Lest Us Not Forget

     I just finished my little part in helping one of my mother's shirt-tailed relatives compile their Campbell family history. They started their story in the mid 1880s and we worked our way through four generations of adventurers beginning as Scotch Irishmen immigrating to Ontario then to South Dakota and finally settling in the Wetaskiwin/Camrose area of central Alberta. What a tale of adventure, hardships, determination and devoted family. Theirs is not an uncommon tale of the settlement of Western Canada and USA. Thousands of immigrant people migrated from Europe full of optimism and dreams of a better life with free land of milk and honey.
     My own family were another of the migrants to Alberta from Europe a generation later than the Campbell's so they ended up further north in 1927.
     What I learned and was reminded of from doing these stories and talking to these people, now in their 80s and 90s, who know and lived some of the stories, is that they were also once filled with dreams and optimism. Doris and Tom are now blind and inflicted with terrible dementia respectively. They live in a beautiful care home for seniors here in Edmonton. As I read their stories and looked at old family photos I could not help but remind myself that these elderly people were once determined to  leave their mark on the world. They were somebody's children who went to school, they milked the cows and fed the pigs everyday before and after school. They planted gardens, picked roots and rocks and rode horses and sewed their crops with the eternal optimism of all farmers. They worked hard from sunup to sunset and longer. Frost, hail, drought, cold and snow challenged them every year. They were loved and loved back. They courted the pretty girls and young men. They married and made babies, lots of babies. They worked hard to raise these babies in dugouts, soddies and small log houses until they could finally build new homes of lumber and as times progressed they enjoyed the luxuries of electricity, telephones and later natural gas and television.
     This story reminds me of my own relatives who are now struggling with the ravages of age and disease.  I think of the times my Dad lived and worked through to provide for his family, now worried about his cancer battle. My mother-in-law sits by herself in her tiny room in the old folks home waiting for the next meal or the next visitor. My mother struggles with loss of independance and fear of leaving her own home to the care home. She slowly goes through prized poesessions valuable to few but herself. I think of my aunt who has struggled for years with Parkinson's then cancer which maimed her body and now dementia slowly taking over her brain all to the dismay of her devoted husband and kids. She is only a few years older than I am so I well remember when she was young, vibrant and very good looking. She and Uncle loved to party and laugh and they struggled to maintain the family farm while raising four kids and a grand daughter. They volunteered and helped to show the way for hundreds of young kids who attended their bible camp. They have placed their struggles in the hands of their Lord for the past several years. We all wonder at the challenges He has asked of them.
     I am just hoping that we do not overlook these elderly people who struggle with the last few years of their lives. Let's not forget their contributions to this country and their own families. Let's not get too impatient with their weakness and instead remember that they once helped us out when we were small and frail. The circle of life is happening, and they are coming full circle. Now it is our turn to be strong and compassionate.

Election Day Coming

     Every four years or so the public at large gets to have some say in who will be our provincial government leaders. May 5/ 2015 is the day for us to vote for our candidate selection based upon our own hopes and desires. For myself, the environment is a main consideration. I don't know if the provincial government can do much about oil prices and the gouging that the oil companies are doing to us at the pumps. I don't know if they can do much about the numbers of dead and missing women in this country. We will wait for the expected national vote to address these issues along with the federal environmental mismanagement.
     Here in Alberta, the provincial conservatives choose not to follow their own guidelines to stop any further encroachment into valuable caribou habitat required to try to maintain an undisturbed land base required for the woodland caribou to thrive and maintain a viable population. Instead, they choose helicopter gunships, snaring and poisons to be used to hunt down and exterminate wolves that have traditionally co-habitated with caribou for centuries. Along with the dead wolves are numerous by-catch that is also killed off by the poisons such as wolverine, scavenging birds, coyotes, lynx, black and grizzly bears as well as intentionally shot ungulates that are used as poison laced bait. Oil and gas exploration, pipelines, roads and cut blocks are all depleting and opening up the remote old growth timber lands where the caribou live. Other ungulates such as moose, elk and deer move into the logged off cut blocks and road fringes feeding upon the new deciduous tree growth while bringing with them the predatory wolves doing what wolves do naturally. Unfortunately for caribou, they are easier to catch and kill than moose or elk. Black bears also move into these newly exposed areas which bring them closer to where caribou are found. Now the black bears have learned to catch and eat caribou calves so we have made it even more difficult for caribou to survive. I will guess we will now start poisoning and shooting black bears.
     The next issue that I hate to see is the round up of the feral horses in western Alberta. These horses are ancestors of horses turned loose from abandoned and closed down coal mines, logging operations, homesteaders and outfitters as well as Indian ponies that have wandered off. They have lived here for more than 100 years. I have travelled to the eastern slopes region west of Sundre, north of Cochrane around the Mountainaire Lodge region to spend time with the wild horses. I am not much of a horse person but I truly do like to spend time with these wild horses. I guess I admire their stamina and recognise the challenges they live with in this rugged landscape. They seem to fit into this land very well. The wildies feed on grasses that grow on newly exposed cutblocks, roadsides and in river and creek valleys. They paw through deep snow to expose grass during the winter months. There are not great numbers of them scattered in small bands across hundreds of thousands of acres of wildland. Generally accepted numbers show about 800 horses scattered in bands ranging in size from two or three to more commonly eight or ten to less than twenty animals led by a stallion with his mares, colts and young studs.

