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

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

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

Evasive Conservatives and Gutless Liberals

28 05 2010

Canada’s Prime Minster Stephen Harper received a diplomatic shot across-the-bow from Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon regarding climate change. In the Globe and Mail article Mexico ‘cannot wait’ to follow US lead on climate change, Calderon is quoted as saying:

In Mexico, we cannot wait. We cannot wait for the developed countries to make a decision. . . Some of them, like the U.S., could take another eternity to decide on what they had decided since the Kyoto Protocol. . . We know that the quality of life, and the future, is at risk. And I mean the future of a great deal of humanity.

Harper, of course, continued to sit on the fence and deflect his lack of action to the US. But the reality is that, with Harper’s firm background in mainstream economics and climate change denial leanings, he is looking for any excuse to do nothing.

So what is the Canadian government doing to reduce climate change emissions and protect its environment? Currently, the “omnibus” bill C-9 is before parliament and it seeks to “reform” the Environmental Assessment Act. It actually seeks to reform all kinds of stuff, that is why it is called an omnibus bill. Governments hide all kinds of legislation in these bills and hopes no-one will look. There are a number of organizations that have issues with this reform and, as you can imagine, many of them are environmental groups. While searching the net for information on this part of the bill, I came across a nice summary on Globe-net.com. In their article Proposed amendments to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, they contrast the proposed changes to a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling based on the current Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA). The case was between MiningWatch Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the ruling was in favour of MiningWatch.  What Globe-Net highlights is that the CEAA reform in Bill C-9 serves to “fix” all of the aspect of the Acts where the Federal Government lost this case. Here is one of the proposed amendments:

15.1(1) Despite section 15, the Minister may, if the conditions that the Minister establishes are met, determine that the scope of the project in relation to which an environmental assessment is to be conducted is limited to one or more components of that project.

So, by being able to change the scope of the assessment, the ministry is free to pick only certain areas of the project and can then say that an environmental assessment was completed. In addition, if the project in question is a large energy project, the CEAA will no longer be responsible for the assessment. Guess who will be? Either the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission or the National Energy Board, depending on who’s project it is. So much for independent oversight!

The first reading of this bill has already passed–143 to 120. Who voted yes? From the stats posted on Openparliment.ca, only the Conservatives. The Bloc all voted No. The NDP all voted No and three didn’t vote. It was the gutless Liberals that, through their fence sitting allowed this bill to pass. What I mean by fence sitting is that 42 Liberals voted No, and 35 DID NOT VOTE! Of course, we know the reasons that the Liberals did this. It is because “Canadians don’t want an election”. I am really sick of this response. The Liberals are letting a minority government push through legislation that the majority don’t want, but they don’t want to make a fuss about it. How Canadian, eh?

So, before this becomes too much of a rant, I’ll cover the climate change aspect of things.  The most recent bill before Parliament covering this topic was Bill C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act. It was defeated in its 3rd reading 149 to 136. Every Conservative member voted against it. What are you going to do then?? Write to Michael Ignatieff and tell him to grow some cajones and tell him your thoughts on environmental protection and climate change. Follow up with letters to you local MP’s and Stephen Harper and tell them what you think.


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Categories : Activism, Climate Change, Environment, Politics

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