FireSmart

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to take part in some field work with Parks Canada. Although it was a bit of a departure from my normal desk job I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go back to one of my favourite places on the Chilkoot Trail.

Bennett, B.C. is situated on the south end of Bennett Lake and at the northernmost end of the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site of Canada. During the 1897-1899 gold rush it was a bustling hub of up to 10,000 people known as Bennett City. Hopeful stampeders spent long winters building rough-hewn boats of all descriptions in anticipation of a spring launch towards Dawson and the Klondike goldfields.

Today, Bennett is all but abandoned. It is home to only 2, Walter and Edna Helm. The Helms spend a good part of their year in a quaint cabin on the old town site from which they operate a back-country trapline which has been the livelihood of Edna's family for generations.

The only structure from the gold rush period that still remains on the Chilkoot Trail is St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. It stands sentinel over the ruined building foundations, bottle and tin middens, and sandy lakeshore of this once burgeoning town. Its rustic wooden construction, though seemingly robust, is extremely vulnerable to fires, both natural and man-made.

In the past few years Parks Canada undertaken preventative measures through their FireSmart program to help reduce the risk of catastrophic damage. A combination of selective tree cutting, brush clearing and strategic burns are used to strategically reduce the amount of fuel available and redirect a fire should it strike.

This year's program involved: four of Parks Canada's fire crew, Jen, Charlie, Nick and Warren; Christine, the Chilkoot Trail patrol person who coordinated the operation; and me. With the promise of being "worked like a rented mule" I set out to lend a hand however I could. Mostly I spent the week dragging branches and 8' logs like, well, a rented mule. I shared a wall tent with lead hand Warren and learned an awful lot about what it means to work in the field every day. Let's just say I had to rewrite my definition of hard work.

I'd like to say that the work was its own reward but to be honest, nothing could top the 45 minute helicopter ride back to Whitehorse. I always thought that Yukon was scenic from the ground but nothing compares to seeing it from low in the air. Score one for professional development.

The benefits of short days

Our days are definitely getting shorter! Official sunrise this morning was 9:21 and sunset will be 4:12 with about an hour on either end where is it bright enough to still do things without a headlamp.

That may sound dramatic, and in some ways it is. But I have recently discovered some of the benefits of these short days.

The most obvious, naps and sleeping in is easy. Even Maui is relatively uninterested in going outside until late morning.

There are interesting phenomena attached to these short days. Driving to work one day, an enormous full moon hung in front of me while the spectacular blazing of the rising sun blinded me from behind, via my mirrors. Also there is lots of time to stargaze - and the complete darkness make the millions of stars incredible.

The real benefit, though, is getting to see sunrise and sunset. The sun makes the mountains glow pink and creates colours and shapes in the sky that are unbeatable. The sky glows; it is simply spectacular.

Last week I was driving to the office and had to pull over to take some photos (not that they do justice). The view was such that it literally took my breath away. Imagine that, getting to see the sunrise every day, a sunrise so pretty there is no

choice but to stop and enjoy.

Feeding

I got to feed the animals this week - for three days in a row! It was kinda awesome.

It was cold the first day, lovely the second and progressively colder the third. I got to feed with Mike and our neighbours (Dave, Susanne and Emma) the first day and my co-worker Clare the next two. It was all a ploy to get my vet and operations manager to FINALLY take a day off. It dubiously worked.

Feeding the animals is very cool. The animals are so happy to see you - literally, they run when they see you - even the lynx.

When it comes to feeding, the preserve is kind of like a great big farm. We haul hay and scoop pellets - just on an enormous scale. And, of course, the animals are very different and really spectacular to get close to. Also, between the hay and the pellets comes some less than ordinary opportunities - feeding the kestrels that we are rehabilitating, for instance.

Ironically, the part I struggle with the most is counting the animals. There is a real art to finding and counting the animals. They move, they hide, they blend into their surroundings. More than once, I had to loop around and around before finally finding all the animals I needed to. Imagine, an enclosure of 9 caribou and I couldn't find one!

Overall, though, I would say we did pretty good. I followed instructions very carefully and did everything I think Maria wanted us to do. The animals were happy, healthy and I only got locked into an enclosure once (in the caribou enclosure, Clare thought I had left, it was hilarious)!

