Inland Rainforest and Wildlife Habitat

8 07 2011

As many of you know, one of my favorite areas to go hiking is the Rogers Pass area in Glacier National Park. The Selkirk Mountains run almost north–south through the park and it is a wonderland of mountain peaks, glaciers, and alpine meadows. Aside from being an amazingly majestic place scenery wise, it is also an important area for wildlife habitat. Grizzly and black bears, mountain caribou, mountain goats,  moose, cougar, and elk all call Glacier National Park home. Many of these animals naturally cover a huge area over the course of a year they are unaware of the arbitrary park boundaries established by humans. It has often been argued that small islands of park are not effective in maintaining populations of larger migratory animals, or complete ecosystems, and it would be preferable for parks to connect to form large contiguous corridors.

The Valhalla Wilderness Society is proposing  the Selkirk Mountain Caribou Park to create an extended wildlife corridor and to protect unique habitat. The park would extend from the southern boarder of Glacier National Park down into the Kootenays and connect with Bugaboo Provincial Park and Goat Range Provincial Park. According the the society, the park would add over 27,000 hectares of wilderness connected to Glacier National Park. The park would not only provide much increased protected habitat for the endangered mountain caribou, it would also include an area of rare temperate rainforrest around the Incomappleux River. The forest is largely unprotected at the moment and is being actively logged in many areas.

The Incomappleux is a unique area of inland temperate rainforest. According to the Valhalla Wilderness Society, the area is home to 2,000 year-old trees , newly discovered species of lichen, and abundant biodiversity.  A Kelowna resident, Riel Marquardt, recently release a documentary on the Incomappleux area and it is well worth viewing to understand of why this area is so amazing. Riel’s movie can be viewed on-line at Culture Unplugged or it can be rented from Leo’s Video here in Kelowna.

So, what can you do to help save this area? Well, there is a bunch of stuff you can do.

  • Get educated about the area.
  • Read about the rainforest on the Valhalla Wilderness Societies website.
  • Watch Riel’s video on Culture Unplugged.
  • Like the Incomappleux on facebook.
  • Sign the petition supporting the formation of the park (contact me directly to get a copy).
  • Contact your MLA and tell them why this is so important.

Lets make our voices heard!!!


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Categories : Activism, Environment, geography, Habitat Destruction, Mountains

Sustainable by Nature

18 11 2010

Below is a copy of a short address I gave at the Building Sustainable Communities conference held by the Fresh Outlook Foundation here in Kelowna. Following the address there was a 6 minute slide presentation of my photography. I have included the video at the bottom of this post. I hope you enjoy it. Dont forget to use full screen mode and turn up the volume!

The American writer and activist Muriel Rukeyser wrote: “The universe is made of stories, not atoms.” While the physicists in the audience may not entirely agree with this statement, I think it rings true for at least how we perceive the world around us. That is to say, that the narrative of our society influences how we perceive our universe. The value that we place on our planet comes from stories created by us, and from the generations before us. So when we consider Sustainable Communities, it is these narratives that we need to review.

Because of my limited time, I ask to be forgiven for the broad and blunt generalizations I am about to make. These are that we live in a society whose stories are compelled by a model of economics that is outdated and broken. A model that measures prosperity only by the amount that we consume and does not consider what we destroy. A model that does not value anything it does not know how to measure in dollars.

You see, the stories from our European past tell us that this planet is an enormous ball of inexhaustible resources and that continual growth is good for everyone. These stories often ignore the very processes and resources that keep us alive. Things like the natural purification of water; the pollination of plants by insects; plant life that turns carbon dioxide into oxygen so we can breathe; the decomposition of wastes by insects and fungi; the list goes on.

These processes are referred to as Ecosystem Services—stuff nature does for us, for free. Of course, some have tried to put a dollar value on these services and an average figure is approximately $38 Trillion dollars annually. That is, if we had to manually pollinate the fruit trees, replenish the oxygen, break down our wastes, it would cost us $38 Trillion dollars every year. Clearly, this is not a viable option.