Feral Horses Grazing in Cutblock

     This year, as in others, the government led by the ESRD ( Environment and Sustainable Resources Development) division, rounded up several bands and shipped them off to auction to be sold off to private investors or slaughter for profit. After a huge donnybrook last season where several people protesting the horse capture were arrested and charged with interfering with the capture, the ESRD used a contractor to try to trap and round up the horses. These guys were using questionable methods of chasing horses through cutblocks and try to rope them along with baited traps. They were not concerned about the welfare of pregnant mares, horse family dynamics or possible injury to wild horses or their own stock. Some of the illegal and immoral methods were filmed by dedicated horse watchers and photographers. The ESRD have not said anything about numbers of horses rounded up or living on the wild range.

ATV Damages To Hillside

     In my travels I have seen many different users of this region that are not very friendly to the land. Huge cut blocks, by huge I mean greater than section size, 500 acres and larger. We used to consider 1/4 section, or 160 acres to be large cut blocks. I saw areas where ATVs, (all terrain vehicles) have torn deep ruts up hillsides and through bogs causing erosion and sediment to enter sensitive creeks and streams, home to endangered Bull Trout. Gravel pits, roads and wash outs as well as tremendous damage caused by the flood of 2013 all seem to me to be of greater concern than a few wild horses.
      There is also the concerns of cattlemen who graze their cattle on grazing reserves in this area. I don't understand where the boundaries of these grazing reserves are as there are few fences. There are several Texas gates along the Forestry Trunk Road with no fences connecting them to any kind of border line. There is often a bit of barbed wire winding a few feet through the ditch into the bush but it would be ineffective at keeping anything but a wandering photographer at bay. They are not maintained in any way. I assume then that the cattle can wander the countryside free range. I was there in Late November last year and found a few cattle still wandering along the roadside looking for grass and seemed to hope I was there to take them home to the comfort of the barnyard. The ranchers are apparently concerned that the horses are eating grass that their cattle should have.

Eating on Exposed Hillsides

Eating Grass on Road Right-of-ways

     There are other environmental issues that we have to contend with. I recall our premier, Jim Prentice bragging about Alberta's environmental record while making a speech in the USA to supporters of the Gateway Pipeline. I disagree after hearing about oil spills, seeing mountains moved for coal, land base opened with little regard for the wildlife, and valuable farmland being paved over for building cities and industrial plants. I do realise that we cannot totally halt progress and industry, but do we need to do it all right now? Can we not reclaim some of the destroyed land base before proceeding with new development? Is there going to be anything left for our children and grand kids? We have seen man's destructive practises in other countries so can we not use them as warnings to our own mad rush to extract every dollar from the ground immediately?
     I will be asking questions of the other political parties as I have asked of the present governors. I hope to get better responses than the form letters I have had in the past.

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Wild Horse Rally

     I went to the Alberta Legislature yesterday to support the wild horses of Alberta. There was a rally scheduled for Edmonton and for Calgary due to start at 1:00. There was one woman who arrived early and by a little after 1:00 there were about a dozen supporters. Two or three went up to the microphone and said their piece in support of leaving the wildies alone where they are. Several media types braved the chilly wind while interviewing some of the participants and everything wound up by a little after 2:00.

