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magazine / nd03
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November/December 2003 issue |
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Reverberations
Behind the name
According to the 1990 book Raccoons by Virginia C. Holmgren, the name Erie (“A
late great lake?” CG Sept/Oct 2003) refers to raccoons,
not wild cats. The French confused the animals, since they had never seen anything like
a raccoon before. Iri-a-chis meant “big tailed ones” and was the name the Huron
gave to the lake and to the tribes south of it, who conducted a brisk trade in pelts and
meat from the raccoons.
A picture of a 1690 French map shows a “raccoon” with the features of a raccoon,
beaver and house cat — obviously drawn by an artist who had not seen a real one — labelled “la
chat du bois.” So the smallest of the Great Lakes is named after a very wily animal
that has adapted spectacularly to urbanization. Let’s hope its namesake lake can do
the same.
Shirley Fowley,
Waterloo, Ont.
I would like to commend you for a well-researched article on Lake
Erie. It is shameful that since 1995, both the Ontario and Canadian governments have
slunk away from their previous financial, technical and scientific commitments to clean
up all the “areas of concern” in the Great Lakes basin. Allowing Lake Erie
to slide back into a threatened resource is a particular affront. It is equally shameful
that
regulations to prevent further industrial, agricultural and fishery problems have not been
enacted; in some cases, protective regulations have been rescinded or ignored.
I was delighted to read of Henry Regier’s continued concern, involvement and commitment
to address the problems in one of the jewels in the Great Lakes system. Dr. Regier is one
of those unsung heroes whom all Canadians should thank for his tireless efforts, his vision
and his passion. Let’s listen up, before it is truly too late.
Joyce McLean
Member (1991-95)
Great Lakes Water Quality Board,
International Joint Commission
Duplicating results
Your fascinating article on wolves, “The ripple effect” (CG Sept/Oct
2003), brought to mind an article I read in National Geographic about 30 years ago.
Two biologists from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., did a survey of the moose/wolf
relationship on Isle Royale in the middle of Lake Superior. They discovered that the ratio
between the two animals was constant — more moose calves, more wolf pups and vice
versa. They also found that very few moose between the ages of one and six were killed
by wolves. Healthy young animals would back up against a tree or rock, flail their hoofs
and dare the wolves to attack — which, of course, they didn’t. Yearlings and
old moose, however, would run and be hamstrung. Also, almost without exception, the older
animals had broken teeth, heartworm or other debilitating parasites.
J. David Innes,
Sudbury, Ont.
Innovative suggestions
Thinking about potential solutions to border-crossing congestion in the Detroit-Windsor
area (“Borderline blues,” CG Sept/Oct 2003), a
few ideas for using the existing railway-tunnel link between the cities come to mind:
- Could trains with modified flatbed cars be used to haul tractor-trailers across the border?
- Could a sort of railway “car” be developed that would allow a tractor-trailer
rig to “drive” via the rails through the tunnel?
- Could the tracks be modified to allow the tunnel to function as a roadbed for tractor-trailers,
while preserving its functionality as a rail link?
I don’t know what the current load factor is on the rail tunnel, but I would assume
it is not as heavily utilized as the Ambassador Bridge or the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Perhaps
an innovative use of the rail tunnel could defer the construction of a new link for a while
and alleviate some of the traffic concerns outlined in your article.
Thanks for this story. It touches on a significant issue in our times — coping with
existing transportation infrastructure strained to its limits.
Doug Shaigec,
Calgary, Alta.
A touching tale
What a great story “Missing Dad” (In habitat, CG Sept/Oct
2003) was — well written and heartwarming. I felt I was right beside Donna Morrissey,
sharing her anxiety while she waited and waited. Way to go, Donna! And good on your Dad.
T. J. Sharp,
Monte Creek, B.C.
Please pass along my thanks to Donna Morrissey. My father is 65. He’s hunted forever,
including those moose in Newfoundland, bears in New Brunswick and deer in Nova Scotia. It
is when he is happiest.
Rob DeMone
White Rock, B.C.
Setting the record straight
It was with a combination of disappointment and anger that I read the book review “PeeGee’s
forestry fallout” (CG Jul/Aug 2003). It perpetuates the
same misinformation about the Bowron River valley “clear-cut,” which can “be
seen from space,” that is used to condemn forest-management practices in British Columbia
and to boycott B.C. forest products. Is not the fact that this clear-cut was an insect-damaged,
forest-salvage operation important?
Will we hear the same propaganda decades from now about the huge salvage operation for
the current mountain-pine-beetle infestation that is devastating more than five million hectares
of B.C. forests?