But knowing these things is not enough. History is filled with examples where information was available, but the dominant culture would not accept it. Galileo comes to mind. That is why cultural change, changing our narrative, is possibly as important as the science itself.

As a photographer and a student of geography, I realized there was a role I could play in re-telling the narrative. The slide show you are about to see documents some of the amazing things that nature does for us. But, as nature does so well, the intricacies are hidden in the simplicity of the scene. Some of the locations are exotic, like the glaciers of the Rocky Mountains; the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon; the coastal areas of the Olympic Peninsula and Long Beach. Visiting these places has always filled me with awe and wonder at their beauty, but now I add to that wonder the amazing things these landscapes do for us. Some of the locations are not so exotic; indeed, some of the images are from my own back yard. Thankfully, the gifts of nature surround us everywhere.

While I hope you enjoy the aesthetic beauty of the images, I want you to think about how these places make life possible. I have added some text to each image to help with this, but it is not the whole story. Please consider: “to keep these ecosystems intact, what can I do without?” And ask yourself “how does this fit into the narrative of my world?” I hope that these images will also renew in you a feeling of wonder for the amazing place that is planet Earth.

I would like to leave you with one last thought:    The planet is, by nature, sustainable.

Thank you.


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Categories : Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Consumption, Environment, GDP, geography, Habitat Destruction, kelowna, Mountains, okanagan, Philosophy, photography, Politics, Video

Biology and Philosophy – the makings of a great day

4 10 2010

I am really starting to enjoy my Tuesdays. It gets me looking at life from two very different angles. As some of you already know, I have returned to school full time to pursue an undergraduate degree in Geography with a minor in Environmental Studies. One reason for doing this is to understand the issues facing our planet, and species, on an intellectual level as well as an emotional one. So what does this have to do with Tuesdays? I have a biology class in the mornings and a philosophy class in the afternoon on Tuesdays.

The biology class is first year level where we talk about the building blocks of life. The different kinds of cells–prokaryotic and eukaryotic–and all the stuff that goes into them. We talk about water molecules and hydrogen bonds. DNA, peptides, and amino acids. It is a great way to re-awaken a wonder for life in general and how amazing it is at all levels. A great video we recently watched was this YouTube clip of an amoeba digesting a single celled protist. If you watch on the right-hand side, you can see the amoeba wrapping its pseudopodia around the protist. The amoeba then excretes a digestive enzyme to break down the protist. The crazy thing is that you then see the protist wriggling around, trying to escape. This is a single celled organism we are watching having what equates to a flight response. Interesting!?

Tuesday afternoon is a second year philosophy class called Knowledge and Reality. If you are a purist, that would be Epistemology and Metaphysics. To para-phrase, it asks what do we know about reality and how do we know that we know it? Currently, we are reviewing the meditations of Rene Descartes. He’s the guy that wrote “I think therefore I am”. This is around the question “how do I know I exist?” He argues that the very fact that I am having these thoughts must mean that I exist. If I have these thoughts, how can I not exist? It all seems self evident, but what Descartes was trying to do was to take everything back to basics and see what kind of foundation our knowledge was based on. He also asks how we can trust our senses and how do we know that the things we see really exist. Again, this all may seem a bit self evident, but think The Matrix. The work of Descartes has been credited, in part, for the story-line of the film.

It all make you go hmmm, eh? How do we know that protists and amoeba are not thinking things? How do we know that we are not the equivalent of an amoeba inside some larger organism? How did all of this marvel and intricacy come about? Cool stuff to contemplate. One thing it really does for me it to renew my excitement about life. It truly is an amazing and precious thing.

