magazine / so05
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September/October 2005 issue |
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Caribou
Karsten Heuer feels he is on a first-name basis with American President
George W. Bush. Not surprising, given what he and "George" have
been through.
In 2003, Heuer, a wildlife biologist based in Canmore,
Alta. (map), followed the 123,000-head Porcupine caribou herd
on its annual migration from its wintering grounds in northern Yukon
to its spring calving grounds in Alaska’s
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) (map). Heuer completed
the arduous 1,500-kilometre trek with two companions: his wife, filmmaker
Leanne Allison, and a 25-centimetre-tall George W. Bush doll.
For five months, Heuer and Allison tracked the herd on foot and skis
over treacherous mountain passes, swimming through icy rivers and braving
swarms of mosquitoes and encounters with wolves and grizzly bears.
It was all in an effort to prove a point: ANWR is too precious to exploit
for oil and gas resources, as the United States is poised to do.
In October, Heuer will be featured in The
Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s fall lecture series in British Columbia. He will recount
his experiences and explain the plight of the caribou through stories,
slides and clips from the internationally acclaimed Being Caribou,
the film about their journey.
The Porcupine caribou are among the last North American mammals to
be largely unaffected by human activity. For thousands of years, they
have migrated to the same calving grounds, where the coastal plains
offer abundant food and protection from predators. Heuer believes the
grounds will be irrevocably disturbed if oil exploration in the area
goes through.
"A good measure of the importance of the Alaskan calving grounds
to the caribou is in the effort they go through every year to get there
and back," he says. "We went through everything they went
through to bring that story alive. And we took George Bush into the
landscape so he could see what his policies are affecting."
Heuer, Allison and "George" share the screen in Being Caribou,
which was released by the National Film Board last year. Beginning
in Old
Crow, Yukon (map), where caribou meat is a mainstay in the diet
of the Gwich’in people, the film documents the ungulate’s
perpetual struggle for survival. It ends in Washington, D.C., where
the United States Congress is expected to continue debate this fall
on legislation that would allow for oil and gas exploration in ANWR.
"It was important for us to show the geographical and ideological
difference between this place up in the Arctic with this caribou herd," says
Heuer, "and the power centre thousands of miles way — a world
away, really — that’s making all the decisions about its future."
— Sarah Mayes
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Team Canada gets bronzed
 What
river serves as the border between South Africa and Mozambique? What
group of people is found in northern Iraq and Iran, as well as southern
Turkey?* When quizmaster Alex Trebek asks you such questions under
the glare of television lights and in front of thousands of people,
it’s hard to keep your cool. But Team Canada managed to do just
that, securing a bronze medal at the National
Geographic World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, on July 14.
After each of the 18 participating teams took a written test and was
challenged to an orienteering exercise through the Budapest Zoo & Botanical
Garden, a three-way tie sent Canada, the United States and Russia into
the final round. In the end, Canada trailed silver medallist Russia
by one point, and the United States won gold.
Canada was represented by captain Daniel Siracusa (above, right),
Nathan Friedman (left) and John Yao (middle), all of whom won top honours
in The Great Canadian Geography
Challenge in 2004 and 2005.
"We talked about how we would come to an answer that we weren’t
sure about, and I told John and Nathan not to get flustered because
we were on stage," says Siracusa. "We worked well together,
and all contributed individual aspects that helped in the competition."
— Tanya Manoryk
Development plans
 Imagine
a world where nations compete not for political might or money but
for recognition as the most humanitarian on the planet. At Risk! is
one of the innovative educational resources recently created to simulate
just that.
To help students understand the many challenges facing developing
countries, the board game has players acting as national leaders whose
development projects succeed or fail based on the roll of a die. It
is one of 26 bilingual lesson plans based on the world map Canadian
Geographic produced in collaboration with the Canadian International
Development Agency and distributed free with the Nov/Dec
2004 issue.
The lesson plans, designed and written by teachers across the country,
cover issues from poverty and education to the HIV/
AIDS crisis and
environment.
Middle- and secondary-school-level lesson
plans are available
on the web for each provincial and territorial curriculum in Canada.
"Supporting the development of exciting classroom activities
and lesson plans," says Beth Dye, chair of the Canadian
Council for Geographic Education, "allows the council to fulfill its mandate
to enhance the geographic literacy of young Canadians."
Visit www.canadiangeographic.ca/worldmap to access the lesson plans
and order a free copy of the map.
High praise
 Summer
2005 was a particularly rewarding one for Canadian Geographic.
In June, CG took gold and silver at the National Magazine Awards.
Lana Slezic came first in the Photojournalism and Photo Essay category
for her arresting portrait of Canadian troops in Afghanistan ("Operation
Kabul," CG
Nov/Dec 2004), while "Walking the line" (CG
Mar/Apr 2004), J. Kevin Dunn’s photo essay chronicling his
journey along Saskatchewan’s railway lines, earned silver in
the Words and Pictures category.
The Canadian Cartographic Association also gave Canadian Geographic
its top honour, the Award of Distinction for Exceptional Professional
Contribution to the Practice of Cartography, at its annual meeting
in July. The magazine was recognized for showing "commitment to
good cartographic practice and excellent cartographic design" and
for presenting "maps that are both unique and relevant to Canadians."
CG chart toppers
A special issue of Canadian Geographic will be music to your ears — but
we need your input. In the January/ February 2006 issue, the pages
of the magazine will delve into the geography of music, from bhangra
in British Columbia to rock on, well, the Rock. Leading up to publication,
however, we are compiling a list of 50 definitive songs about Canadian
places. Whether they’re about city streets or mountainscapes,
whether they’re country, opera, alternative or reggae, your suggestions
will help us compose the ultimate geographical playlist. Visit www.canadiangeographic.ca/music to
be heard.
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