Wapusk 2007: mammals and invertebrates

Work in the field has come along nicely so far. Pitfall traps have been set up at a number of locations to capture insects. Pitfalls are basically a small plastic container, put into a hole in the ground, filled partially with non-toxic antifreeze (to drown and temporarily preserve whatever falls in them), and covered with a plywood square with nails – there’s a gap big enough so that an insect or spider can fit through, but not something as big as a ground squirrel. The plywood covers the trap so that other animals don’t drink or disturb it. So far, a variety of creatures have been caught. These range from spiders to flies to springtails and beetles. We try to capture anything we see (that typically doesn’t have a backbone) as we are visiting our sites, by net or using good ‘ol fingers.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit a number of different locations around Churchill to set these traps up. It’s been a great way to explore the different habitats around the area. The scenery can range from a boreal forest to swamp, open tundra, flat rock, or sandy beach. It’s so nice to be out in the field, even if it’s not the ideal day to spend outside. The weather can change quite dramatically with Churchill being on a water body as large as the Hudson Bay. There’s quite a bit of work to be done now with collecting from these traps, processing them, and eventually putting them into a database. The rapidly growing database currently consists of over 200 vials. A single vial may contain many specimens of similar classification (e.g. spiders in one, flies in another). It’s good to be busy, as always.

Tuesday was a beautiful day to be outside, sunny and warm all day long. I was actually in a t-shirt for part of it. The entire day was spent pretty much outside in the field, collecting and setting up traps. After work, a long and exhilarating ATV ride along the beach/tundra with Leonard and Janine during sunset was the perfect end to the day. I was given some Caribou antlers from Leonard as well, but the catch is that the head is still attached… and has been on top of his roof for the past two years. No doubt, I need to remove the skin and clean the skull before it can come indoors. Now, I have something real instead of a puppet (Bruce the Moose) to hang on the wall!

A professor from the University of Manitoba, Rob Roughley, came up for a few days to set up some malaise traps with some of his colleagues. Malaise traps are mesh tent-like traps that are designed to capture flying insects. I tagged along with those guys during their stay to observe malaise trap construction, and to set up pitfalls for our own research, nearby. Some of those roads that go to the sites are in rough shape – chugging along logger-type roads in a very old bruiser truck (that belongs to the Churchill Northern Studies Centre), all us researchers have pushed through mud, water, and giant potholes. No shocks for the thing, and city drivers behind the wheel have made it quite the ride at times!

I’ve acquired some beautiful custom and hand-made/beaded mitts, made by a local craftswoman. The inside of them is sheepskin, and the outside is made of caribou hide, arctic hare fur, and sealskin. The beadwork fashions a polar bear walking on ice, with a sun above it. The mitts are very special, and will be perfect for cold winter days.

Writing this blog/update, carefully uploading my pictures complete with captions, and ATV rides were excellent procrastination against studying for my deferred final. I was relieved to get it over with on Tuesday evening, and happy to focus my attention to something other than mostly work and “Introduction to Aquatic Environments”.

A nice reward was that I’m taking care of another colleague’s dog, since I miss my animals at times. Smokey is a 6 month old Jack Russell. He’s a real sweetheart, and I was given an ATV to take him for walks with, while Leonard is gone (he’s got so much energy, that the ATV is the most efficient way to tire him out). Riding the ATV with little Smokey running alongside it is awesome. I even took Smokey to Leonard’s cabin at Goose Creek (about 15 km outside of Churchill) for a day/night by myself to chill. I really like Goose Creek with its peat fens, rugged boreal forest, its surrounding watershed and the even more relaxed atmosphere than town.

I’m going into Wapusk National Park for the first time on Monday. I just finished working ten days on, to get four days off. The four days off is part of the field preparation before going into the park. I will certainly write about my adventures in the Park afterwards – stay tuned!

Wapusk 2007: settling into the Northern Life

Yet more training has occurred at work. This has included stuff that ranged from harassment in the workplace to library guidelines, informal conflict management in the workplace, and radio protocols. The highlight of training was shooting a Remington marine magnum shotgun on the firing range as part of my Parks Canada firearms training course. It was exciting, although those suckers have a bit of a kick to them… at least for me. (My arms are a bit short for the barrel length)

Every Friday there is a meat draw at the local legion (bar). Basically, people drink and submit a ticket to win a whole lot of meat. It’s good fun just to hang out with colleagues, play pool, listen to the jukebox, etc. The Seaport bar in town isn’t bad either. However, with the way things are in Churchill, they don’t serve limes … Coronas are just not the same without limes!

