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.