The infestation in the Bowron Lake Provincial Park by, I believe, the spruce budworm began
where the forest had been left in a natural state. It spread into the stands adjacent to
the park and caused many millions of dollars of damage to the commercial trees affected.
The logs salvaged did not go to Prince George; there was no road access there except through
Quesnel, where the salvaged wood was processed into lumber. The residuals, such as pulp chips,
went primarily to the Prince George pulp mills.
It is time to end this misinformation, as there are many legitimate concerns about British
Columbia and Canada’s forest-management practices. Try a full review — and I
mean full — as to the causes and possible solutions to the massive wildfires and insects
plaguing B.C. forests this year. They are due to more than just climate change, whether man-caused
or natural.
Victor Young
Horsefly, B.C.
Looking back
Re your À la carte “Newest-foundland” (CG Sept/Oct
2003), I was the captain of the RCAF Lancaster aircraft that found those three islands
in Foxe Basin in 1948.
We were in the northwest corner of Baffin Island when the weather turned cloudy, so we
set course for home, Frobisher Bay Airport. About halfway there, there was a break in the
clouds, and I saw a shoreline to our left. I told my navigator, Tommy Thompson, who said, “We
are miles from any shore.” Then he saw the islands and marked them on his chart. I
wired the federal government to ask whether it wanted the islands in Foxe Basin photographed.
I was told there must be some mistake, as it had records of ships going through that area.
I replied if a ship passed through that area, it must have had wheels. We sent our film to
Ottawa, the government sent a department head to confirm, and the discovery was reported
in the newspapers.
Originally, the large island was Kerslake Island and the next one Thompson Island. (Foley
was my second navigator.) Photographing Baffin Island was no picnic: we lived in an old shack
left by the U.S. Air Force, and some months, we flew up to 130 hours at 20,000 feet on oxygen.
Then to find out the large island — now Prince Charles Island — was renamed after
someone who had nothing to do with the discovery was not appreciated.
E. C. Kerslake
Victoria
Risky recycling
“Golden heights” (CG Sept/Oct 2003) says none
of the 50 or so homes that sprang up around Nickel Plate remains. Herein lies a story.
I was born in Keremeos, just east of Hedley. In the mid-1950s, my father, who was a power-company
electrician and a Keremeos village councillor, decided he needed to build a house for his
growing family. But there really wasn’t enough money in the budget to buy new lumber.
Besides, as a child of the Great Depression, he had serious objections to wasting money,
even if he’d had it. So he bought one of the abandoned houses at the Nickel Plate site
for a very modest price — $10, as I recall — conditional on his demolishing the
building and removing the materials.
So many of the locals had demolished Nickel Plate houses that a “foolproof” method
had been worked out: hang a part-stick of dynamite on a string at about eye level, light
it and run. The resulting explosion was supposed to knock down the building, even remove
most of the nails from the wood, without damaging too much of the lumber.
The approach worked, though Dad did suffer some minor eye damage from a speck of debris.
A big bang, then the house was reduced to a pile of usable lumber, which was promptly hauled
back to Keremeos. A number of the houses in the Similkameen Valley were built using lumber
from abandoned mine buildings around Hedley, which is why the Nickel Plate site is now gone.
Tom Fry,
Calgary, Alta.
REVERBERATIONS ONLINE
Clarence Tillenius
I was very pleased to see an article on Clarence Tillenius (CG July/Aug
2003). As David Loch comments, there are many people "who feel a personal relationship
with him, often going back to the Country Guide covers." I am one of these. When I was growing
up on a farm in southwestern Manitoba in the late forties, there was one thing I looked forward
to every month —the arrival of the Country Guide. That’s because the cover often had
a painting by Clarence Tillenius, and inside the "Stories for Boys and Girls," written
by Anne Sankey, were sometimes illustrated with his charcoal sketches. I loved his art, because
the animals looked so real. I treasured these for years. Many of his pictures adorn public
school classrooms throughout the country.
Fast forward to August 1972. En route to the Canadian Nature Federation Conference in Edmonton,
I joined a small group of naturalists to photograph alpine flowers in the high country around
Sunshine Village, near Banff. Imagine my surprise to discover that Clarence Tillenius and
his wife were in the group! It was like meeting an old friend. Having known his art, I now
had met the artist! Another discovery was that his wife Anna was the Anne Sankey, writer
of the stories I enjoyed so many years before. Following this encounter, a personal friendship
developed, and many delightful evenings were spent in the Tillenius home on the banks of
the Assiniboine. Clarence kept us enthralled for hours with tales of his forays into the
wilderness, often as he deftly carved up a roast of beef with his left hand. His knowledge
of the wild is phenomenal, coming from decades of keen observation, reading widely, and sharing
with a network of friends and colleagues around the world. He is engaging, whether in the
lecture hall, or across the dining room table. I feel privileged to know him, and to have
felt his handshake more than once.