I ate a Canada goose for the first time on Saturday for dinner with some friends. It was cooked over a beer can on the bbq, shot and plucked by Greg (colleague) - tougher meat, but tasty! I imagine that I will be trying some other more or less routine foods this summer based on the variety of animal life out there.

Mom arrived by plane on Sunday, and took the long train ride back to Winnipeg on Thursday. I enjoyed the walks along the tundra with her, and the yummy food and baked stuff she prepared. Can you tell that I appreciate my food?

Interesting thing about Churchill is that there is a curfew bell at 10pm every night – not that we have to be inside by that time or anything, but it’s commonly confused to be a polar bear siren by newcomers. The funny thing is that it makes all the dogs in town howl for at least a minute afterwards. There isn’t any polar bear siren… just cracker shells being shot off in the distance. The ice has broken up quite a bit on the Hudson Bay, and I expect it won’t be long until I get to see my first live polar bear.

The primary mode of getting around in town is by ATV or truck. It’s not uncommon to ride an ATV to work or to the grocery store. Leonard (colleague) lent me his ATV to use for a bit. It’s a thrill to ride it around town and along the Flats (floodplains along the river where people have built shacks). ATV’s can go surprisingly fast (up to 100km/hr) and with me, the speed demon, you can imagine any passengers holding on for dear life! Note that I haven’t tested the upper limits of speed on it, at least not without a helmet…

Wapusk 2007: the Arctic

We had some wicked cold weather here last week (-16 C at one point, with the windchill), complete with blizzards and snowbanks. However, all that is gone now, and the once frozen solid Hudson Bay has been steadily breaking up with each day. This means that the polar bears and seals will be coming inland real soon!

Cold weather and blizzards didn’t stop me from being the ever-adventurous Jess that you know. On one of my walks out of town, I stumbled upon the Husky tie-up area. There must have been close to fifty (if not more) Huskies tied up one after the other, row after row. They stay there year round – let’s just say that dogs at home live in the lap of luxury compared to dogs here, in Churchill.

I’m still getting used to the longer days of the North. The sun rises around 3 am, and sets around 11pm. Time to invest in some heavy blinds… My usual summer regime of rising with the sun and bed when the sun sets just isn’t going to cut it this year! Another thing to get used to is the prices of food – a pint of cherries may go for $20, and a carton of strawberries for $10. Oh well, that’s where isolation pay comes in handy.

Our U of G van arrived on Tuesday last week, and I was able to visit the Churchill Northern Studies Centre for the first time. This is an isolated old-rocket launching facility that has been converted for researchers to live in and for research to be conducted out of. It is about 20 min out of town, and is quite military-outpost style. No worse for wear than South residence on campus, I suppose. Each room can have up to 4 bunk beds (8 people), no privacy, and one shared bathroom per dorm. Apparently, the food is good though – I’ll find out when I eat there during my Arctic Ecology field course (through U of G) in July. Janine and I were there to check up on the inventory of U of G supplies left behind from last year’s Arctic Ecology course, and to drop off the supplies we carted along with us from Guelph.

Friday and Tuesday brought forth Canadian Firearms Safety Course training. This pretty much drilled the safe use of firearms (mostly shotguns and rifles) into our brains, and included discussions about basic types of guns, ammunition, ways to hold guns, and simple scenarios that involved firearms. Only dummy ammunition and firearms were used for this course. The good stuff comes later: with Parks Canada issue firearms training.

One of the highlights of my day was that there was an Arctic Hare in front of the office – and you bet, I got pictures!

Wapusk 2007: road trip to Churchill

Yep, I’m here in Churchill! Janine and I left Tuesday morning and made it to Sault Ste Marie by nighttime. To Kenora the next day, then finally on the third day we crossed the Manitoba border (into the Central Time Zone), and drove straight up to Thompson. We originally were going to stay overnight at Grand Rapids Reserve, rather than Thompson, but we were deterred by the fact that the only place to stay had a bar with slots in which people were gambling and drunk at 4:30 in the afternoon. I’m glad that we didn’t stay, since Thompson was much more inviting.

No problems driving, aside from a lack of air conditioning in the van. Although, after spending at least 12 hrs a day in the van with the heat, it was nice not having to spend much time in the van on the fourth day. Near Thompson, we stopped by Pisew Falls Provincial Park, and saw the spectacular falls there. It’s hard to describe them in words, so take a look at the video!

From Thompson, we took the 18 hour train ride to Churchill. The scenery changed from tall, dense coniferous trees to shorter and shorter, one-sided spruce trees, with the occasional tamarack and poplar. Caribou, muskrats, Arctic ground squirrels, and other wildlife were seen as the train went by as well. I can’t wait to see more of the wildlife in the area.

