Alta

Teacher's delight
Thank you so much for your wonderful magazine. I am a grade four teacher in Airdrie, Alta., and the article on the archaeological dig in the Cypress Hills ("Eight thousand years down," Nov/Dec 2006) was fantastic to share with my students.

The new Alberta Social Studies curriculum includes First Nations history and culture as well as the history of our province and it's people. The article enabled me to show the children that "history" is being found even today and that perhaps one day, they too, will walk in the footsteps of Gerry Oetelaar.

It also is giving the students a better awareness of what we drop or throw away and put into our landfill sites. One day, our castoffs may be found by others.

Please give my thanks and regards to all those on your staff who continue to assist the teachers of this country as well as enlighten and encourage the children of tomorrow to continue searching for all the wealth this country has to offer, past and present.

Theresa Balko
Cochrane, Alta.

Built to last
In the "Discovery" story on disappearing communities ("As towns go by," Jan/Feb 2007), sociologist Debra Davidson says rural communities that survive beyond three generations may be the exception rather than the norm. Well, I thought I would let you know that our family has lived in Poltimore, Que., for seven generations on my mother's side and six on my father's side. Today, we still have four generations in town: me, my daughter, my granddaughter and my great-grandson. We all live within a mile of one another. My great-grandparents, grandparents and parents are all buried here. Also, the post office is run by a family that has been here for seven generations and the general store by a family that's been here for four.

Gladys Last
Poltimore, Que.

Camp Tot'em
The article on the Bruce Peninsula ("The almighty Bruce," Jan/Feb 2007) brought back many fond memories. I prowled the area of The Grotto in the late 1950s and early 1960s before the crowds arrived. Much of hte nearby area, including Cyprus Lake, was undeveloped thanks to a dentist from Detroit who owned it. He had a few buildings on a small lake that was separated by Georgian Bay by a ridge of broken stones. It was called Camp Tot'em because all your supplies had to be carried in on your back. There was no road.

For your readers unfamiliar with The Grotto, page 36 shows an interior view. That underwater blue area is an opening through the cliff. Many times I dove into the pool and swam through this opening to emerge in Georgian Bay.

Bruce Henwood
Sudbury, Ont.

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Logged vs unlogged
Rachel Carson has written that "those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life." A few years ago, I experienced the vacation that dreams are made of as I circumnavigated the Queen Charlotte Islands. Words such as awe-inspiring and breathless do not do justice to the scenes of majestic cedars, bountiful salmon, incredible marine ecosystems and magnificent world heritage sights of Haida culture that I was fortunate enough to experience.

Your article ("Keepers of the forest," March/April 2007) brought back many fond memories and reminded me of the stark contrast betweeen a heavily logged area of Graham Island and the pristine unlogged forests of Moresby Island that we were able to observe from the sea. It is most encouraging to see that the Watchmen of Gwaii Haanas have additional keepers to help them substain their Haida culture. Hopefully, the Haida carvers will be able to continue to be able show the world their creative mastery on the cedar.

David LeClair
Ottawa, Ont.

Vehicle dumps
I flew along the DEW Line sites from 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1963 so I found your story about the cleanup very interesting ("Undoing the DEW Line," March/April 2007). But nothing was mentioned about cleaning the waters around the sites, where hundreds to thousands of vehicles were dumped. They would be parked on the ice just before spring breakup, and down they would go. Some of these vehicles were old, but an awful lot of them were brand-spanking new and were dumped with gas in their tanks and their tires still on. They were discarded, I believe, so that the United States Air Force could maintain its money allotments.

George Gill
Whitby, Ont.

My father, Graeme (Tiny) Gagnon, worked as a heavy equipment mechanic on the Dew Line in 1957 and I believe part of 1958. I was very young, but the memory of him returning home after being away for months at a time is engrained in my memory to this day. I also remember hearing my mother cry in her bedroom at night when he had to go back.

Dad was an avid amateur photographer and he sent home hundreds of pictures taken in and around Seglak Bay and Frobisher Bay, some of which I still have. Many are landscapes, but he also captured the workers, the Inuit, the buildings, machinery and some of the friends he made while working on the project. He was particularly fond of the Inuit who named him (Kol-e-ic-tuk) which meant Tractor Man. That is the phonetic spelling, as I have no idea how it is spelled.

My Dad loved the North and he would be pleased that it is being returned to its original pristine state.

Lorna (Gagnon) MacRury
Port Hawkesbury, N.S

It was with overwhelming nostalgia that I read "Undoing the DEW Line" in your March/April issue. Having spent the last half of the 1960s on various DEW sites in the Western Arctic (including Jenny Lind Island), I am only too familiar with the reckless abandon with which materials of all kinds were abandoned. All I can say in our defense is that, back in those days, nobody cared — witness the Sidney tar ponds, for example. There was another aspect to DEW Line landfill policy which was conspicuous by its absence from Mr. Johnson's story — that of driving heavy equipment which was no longer economically maintainable a mile or two out on the sea ice and simply waiting for spring thaw to dispose of it. Like it or not, much of the Arctic Ocean sea bottom along the Alaskan and Canadian coastline is a giant parking lot.

