April 9, 2012 -35 C with 35 km/h NW wind, drifting snow, sunny.
Well it’s been a long time since I posted. The last few weeks have been remarkable. The learning opportunities have been abundant and very rewarding.
Storm days
In mid March there were 3 days of blizzards which made it look doubtful for my leaving Igloolik to head to Missoula, Montana for an international workshop on bear-human conflict management. One of the half of the days were called as “storm days”. Basically the government services, the schools, the airport and the roads are shut down. The criteria generally requires conditions of colder than -50C and winds in excess of 70 km/h. See a few pictures that I took.
The morning I was to leave it was still windy and cold but considerably better. -43 C and 30-40 km/h winds. A co-worker, Nico, had to head up to the Wildlife Section warehouse early to snowblow out the 1 meter deep drifts from in front of the warehouse bay door to get the truck to take me to the airport. I stayed by the phone waiting to hear from 1st Air if the flight was going to make it in from Iqaluit. Amazingly for the first time in 3 days the plane showed. In fact two planes arrived to help deal with the backlog of people and cargo. The local grocery store shelves were showing gaps by this point. I and others had to wait in the terminal to get on the 2nd plane. It was bloody cold in the terminal. Well below zero and the wind blew in along the cargo conveyer. But after an hour we were away and I was off on a week long road trip to Missoula.
Igloolik to Missoula
Missoula Airport
Leg one took me from Igloolik to Iqaluit to Ottawa. Arriving in Ottawa was a shock. The temperature was 60 degrees warmer at a hot 23 C above. I’d arrived in summer. I hadn’t checked ahead so it was a bit surreal when I headed out for supper with my sister-in-law that evening in her convertible with the top down. I had a layover the next day to further enjoy the warmth and then very early the next morning proceeded on to Missoula via Washington and Denver. With brief stops the travel time was 12 hours and the long trek from Igloolik was complete.
Missoula is set in foothills very much like the Porcupine Hills of S. Alberta where I grew up. The setting is beautiful and felt like arriving back in my original home landscape of ranch and farm country. The conference center is right on the river that flows through Missoula and at meals there were usually people fly fishing in front of the windows of the restaurant.
The workshop of was a gathering of an 300 people from the international world of bear-human conflict management. Jurisdictions ranged from Slovakia to New Jersey to Montana to Norway to BC to Alaska to Nunavut and many, many places imbetween. Charles Jonkel was there for the 3 days and he spoke about how the first such gathering was almost 50 years ago in the 60’s and there was himself and 3 others. The days were full of highly thought-provoking and instructive presentations, broken up with poster sessions, demonstrations of the latest prevention equipment and coffee break discussions. The were 2 evenings of talks. Further debates, discussions and storytelling sessions occurred over drinks. Parks Canada was well represented and there were 2 of us from Nunavut. A good deal of the talks and poster sessions dealt with polar bears and people and I met many people from across the North who I will be working with as time goes on.
On the 3rd sunny, cool day in Missoula a group of us hiked up a slope right behind the university that gave a great view of the valley and the campus. That evening was an Ian Stirling talk at the university on global warming and impacts on Arctic ecosystems.
Homeward Bound
Time to reverse course starting with another full day of flying with back to back flights – Missoula – Denver – Chicago – Ottawa. Still summer like in Ottawa +25 C. Up very early the next morning and off to Iqaluit. – 50s C and 40 km/h winds, so back on with the Canada Goose parka. Met Peter, a co-worker in the airport. He’d been there all day waiting to catch a plane home to Igloolik. He’d been travelling for 2 weeks in the high Arctic doing community consultations on caribou management. His trip plan called for being away for 1 week but the weather dictated a new plan that was 1 week longer. He slowly made his way back as far as Iqaluit when during breaks in the storms. The day before I saw Peter he’d departed Iqaluit for Igloolik only to arrive over a ground blizzard in Igloolik. The plane circled at elevation for 2 hours in the hopes of a break in the visibility on the ground. After 2 hours of circling the fuel ran low and they returned to Iqaluit making for a 10 hour flight. As it turned out Peter’s road trip was to continue for yet another 7 days.
Morning I flew out of Iqaluit there was a surprise visitor at the airport, an Air India 777 with a medical emergency. The wing of the plane was bigger than the plane I was getting on. It was -50C that morning. It would have been interesting to hear the comments of passengers about the landscape outside their windows.