Janine and I were welcomed by Mike (warden) and Sheldon (supervisor), after we got off the train. We are sharing a townhouse with Mike for the summer. All is going well so far. We have cable t.v, internet, our own rooms, and good company. For the rest of Saturday, Janine and I were glad to settle into our rooms, have hot showers, eat a yummy lunch at the local café, and to get groceries at the only grocery store in town. We even had enough energy to attend a multi-birthday party at the local bar, based on news we picked up on the train by the VIA workers who were planning to celebrate. There’s a pool table there, so maybe I’ll get good enough to give Brian a real challenge once I get back!

Sunday was a veg and exploratory day. I got my first full-view of the Hudson Bay, although it’s completely covered with ice right now. Churchill has snowbanks, and the polar bears are still off hunting on the ice so we are not restricted to staying indoors just yet!

Our first day of work was basically spent whacking plastic babies and practicing CPR on torso-dummies (for red-cross certification, that is), and of course, meeting the Parks Canada staff of Wapusk National Park. Everyone is friendly and inviting, as expected. Except for the CPR dolls – they seemed rather shocked to see me, based on their forever opened mouths.

Wapusk 2007: prelude

I know many of you enjoyed reading the Tobermory/Bruce Peninsula updates last summer. Well, once again school is done for the summer, and it is my aim to continue writing about my adventures/experiences working for Parks Canada.

It has been nearly a year since my summer in Bruce Peninsula National Park and Fathom Five National Marine Park. Turns out I’ll be going on another adventure this summer: my work is combined with research at the University of Guelph’s Biodiversity Institute of Ontario and Wapusk National Park. The research U of G is having me do is collect specimens of all kinds in or near Wapusk. This is done as a means for creating DNA barcodes for every living thing on the planet. It has a long way to go by far, but their ultimate “aim” so to speak is to one day is to have a cell-phone sized device, in which with a simple tissue sample can identify any species based on its genetic material. Pretty fascinating to be part of the leading edge of science. See the attached article if you would like to learn more about this. I’ve been doing training at U of G for this since April 23 (my last exam was on the 20th). This has included mounting insects, learning how to use the BOLD (Barcode of Life Database), and preparing insects for DNA analysis, such as pinning them, placing in labeled vials, label making... not the most exciting stuff I’ve encountered, but still somewhat interesting.

The other part of my job will include stuff like the tagging of wild fowl, checking on research stations, and other little jobs for Parks Canada. At some point, Janine and I will be dropped off my helicopter in the park and camp in the backcountry for five days at a time. I have yet to learn more about my role in Wapusk National Park, but it won’t be much longer until I’m up there. I’m scheduled to take the train from Thompson, MB to Churchill on Friday. My colleague and I leave in a U of G van on Tuesday to drive to the train station in Thompson for Friday. The van will be put on the train on Monday, with all the scientific and research supplies for our use over the summer.

We will be finished on August 24. I will be staying in a townhouse with Janine and a park warden, which will be much quieter than the staffhouse I lived in last summer, where I felt like I was a camp counselor/baby sitter at times.

I admit, I will miss the special people (and horse) at home while I’m gone, and it has been quite the rush to get things in order for the trip. This has been stuff like moving Melody to her summer holiday home at Vernadee Equestrian Centre, buying field supplies, moving out of my house in Guelph, all on top of working at the University and at the barn. Yeah, crazy, but I’m positive that this summer will be yet another memorable and valuable experience of which I will keep you all updated!

Tobermory 2006: farewell

Good news – Melody is all better, and I’m back in the saddle.

I started nighttime roadkill monitoring two weeks ago. On the Tuesday and Thursday, I had fragmented days at work, so that I would work in the mornings and get the afternoons off to head out in the evening with my supervisor, Melissa. We are hoping to see a difference in the number of live occurrences on the road. So far, it hasn’t been very eventful.

However, on Friday we had an exciting morning since the one Massasauga who we were monitoring on Cove Island gave birth recently. We observed three babies – they were less than 20cm long, with a little button of a rattle, and were quite aggressive. We caught them and took measurements, which was fun. The babies stay with their mother for about 3 days before venturing out on their own.