Kenn Green
Many thanks for the great article on Clarence Tillenius. My late wife, Bev Brown, had the
privilege of working with him during the 70’s when he led classes in wildlife drawing
for the Okanagan Summer School of the Arts at the Okanagan Game Farm in Penticton. His ability
as a teacher brought out the skills of many would-be artists and contributed to a greater
understanding of the wonders of Canadian wild life. Hopefully your article will serve to
bring his contributions to Canada to the attention of a much wider audience.
Tom S. Brown
Small steps in Great Lakes
If this article (“A late great lake?” CG Sept/Oct
2003) prompts more action arising from concerns about our Great Lakes then it will
have performed a more useful function than simply discouraging us yet again. While it did
an adequate job of outlining some of the negative features and fears concerning Lake Erie
it did nothing, other than make a passing reference, to the many improvements that have
and hopefully continue to take place. For example Canada and Ontario, in a recent and seemingly
rare act of cooperation, have commenced another cycle under the water quality improvement
agreement. And the fisheries are showing some signs of recruitment rebound. Why end this
article on such a sour note? Sure death and taxes are inevitable but does that mean we
simply give up hope now like Henry? Or do we continue to strive like Phil Ryan suggests
and address several specific issues? To what outcome does the author or Regier expect the
Lake to be "brought back to?" What a strange way to motivate our three levels of Government
to invest. Is there not evidence that zebra and quagga mussles have peaked and reached
some level of "control" by this evolving ecosystem? What about the cormorant situation
and the effects on fisheries and rare avian habitats? Was this factor omitted because it
doesn’t fit into this selective mindset even though it is another significant change
agent in all the Great Lakes? Thank you for stimulating my interest. Throw us a bone next
time around please.
Felix Barbetti,
Fonthill, Ont.
As an agricultural scientist, I read your story on Lake Erie (“A
late great lake?” CG Sept/Oct 2003) with interest.
The excellent map is now a feature on my office wall. The article conveys one misperception,
however. Can it be correct to say we haven’t measured phosphorus since 1994? Several
recent reports -- from Environment Canada, the USEPA, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment
(MOE) -- contain data up to the year 2000. A recent MOE report noted "a declining trend
in concentration and load" for phosphorus in the Grand River watershed and the whole Lake
Erie watershed in Ontario. It included supporting data from 1980 to 1999. While phosphorus
levels continue to exceed the "interim provincial water quality objective" in several rivers,
even Conservation Authority and fisheries agency staff question whether a single objective
should apply to them all. Current nutrient levels depend on site-specific geology as well
as human factors. And the objectives need to consider the optimum end uses of each water
body. All of us in agriculture and agri-business enjoy the recreational opportunities and
ecological services provided to us by our lakes and rivers. We’re making efforts
to harmonize agriculture and water quality.
Tom Bruulsema, PhD
Potash & Phosphate Institute of Canada
Guelph, Ont.
A new trend in housing
Avi Friedman’s vision of reasonable and attainable housing in "The Affordable
Architect," (CG Jan/Feb 2003) is certainly admirable.
The extent to which suburban sprawl has invaded Canada’s farmland, parkland, and open
spaces in the last 10 years signals a need to revisit utilitarian values. As a new wave of
home-buyers feeds the real estate market with baby-boomeresque vigour, there is no doubt
that Friedman’s affordable models are abreast of current trends. However, if the goal
is to reduce the burden on land, materials, and natural resources, Friedman should note a
far more detrimental trend — a rise in the number of people buying homes. As Jianguo
Liu of Michigan State University explains in a recent issue of Nature, social trends
such as divorce and children leaving home earlier have caused a spike in the number of households
built or occupied. Since every household, no matter how small, requires a basic level of
resources, the result is a decrease in shared resources and an increase in the consumption
of energy, water, land, and construction materials. While the large estates surrounding the
G.T.A. may not be used to their full potential, at least they are capable of providing for
an entire family under one roof.
Katherine Balpataky
Memories of the border
Congratulations on an excellent commentary about Windsor and the whole cross border problem.
It was particularly timely for me since I grew up in Southern Ontario and have just returned
from a holiday in Windsor/Detroit. Both the trip and the article brought back endless fond
memories of my childhood. Many years ago I went on a school bus tour to Boblo Island and,
even though a young lad, fell in love with a pretty girl at the amusement park. I often wondered
what happened to the place and now know that it closed in 1993. I must take umbrage, nonetheless,
in the usage of hyperbole in what should be a scientific magazine. Yes, if you were to leave
Windsor and drive through Sarnia to get to Detroit, it would take "hundreds of kilometres" to
get there — almost 300. However, Toronto to Detroit via Sarnia, vice Windsor, would
actually be the shortest route. And the analogy of driving between Toronto and Montreal via
Baffin Island is nothing short of ludicrous!