If this all seems a bit on the heavy side I’ll end this post with a clip of one of my favorite philosophical statements–that no matter how much you think, there is often alcohol involved :)


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Categories : Biodiversity, geography, Philosophy

No meteors, plenty of stars – a night of photography

13 08 2010
Photo of Night Sky

Night Sky above Kelowna

I need my eight hours of sleep each day. So, when my brother-in-law Simon invited me on a night-photography trip starting at 1am, I had mixed emotions. Those emotions lasted about 5 seconds and I said yes. Simon arrived at my home just before 1am and we drove up to the Myra Canyon trestles. The trestles are the site of an old railway that wound its way through the hills above Kelowna. There are some great vantage points looking down onto the lights of the city, as well as the ability to hide from the same light pollution and get a good look at the night sky. Wednesday night was also reported to be a peak time for the meteor shower that occurs every August  in this part of the world.

We arrived at the parking lot, donned our backpacks, and headed off down the old rail bed into the moon-less night. It really is amazing how much light a city of 100,000 people radiates. We  walked confidently down the trail and over the trestles with no need for a flashlight.

Night photography has always been a bit on an enigma for me. Many of the rules of exposure go out the window and everything behaves differently. I first tried to capture the night sky using film years ago. Having to wait a week to get my film back from processing really made it a trial and error endeavor. Digital has certainly changed that, however, it is still not without its challenges. Mainly from noise introduced by the long exposures. But the biggest challenge is common to both mediums and that is the issue of focus. How do you focus on something when it’s dark outside?!! There are these little pin pricks of light in the sky, that are quite dim in the viewfinder, and I am supposed to focus on that?! The problem is especially bad when I am using a wide angle lens as the dots of light are even smaller.

So, here is what I do. First thing is to switch to manual focus.  Look at your composition and find some object that is relatively big in the viewfinder and somewhat distant. This is going to be your infinity focus point. Zoom in on this object ( if you use a zoom) and place it in the middle of your frame. Then, rock the focus ring back and forth, narrowing in on what you think is sharp. Be careful not to activate the light meter, as the display in the viewfinder will affect your night vision. Once you think the subject is in focus, recompose the image and shoot. Depth of field will give you some wriggle room here, so choose your focal length and aperture thoughtfully.

For the image at the top of the page I used a 20mm focal length and was at ISO 400. Exposure was f 5.0 for 22.5 minutes.  The lens is a 12-24mm zoom and so I did not have a lot of extra focal length to play with. I just concentrated on the tree branches in the foreground and the stars behind.

The image below was a little different. I used a 35mm prime lens, still at ISO 400. To focus, I placed my headlamp on the trestle and shone it at the railing about half way in. I could then go back to my camera and manually focus on the illuminated railing. Aperture was f5.0 – enough depth of field for the stars to be sharp. The shutter was open for seven minutes and during this time I walked down the trestle shining my headlamp on the railing on one side. I then walked back, shining the light on the other side. I think it adds a little interest to an otherwise average shot. The lights of Kelowna create the glow on the horizon.

So what about the meteors? They were out but not in the huge numbers promised–at least not to my eyes. Even though several of them streaked across my open shutter, they were simply not bright enough to show up. Was it worth the five hours of sleep deprivation? For sure! The riddle of night photography is a little more understandable! Thanks for getting me out there Simon!

Photo of Night Sky

Myra Canyon trestle at night


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Categories : Creativity, kelowna, photography

Just feeling lucky

3 08 2010

Photo of Bighorn Sheep in the Canadian Rockies.

After returning from a trip to the Rockies I am reflecting on what a lucky person I am. First, I was able to do this trip with my lovely partner Shaunet and our dog Summit. Shaunet’s idea of a good time is sleeping in a tent with me, drinking wine around a campfire at night, and spending the day hiking in the mountains. Like I said, I’m a lucky guy! Summit’s idea of a good time involves sleeping, lying in glacial-fed streams, sleeping, scrambling on rocks, and wondering when we are all going to sleep in that tent-den thing.

I have now been in Canada for twenty years and I am still awe-struck by the beauty of the Canadian Rockies. On this trip we concentrated on a stretch of the Icefields Parkway just north of Lake Louise. As we traveled through this area, and hiked into the alpine, we met tourists from all over the world that have come to marvel at the beauty of this place. It is then I feel really lucky because I live here! Western Canada is simply one of the most stunning places I have been on the planet. OK, I have only been to a few other countries. And, I am sure there are other prettier places in the world. But, for the moment, this is tops for me and I feel really lucky to be here.