Touch down in Igloolik and off to Western Hudson Bay
I stayed on a day in Iqaluit and learned from my supervisor that I’d be continuing my road trip with a tour of Western Hudson Bay communities. I’d have time to fly into Igloolik on a regular flight, have lunch, get some fresh clothes and then hop on a charter to Rankin Inlet. When I met the charter Peter was on it and he had even less time to repack and get back to the airport.
The purpose of the charter trip was to present the encouraging results of Nunavut’s aerial survey of the WHB polar bear population in 2011. Over 4 evenings presentations were made to the Hunter and Trapper Organizations in Rankin Inlet, Arviat, Whale Cove and Chesterfield Inlet. The survey was an intensive effort to systematically survey polar bears when they were mostly congregated along the coastline of WHB from Ontario in the SE to Manitoba and north up to Chesterfield Inlet in Nuanvut. 8000 kilometers of transects were flown including the coast but also near shore islands, out to sea up to 50 km and inland up to 100 kms. The result was an estimated population of between 750 – 1400 bears with the statistically most likely number being around 1000 bears. An Environment Canada model predicted a population of around 650 bears for 2011 so the higher numbers are good news.
The news was not all good. Every community reported a trend of steadily increasing encounters and conflicts with polar bears. I also heard about issues with grizzlies as they extend their range north and east. Rabid foxes are the top issue at this point in the winter and Whale Cove had just sent a young boy out for treatment. I had the opportunity to meet key people in each community including HTO board members and COs along with the various people on our charter involved in polar bear research and management.
I was an observer on the trip but I couldn’t have had a better introduction to the scope of the challenges for my program.
On the 5th day we landed back in Igloolik and I deplaned to head into work to finish off the day. Peter though got to run home very briefly and return to the plane and take off again for Iqaluit where the team met for 3 days on the further development of Nunavut’s polar bear management plan.
Hamlet Day In Igloolik
Arrived back in town in time to catch Hamlet Day which is a 1/2 day off for everyone. It is a celebration of Inuit culture and there are all manner of competitions to tests of strength, games, races, to the harpoon throw and igloo buildling. I watched amazed as one contestent built an igloo in about 20 minutes while everyone else were only a 1/3 to 1/2 done.
Easter Weekend skidoo trip – Igoolik to Hall Beach and back
In February and early March we made plans several time to pick up my snow machine that I purchased from the Co-op store in Hall Beach. Each time we had to abort as the temperature ended up being in the -50s. Twice there ended up being rescues of hunters on days we’d hoped to go out on.
But this past Saturday was ideal. Friday was a gray day with flat light and flurries, but as forecast the weather cleared and moderated on Saturday. The sun gave good contrast for travelling and the temp was only around -20C with wind chill. I rode on the back of Peter’s machine and Theo offered to lead us there and he brought his qamutiiq to carry survival gear and fuel. We were set. The pictures show how good the conditions were. We stopped about ½ way a the high point on the 75 km route. Theo said in the darkness of winter you could see the lights of both Igloolik and Hall Beach from that point. It’s on top of an esker and there was a distinct trail in the snow from the repeated passage of arctic foxes. Theo said they like travelling the eskers and will den in them in the spring.
An hour and a half saw us pulling in to Hall Beach. I picked up my machine as Theo visited relatives. His family was one of 5 families that established the community of Hall Beach. On the way back we stopped about ½ way and he pointed out many black rectangular lumps sticking out of the snow. We were standing on the site of the sod house where Theo spent his first years. His family travelled by dog team into Iglloolik in Jan in the early 50s where he was born. A short time later the family with new baby returned to the sod house on this spot. They were eventually a family of 5. He said it never got below zero in the house with the body heat and the heat from the seal oil lamp. Theo then pointed out scattered rocks a short distance away along the shoreline. They were tent rings. When summer came they’d move into the tents. Between the 2 sites were the scattered remains of seals and walrus. You could also see pit depressions where they buried walrus meat to ferment.
The day was getting on so we carried on to do the last leg to Igloolik. A remarkable and memorable day.
As the days continue to get longer and warmer there will be more and more opportunity to get together with others from work to go exploring. I’m hoping for a trip to go ice fishing for char.
That brings things up date. Happy Easter all.
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