In closing I must affirm that I had a plethora of American channels to choose from when growing
up, but none of them could match the love I had for CBC, our national broadcaster. A personal
opinion but perhaps one that was shared by more Windsorites than the author might suspect.
Peter Joyce,
Gloucester, Ont.
The photographs of the Ambassador Bridge, profile and Windsor ramp, recall many childhood
memories. From 1940 to 1952, I was a summer resident at my maternal grandparents’ market-garden
farm based at LaSalle which included other fields at or near Amherstburg, Leamington and
Blenheim. He and his four sons harvested potatoes, corn, carrots, onions, rutabagas, asparagus
and cantaloupes. The Benoit family also had pigs, chickens, geese and draught horses. Today,
there are cousins in Windsor, St.William and St.Clair shores, Michigan.
William M.Pender,
Fort Macleod, Alta.
Remarks on Reviews
I was reading the review by David Lee on "Living Great Lakes" ("Reviews" CG Sept/Oct
2003). I was saddened to hear that the authors wife took it upon herself to dismantle
the inuksuk along our highways. In my many travels along the north highways I found them
a pleasure and much more to be desired than the graffiti that blighted the scenery. On
a much happier note, I enjoyed your article on the gold mines at Hedley, B.C. having passed
that way on my travels and always looked for the old mines and buildings. Having grown
up in the Lake Erie area I can remember times when we refused to go into the water because
you came out green.
Bessie Austin,
Guelph, Ont.
Stormy suggestions
According to the research, a major tsunami hits the West Coast of North American once every
two hundred years (re: "Storm Appeal" CG Nov/Dec 2002). The
last one hit more than 200 years ago. Such a tsunami could have originated from a fault line
off the West Coast or from a fault line in Alaska. However, a tsunami from Alaska would take
several hours to reach southern B.C., leaving ample time for warning. It seems to be a matter
of pressing urgency to put in place an effective system that will warn of a tsunami from
a distant origin. Funding should be set aside for a full time local coordinator and for the
necessary equipment. An effective warning system would not cost much to set up, and would
save many lives.
Robert Shepherd,
Ottawa, Ont.
Six degrees of separation…
In regard to the letter of Mr. R. Leckie ("Reverberations" CG Nov/Dec
2002), he mentioned Flight Lieutenant J.B. Home-Hay. Please find enclosed pictures
of J.B Home-hay and his plane in 1929. The picture was taken on our hay field at Fishing
Land Indian Reserve, Saskatchewan, near Wadena where my father was the Indian agent. J.B.
was a friend of my father. He and his crew stayed at our place for a few days and took
passengers for flights. In the group pic, J.B. is second from the right with wings on his
sweater.
(Original letter by Leckie in response to “Poetic Poses,” by Susan Fisher Sept/Oct
2002.: The pilot of the F-3 photographed by Carl Linde near Kenora was my father Robert Leckie,
a Wing Commander on loan from the Royal Air Force. He was the lead pilot in the first trans-Canada
flight, which started in Dartmouth, N.S. on Oct. 7, 1920. He used three different aircraft
to cover the seven legs to Winnipeg. Once there, the team switched to a DH 9A bomber, piloted
by Flight Lieutenant J.B. Home-Hay and others. They reached Vancouver on Oct. 17. Robert
Leckie, Nepean, Ont.)
Noel S. Butcher,
Langley, B.C.
Argumentative flaw
The anger that Jennifer Keller expressed ("Reverberations" CG Sept./Oct.
2002) regarding Albert oil and gas legislation is based on a thought process that is
fundamentally flawed. If this subject is viewed from an historical and property rights
perspective, the logic of the legislation becomes clear. The majority of mineral titles
in Alberta are owned by the Crown. A few are owned by individuals and corporations. In
all cases where there is split ownership, it is important to understand how this came about.
When the surface was acquired, the title would have clearly shown that the minerals were
excluded. The only rational conclusion a purchaser should have drawn was that the mineral
rights owner would have a property right to exploit their title. All surface owners should
have recognized this as a caveat that was part of the purchase. Failure to recognize this
fact and complaining about the consequences has no validity. It is really about being accountable
by complying with the original agreement and respecting the property rights of others.
Ronald Manz,
Calgary, Alta.
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* Letters may be edited for length, accuracy and liability.
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