I also have to feel lucky for some of the great people I have met recently. One person in particular allowed me to borrow his Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. It is quite a beast which I lugged to every location we went. Some times I was questioning the wisdom of this as it is certainly not a landscape lens. It’s real purpose on this trip is wildlife. Then, we crested an alpine bench in Wallace Pass and in front of us was a herd of Bighorn Sheep. Out came the big lens and it all became worth-while. Then I was just thankful for the amazing wildlife that still inhabits these mountains.

The image above was shot at the short end of the focal range. I have some other images at full zoom, but they will have to wait for another post. As you can imagine, I have a lot of photos to work though. Not sure if I am feeling so lucky about that!


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Categories : Environment, Journey, Mountains, photography, Travel

Canada Day Fireworks

2 07 2010

Another Canada Day and another trip to the lake for my annual attempt at photographing the fireworks. Each year I learn a little more, and as my photography generally improves I take better photographs. I’m quite happy with this years results.
Photo of Fireworks
For the last 6 years or so, Canada Day has become a day for spending time with friends and family, enjoying the sunshine, doing a little sailing, playing a little music, and generally enjoying life.  This year was a little different in that the weather was not quite as wonderful as usual and many of our musical friends were out of town. However,  it was still a wonderfully enjoyable day.

Canada day is also a time I reflect on life in Canada. As many on you know, Canada didn’t choose me, but I chose to live here in Canada. It is an amazing country with a geographic diversity that still captures my imagination, twenty years on since I first arrived. I also chose Canada because of the people that live here and their general attitude towards others. Canadians are, as a whole, wonderful, kind, tolerant, and generous people. So, in a kind of schmaltzy–and might I say Canadian–way, thanks Canada for being such an incredible place, and thanks to the people of Canada for being who you are.

As always, there are things that don’t sit so well with me. I have bit of a problem with the whole “Happy Birthday Canada, you are 143 years old today”. In many ways, Canada Day represents the day that we officially said to the people that were here first “we don’t really care about you, this place is ours now”. Depending on your point of view, what happened over the last couple of centuries to the indigenous peoples of Canada ranged from a misguided attempt to help and cohabitate to complicit genocide.

I know I cant change what happened in the past. But I do know that the way future generations view this year, this decade, and the people that inhabit this time, is up to us. The choices we make– from how we interact with people in the street, the way we view the world around us, and the political parties and causes we support–all make a difference. Those choices set the tone for the national consciousness and define who we are as a people.

At the risk of being cliched, there are two Gandhi quotes I will finish with. First there is the ubiquitous “Be the change that you want to see in the world”. If we want a better world, we have to practice living a better life, whatever that looks like in your mind. But with issues like the gulf oil spill, economic meltdowns, police behavior at the G20 in Toronto, and the general conflict, strife, inequity and poverty that engulfs a large portion of the planet, it is easy to loose heart. I know I feel this way sometimes, but in the words of Gandhi “Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it”.

Photo of Fireworks


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Categories : Philosophy, photography, Politics, Uncategorized

Greening Kelowna – one backyard at a time

15 06 2010

Photo of a Green Backyard

I love it when people take their ideology and apply it practically. This is exactly what Curtis and Eve at Green City Acres have done. To quote from their website:

Our mission is to foster social and environmental change through the production of local organic food, with minimal use of fossil fuels, and to help, teach, and empower people to start growing their own.

Cool! So, I decided to spend a bit of time shadowing Eve and Curtis with my camera and try to capture some of what they do. I already knew Curtis from a number of environmental/sustainability groups around Kelowna, so I knew he was the real deal. What I wasn’t ready for was just how committed they both were and what they had achieved in a relatively short space of time.