The DEW Line most assuredly did not become obsolete "almost as soon as it was completed." For decades, Soviet doctrine was that a missile strike would be accompanied by a wave of manned bombers which would arrive over North America minutes after the missiles had struck. The DEW Line made that unlikely, in the sense that even if missiles were to strike, it would be at least another hour before the really bad news arrived. By then — so the logic went — B52s would be on their way to Moscow and within hours, the only thing living on the planet would be cockroaches. From this came the concept of MAD — Mutual Assured Destruction. Must have worked, because we're still here.

Bob Haagensen
Boutiliers Point, N.S.

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From February 1955 to October 1957 I was employed by the Foundation Company of Canada, the builders of the DEW Line, from Site 25 to Site 42. I started as Senior Resident Engineer and ended as Project Manager. From January 1986 until my retirement in 1993 I was employed by Monenco Eyretechics (MEG), which provided project management support services to the Department of National Defence for the construction of the entire North Warning System. I am, therefore, keenly interested in anything written about both projects.

I remember Bryan Pearson, who was quoted in the article, both from his days employed by our catering contractor and in subsequent years during my time with the North Warning Sytstem. The only point I would challenge would be the statement that mechanics earned $3,000 a month. Not in their wildest dreams. The highest wages among the hourly rated personnel was during 1955. Even then, they weren't that high.

As for the sport of rolling drums down hills, this is the first time I have heard that one and I have my doubts. We had a hard-working bunch of people who had little time or energy for sport, let alone playing with barrels.

There is no question we made a mess. The evidence is there. The accumulation of drums is a story in itself. But what was the choice? The air carriers wanted no part of transporting un-purged barrels and, even if they did, we had neither the time nor resources to re-handle them. If you consider what we accomplished on that project and the time frame involved, perhaps the consequences will be better understood.

Gerry Pankhurst
Westport, Ont.

Port pollution
The Discovery story on the new shipping terminal at Prince Rupert, B.C., may be good news for the economy of the city, but it is bad news for the environment. The $160-million project described in the article is expected to alleviate congestion in other West Coast ports, such as Los Angeles. But according to Bluewater Network (an affiliate to the environmental group Friends of the Earth) which analyses the effects that the shipping industry has on the environment, the pollution generated in the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach every day by container ships — 16 on average — produce as many smog-forming emissions as one million cars. A single cruise ship generates the emissions of more than 12,400 cars. These ship smokestacks release toxic emissions that lead to acid rain, global climate change, and damaging health effects to communities situated near ports.

Rene Ebacher
Toronto, Ont.

Still circling
What Madelaine Drohan failed to mention in her story about traffic circules ("Going in circles," March/April 2007) is the fundamental reason why they work so well in the United Kingdom and don't work in North America.

In the UK, they drive on the left and the vehicle on the right has the right of way. Thus, when entering a street, the car on your right will be the car to hit you first if you don't take care. Here, we drive on the right, but the car on the right still has the right of way. When you enter a street, the car that hits you won't even be the one you are looking for because the one that the law says you have to give way to is the one on the right, across the street.

When this is applied to traffic circles, it means in the UK, where you are driving on the left, you turn left into the traffic circle and the cars in the traffic circle automatically have the right of way because they are coming from your right. Here, you turn right into a traffic circle and you have the legal right of way because the cars in the circle are coming from your left. The simple fact is that no amount a signage is going to correct that fundamental error. I suspect the number of signs they have to put up is the reason your writer was told that traffic circles are more expensive.

The other reason, that traffic circles take more space, is a bare-faced lie. Many traffic circles in the U.K. consist of nothing more than a single traffic circle sign for each road entering the traffic circle and a bronze circular plate somewhere between 25 and 30 centimetres in diameter in the centre of the intersection. The intersection itself is no bigger than most downtown Toronto intersections.

Richard Dinning
Mississauga, Ont.

I read James Raffan's piece on touring the northwest passage aboard the Louis ("Polar police," Jan/Feb 2007) with great interest and a real sense of ... Been there, done that.  

I did my MASc at the University of Waterloo between engineering and environmental studies.  The area of study was radar image processing, to remove noise and measure texture.  Sea ice mapping was one of the applications.  As part of this work, I was given the opportunity to spend two weeks aboard the CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent in the early part of 1988.  There was a team heading out to sea-trial a passive microwave radiometer to give the captain another tool to use when visual navigation was impossible.

That field work was the highlight of my grad studies and the most memorable work that I did in my whole university career.  Everything from the 2 am phone call telling us to get out to the Gaspé because the ship would be briefly in port, through slinging our gear out via helicopter, to mounting the radiometer (my Swiss army knife was critical — MacGyver would have been proud), to the ice recon runs, to the biting wind on the flying bridge, to the meals and good company was a fantastic adventure.  My "tour" was around PEI and Cape Breton but there is much in the piece that was so very familiar regarding the ship itself and the fine people who crew her.

Thanks for bringing back the memories!

David Hudson
Ottawa

Thank you for the article on Elk Island National Park ("The enchanted forest," Sept/Oct 2006). During the 1980s, my children and I cross-country skied through the park's many trails. And yes, we skied alongside the bison. They seemed uninterested in humans.

We lived, at the time, in the small town of Lamont, which is about three kilometers from the park. There was no charge to use the ski trails. Many happy memories remain of our days in the park.

Ruth Jewell
Strathmore, Alta.

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* Letters may be edited for length, accuracy and liability.