On this Earth Day, it felt right to write about one of the most fundamental natural processes that plays out over the surface of the earth: fire.
Forest fires have been part of the natural history of the Canadian Rockies since the return of plants and forests at the end of the last big glaciation. That’s about 13,000 years of wildfire in the landscape. Despite this, people and fire have an uncomfortable relationship. Fires are as natural as sunrise and sunset, and they create some tremendous patches of habitat, favoured by everything from birds to bears to bison. But they can take a real toll on communities, and they produce a lot of smoke, so the usual response to fires is to fight them and put them out, even in national parks.
One of the best tools for bringing fires back into a landscape is prescribed fire, where people (in this case, the Parks Canada fire team) decide when and where they want to have a fire. They can light fires when the weather window is favourable, and do nature’s bidding with a guiding hand.
In 2023, Yoho National Park is in the fire spotlight. In my over 30 years of living in the Rockies, Yoho is the park that’s experienced the least fire, so it’s time. This year, Parks Canada has announced an ambitious plan to light three large prescribed fires in Yoho. They are in out of the way valleys in the western end of the park, but if the park gets the right conditions, it could make for an interesting spring and fall (the park doesn’t do prescribed burning in the summer).
I think this one will be hard to beat. I got home from snowshoe guiding on a snowy day last January, and while I was shovelling, I noticed a roosting snowshoe hare beside the woodshed. They often rest in the daytime, and this little cutie decided that this was the perfect spot. The next d
This early bird (er, bee) was out gathering nectar and pollen at the end of May in Yoho National Park. Given the early date, this is a queen bee, born in the late summer of the previous year. She and her sisters are the only bumble bees from a colony that survive the winter, and after hibernating, each of them will try to start a new colony in the spring. Talk about resilience! Plus, if you need proof that bees are important pollinators, this picture is worth a thousand words.
Speaking of grizzly bears, sometimes the Lake Louise Ski Area lives up to its billing as a good place to spot bears. I was on the “Grizzly Express” summer sightseeing lift in July when I spotted this mama griz and her cub.
Fall is my favourite time to watch chipmunks, because they get really focussed on collecting seeds for the winter. It’s super charming: they harvest and husk grass seeds, then stuff them in their cheeks until they can’t squeeze in any more. These seeds are carried to the hibernation den and piled up until there are a couple of litres (!!) squirrelled (er, chipmunked) away for the winter. They wake up and snack frequently during their hibernation period.
Okay, I have to start with the only ptarmigan joke I know…
Nature writer Thor Hansen takes the long view on seeds, starting with their evolution (a big advance over spores, which ruled before seeds took centre stage). From there, it’s a very entertaining ride, with stops en route that take the reader to the deconstruction of an Almond Joy bar, to how the beaks of Darwin’s finches evolved because of seeds, to a breakdown of why the seeds of peppers range from very mild to very hot. Most mindblowing of all: the story of how a 2000 year-old date palm seed found in the ruins of Masada was successfully sprouted in 2005!
We’ve just passed the 9 month mark of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It has been an awful and brutal conflict. Last March, I ran a fundraising weekend for the 
April: Snowshoeing along a lovely stream in Yoho National Park with Paul & Eva.
Let’s see what 2022 brings for grand vistas and glorious scenes. Happy New Year, everyone!
It is a tradition of this fall newsletter to recommend a book for the nature lover on your Christmas list. Continuing with the bird migration theme, this year I’ve chosen an absolutely absorbing book about feathered travel.