Getting in there and getting my hands dirty, figuratively and literally, is a great way to remember why I work at the preserve. Certainly, I was not born to do manual labour for a living, but I'm really thrilled I get to do this once in awhile, and I think I just may make it a regular thing.

Muskox Art

We tried to create muskox art this week. It turned out being a pretty good lesson on what is not really going to work.

So in October I attended the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums conference in Edmonton and I paid, umm, enough money at a charity auction to buy Emma a pink and purple painting done by a red panda for Christmas. Ironically, Emma had been at the Toronto zoo that same weekend and saw her own red panda, which "is not a panda mommy, pandas are black and white."

We've had some substantial cost increases and have been brainstorming about fun ways to raise a little extra money, and we began to think about art done by the animals. In zoos, painting is used as a stimulus to keep the animals' mentally active. At the preserve, we don't have those same behavioral issues, we just think it's fun.

So, we bought the water soluable, non-toxic paints and we tested it out on Jesse, knowing how popular she is. (my staff also joke that the fastest way for us to raise money is to sell Mike Jesse-related items. Not helpful!)

We trudged out into the snow (perfect for washing away any paint), paper on plywood, camera in hand and some red and green paint. We brought Jesse into her own enclosure and tried to encourage her to "draw." We did get her to walk across the paint a couple of times, but only in an effort to get to more food. Turns out, we can't compete with all the grass in the enclosure! To move from one area that has been mowed down into grass heaven - and to have it all to herself - we had no chance (you can see the difference in the photos). If anything was painted at all, it was mainly Jesse's nose running across the page en route to more food.

Sigh. No art yet, but I think we have a pretty good idea now of what not to do, and some ideas for next time.

The Olympic Flame

The Olympic torch came through Whitehorse this week. It was landing by plane, to be run throughout town and was scheduled to go by the S.S. Klondike at 5:30 to arrive at Shipyards Park for 6pm with a party until 7pm.

Like so many other things, we were about to miss out on it. It's easy with life as busy as it is. But around 4 or so I called Mike and said we're going and so we both rushed home.

To set the stage, there are 2 main streets in Whitehorse - 4th Avenue and 2nd Avenue. First, I got stopped on 4th Avenue by...the torch! All traffic was stopped as the torch changed hands not far from me (ironically in front of McDonald's).

We grabbed Maui and headed up to Shipyards Park for the party and, alas, nearly missed the official arrival (again) as we got stopped on 2nd Avenue for quite awhile by the torch exchange!

There was quite a party when we eventually got to the park and it was a lot of fun. There were food vendors, bon fires, and sponsors handing out cow bells, flags, lights and free cokes. There were singers, dancers, artists, techno music and some speeches by dignitaries and others. It's pretty cool, apparently there is an artist traveling from city to city creating art, I didn't see close up and we were a bit late, but it appears to be variations of the women found on the torch flags and banners. The stage photo we've uploaded shows the painting underway and the banner to the left. It was presented immediately to the our mayor.

The mascots were on hand for photos, as were several torch bearers who were very happy to pose for pictures. There were also lots of dogs for Maui to sniff - which was great because she was not so sure about the mascots and not a huge fan of her cow bell. She did, however, love the gazillions of people loving her.

A definite highlight was getting to hold the torch, which are beautiful and surprisingly light. A little known fact, or perhaps just something not really thought about, it is the flame that is passed from person to person, not the torch. Most runners actually get to keep their torch.

It turns out, most runners have a corporate sponsor, often their employer, and that sponsor buys them their torch as a souvenir. Whitehorse being as small as it is, there were quite a few runners, most of whom were walking around with their torches post-run. We met a couple, including the final carrier, and posed for photos. The final torch bearer, Ramesh Ferris, is an inspirational soul who recently crossed Canada to raise awareness of polio. He was kind enough to pose with us.

So much snow

As a follow up to my blog of last week, we've gotten a ton of snow. Well, not really at ton, not that much actually, but for October/early November? It's quite a bit. For all intents and purposes, winter has arrived.

For the record, I'm cool with that. It is beautiful, it is sunny (when it's not snowing) and the temperature is very comfortable.

For the record, Mike thinks "snow is like rain, kinda frozen." Genius.