Tuesday and Wednesday were busy days last week with preparations for the Grand Opening of the new Visitor’s Centre. All Young Canada Works students and many staff members helped out on those days – setting up chairs, cleaning, last minute completions of the exhibits, etc. The Opening Ceremony was memorable. Chiefs of neighboring native reserves, MP’s, CEO’s from Parks Canada’s National Office, other Parks staff, and approximately 500 visitors attended the event. Speeches were made by people of importance, native drummers were performing, caterers were giving out free food, flying squirrel and snake demonstrations took place. One of my jobs was to provide water, complimentary on part of Parks Canada to everyone who wanted some. I gave out so many bottles of water - it was crazy! Wednesday night’s party was awesome. Staff, family and friends attended for great food and raucous times.

I am now approaching my final week in the Bruce – no doubt I’ll miss it here, but I look forward to returning to Guelph and B-town to see you all.

Tobermory 2006: Georgian Bay Islands National Park

Things were a bit crazy for me with planning for a big trip to the Georgian Bay Islands National Park for Young Canada Works. I came up with the idea, planned, reserved, borrowed, emailed, informed supervisors, wrote a funding proposal, and got money for this trip. It was a little stressful when budget was looking tight, but everything worked out in the end and the trip turned out well! It was a three day trip (July 23-25, Sun-Tues), with 8 people; myself, the team leader; Michelle, the supervisor for highschool YCW students; a staff member on exchange from Parks Victoria in Australia; and 5 other YCW students.

We camped at Awenda Provincial Park in Penetanguishene, which is a nice area. Through my camping experience, I learned that an air mattress is an important thing to have and that sharing one just won’t cut it. Sunday afternoon we went to Wye Marsh, a conservation area of sorts in Midland. The group went on a guided tour, and on a canoe ride through the marsh.

Monday, we visited the administration office for GBI National Park to meet with the staff member (an ecologist named Andrew) whom I had been in touch with through email. He informed us about the park, his career etc. After meeting Andrew, our group headed over to Sainte Marie Among the Hurons, also in Midland. I’m not really into history and culture, but most people enjoyed it, and it was somewhat interesting for me. Wye Marsh and Sainte Marie Among the Hurons were places that I planned us to visit since the trip was supposed to be educational and career related, but the main focus of the trip was to visit another national park. Monday night, just for fun everyone went out for dinner and went to see Stompn’ Tom. Watching Stompn’ Tom was an experience… as was watching some of the hillbillies that came to see him too hehe. That night, as we were driving back, our caravan train of two pulled over to inspect the lights of the van I was driving – the two front ones weren’t working! It was a Kia rental van used for work, so naturally it hadn’t been used at night. I switched driving that van over to Amber since I don’t see my best at night, and sure enough as we passed through Penetanguishene, we got pulled over by a cop. Luckily, the cop let us off and Amber had to drive the van back to the campsite with fog lights/high beams on.

Tuesday, we met up with Andrew again to head over to GBI itself. The species at risk technician and GIS specialist (satellite mapping) and Andrew took us by boat to the main island, Beausoleil for a brief hike on the North end of the island, where the Canadian Shield shows through the ground. The area was surprisingly over developed compared to the Bruce, complete with fake beaches, water trampolines, million-dollar condo developments, and hundreds of boats passing through daily… totally cottage country. One of the highlights for me that day was that our group got to meet and hold Pinapple, the big and friendly Eastern Fox Snake! We left for the Bruce around 2pm that afternoon and got back around 8pm.

Saturday, the Visitor’s Centre hosted a butterfly count, where groups of four went out to different areas of Bruce and Fathom Five to observe and record different species in the parks. I learned a few new things, and it was something to do for the day… like those little white typical butterflies are called Cabbage Whites J

I am now one of the priviledged few who have gotten to ride the huge Coast Guard boat… they included me (and two others) on their daily cruise. The boat is so big that it uses at least 100L of fuel per hour. It has four places where it can be skippered, complete with sophisticated machinery. The Coast Guards share the Marine Operations Base with researchers and wardens of the national parks. They even have their own house which overlooks the harbour when they’re on for a two week on/two week off period… competition for the two-million dollar neighbors!

Thursday and Friday were full days for me. I started at 6:30am on both days to do snake monitoring, then headed over to Flowerpot Island as a YCW event to help the Friends of Fathom Five. We got guided hikes of the island and caves, ate excellent food (we were given a dinner on behalf of the Friends for their appreciation of our help), and we had great weather. I went back to the mainland for the night, but several others stayed on the island overnight (in the supposedly haunted museum). I helped sand and paint the porch of the Lighthouse Keeper’s House (which is the museum), complete with a great view!

Unfortunately, Melody somehow injured her leg and has been lame for the past few days. It’s not severe – I think she bruised the bone of her pastern, for those of you who know what that is. I’ve been visiting her daily to wrap her legs, and to give her TLC.