The first morning I spent with them was to be harvest time. I followed Curtis and Eve around as they harvested and prepared their produce for the following-days farmers market. Of course, this would be a bit of a different exercise as they farm multiple properties in the inner-Kelowna area and do everything by bicycle. One of the main concepts behind Green City Acres is a technique called SPIN farming, which translates as Small Plot INtensive farming. Simply put, you find home-owners who are willing to trade their back (or front) yards in return for a weekly supply of fresh produce. You then plant a few different crops in each yard–and assuming you can find several yards to farm–you end up with a great selection of produce grown in an urban setting. Sounds easy, right?Photo of harvesting produce at Green City Acres

Well, these two make it look easy, but at first glance they seem to do everything the hard way. To be true to their own mission statement — “minimal use of fossil fuels“–  Green City Acres not only shuns the uses of petroleum based fertilizers and pesticides, they also totally avoid the use of petroleum based transportation. Everything is done by bicycle. Traveling between sites for harvesting, transporting produce and work tools (even the roto-tiller) is done by bike.

And so I arrived on my own bike, bright and early on what turned out to be a very dreary and drizzly day. I followed Eve around the garden as she harvested salad greens and radishes and carefully cleaned and bunched scallions ready for the market. It was great to see this going on in a location surrounded by a major road, an apartment building, and other residences whose yards mainly consist of lawn.

Then it was time to head off to the next backyard to see what was planted there. The photo at the top of this post is what I saw and I really was not ready for the glorious sight. It is a great example of what these two have done in peoples yards and I was totally blown away! I was in heaven with my camera photographing from every angle conceivable (at least angles that I could conceive of).

Photo of Riding in the Rain with Green City Acres

Photo of Greens and Mustard

As I mentioned before, it was a dreary and drizzly day but we still went everywhere by bike. Really, it was not a big deal. We were dressed for it and were already working outside anyway. Curtis and I had a great time chatting away as we rode the side-streets of Kelowna traveling from one location to the other. Yep, we could have done the same in a pick-up truck, but it would have been somehow different. Sorry about the cliche, but there was something very “Zen” about the whole thing. By the end of our morning together, Curtis and Eve had harvested and prep’ed a ton of food.  Curtis kept on exclaiming to me “look at all this stuff!” Yep, they have grown a lot of food in only a few backyards.

5:30 am on Saturday morning came pretty early for me. This was the time I had arranged to meet at the Green City base to follow our intrepid duo to the Kelowna Farmers Market. I did OK, but it was more like 5:45 when I got there. By that time Curtis and Eve had almost completed loading the bike trailers. All that was left to do was tie them down and make the journey of several kilometers to the market.

Photo of Riding to the Market

Everything is transported by bike and trailer. All the produce, the tent, display baskets, everything.  It was really very cool to be cycling down the road next to the loaded bikes. With hardly any traffic on the road it certainly made photographing them a lot easier! I also love the fact the Eve changes out of her work jeans and and wears very stylish dresses to the market. You gotta dress for the occasion!

We turn into the Farmers Market lot and for a while stand in the line-up with the other vehicles waiting to be allocated our area. As I look around amongst the vans, pick-up trucks, and cars, I am not surprised to see that we are the only bicycles in the lot. Next, it is time to setup the stall and they are ready to go.

Photo of Green City Produce Stand

In a number of previous posts I have written about transition towns and the need for the re-localization of our food production. Curtis and Eve are showing us that it can indeed be done. It can also be done without tons of expensive machinery on huge acreages. Before I get criticized for being overly “pollyanna” about this,  I want to add that these two work very hard to grow and harvest the vegetables they sell. Curtis’s enthusiasm for what he is doing only serves to punctuate the deep passion that drives him to do what he does. Someone else may not be as successful. And, it is still early days for Green City Acres. This is the first year of production and Kelowna has been blessed with an unusual level of early-season rainfall. The proof will be in the long term viability of the venture. However, whatever trials come their way, I expect Curtis and Eve will meet them head on and with a smile.

Photo of Smiling Veggies

A big thanks to Eve and Curtis for letting me hang around and continually poke a camera lens in their faces. It was a total pleasure hanging out with you both!


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Categories : Activism, Environment, Food Security, kelowna, Transition Towns

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