A Few Faithful Defenders of the Alberta Wild Horses

     The main arguments for the horses are: They are a heritage animal with some 150 years of history of hard work and doing their part in the settlement of Alberta. The native people of Alberta would have used horses for at least another 100 years before that for hunting, trading and travel. Once the railroad began to convert from steam and coal to diesel powered engines, many of the coal mines along the eastern slopes closed down and the horse became obsolete and were turned loose to fend for themselves. Farmers who settled all of Alberta also had little use for their hard working draft horses and were sold, turned loose or just wandered off on their own to settle into the foothills region. There were even a few horses that lived in Northern Alberta on some of the Smokey River flats up until a few years ago. I remember hearing stories of cowboys who are still alive today who used to go try rounding up some of those horses with some success.
     Some other arguments for the horse put forth are: They are not doing any damage to the environment. Compared to numbers of cattle that graze provincially sanctioned grazing reserves, the horses are very low in numbers. Comparatively, the horses do far less damage, just by the style of grazing that they do. The horses do not eat the growing pine or spruce trees either, if anything they are probably helping the seedlings grow by lessening the grass competition which forest companies pay to do with herbicides. The numbers of horses in the vast acreages involved is really quite small numbers per acre. The government does not seem to have accurate figures for the numbers of horses in the region and will not advertise what numbers they will allow to live there.
     Other discussions are raised about the legality of transporting pregnant mares along with the stresses they go through during trapping, transportation, sorting, auctioning and then the eventual slaughter at the slaughter house at Ft. McLeod. These actions are all seen as being very in-humane treatment for wild animals used to running free in small family groups.
     The beauty of the wild horse is also attracting some tourism to the eastern slopes region that has little other economy except for very environmentally damaging gas, oil, limestone and timber extraction. Any of the tourists that visit this remote region are shocked by the environmental scars etched onto the rugged landscape, far more damaging than what a few horses could do.
     Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) Department of the government has a different mandate regarding the horses. Their claim is that the horses are feral, therefore are an invasive species to the region that compete with natural wildlife such as the moose, deer and elk. The horses have no place in the ESRD plans for the region. They also compete with cattle that are grazed on licensed grazing preserves for a fee which they collect per head. There is some discussion about the hazards of hitting free ranging horses on the public roads. There are some complaints from local ranchers about wildies getting into their hay stacks, wrecking fences and challenging tame horses.
      One of the main disappointments was the perceived dishonesty of ESRD as it was understood that there was an agreement in place to try a contraception regime for a year or two while a proper population number was established that would be agreeable to all parties. There are totally different opinions upon the numbers of horses that live here as happens with other wildlife as well. This agreement was in place in Nov. 2014 and now ESRD suddenly and without any consultation, decided to do a cull of about 75 wild horses from the Ghost River region. They have agreed to allow Wild Horses of Alberta Society, (WHOAS) to adopt as many of the captures as they want before the rest are sent to auction and thence, for possible slaughter. I understand that the auction will take place at Innisfail on Saturday, Sept. 28.
      I would have liked to see many more people out at the Legislature to support the wild horses of Alberta. I don't think we made much of an impression upon the government when they are trying to gain as much income into their depleted coffers as possible. If they were genuinely in policy agreement, why do they have a band of wild horses running free and looking great in their Alberta tourism advertisements? Horses really do promote the romantic, wild and free aspects of our current vision and heritage.

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How to Use and Not Use Bear Spray

     After work one evening, two young men drove the truck three miles down a narrow logging road looking for a perfect fishing hole where cutthroat trout patrolled picking up floating salmon roe. It was salmon spawning season on the river and the valley reeked of rotting fish mixed with berry engorged bear scat. Gulls, crows, and eagles perched in the huge spruce, fir and alder trees overhanging the river waiting for full crops to digest before going for more of the plentiful feed. Large padded, five-clawed prints marked the sandy river banks as the men made their way to the river edge loaded down with fishing rods, hooks and carefree optimism. As they cast their roe baited hooks into the pool they could see flashes of silver flicker out of the deep dark shadows checking for easy red meals. One cutty went for the bait and swallowed it greedily, unaware of the danger until the hook set suddenly and securely into its bony jaw. It shook its head and tugged violently against the sting, pain and resistance that incessantly towed it to the exposed shallows. It ran hard, down stream towing Jack along the sandy riverbank. They fought and tugged to and fro for a couple of minutes before the three-pound trout lay panting on the shore. Jack quickly released the hook and cast it back into the river. Fishing was great and both men soon had a couple of fish lined up on the river bank when a bear emerged from upstream, slowly and methodically casting his huge nose back and forth searching for the fresh smell of free meal. Andy was further downstream and noticed the bear coming behind Jack and called a warning. Jack spun around reaching for his bear spray canister hanging from the holster on his hip. 

Hungry for Fish

     The bear spotted the fish lying on the bank and sprang forward, splashing downstream claiming the beached trout. Andy, wisely backed off, abandoning his catch, but prepared to defend himself if the bear wanted more. He popped the safety clip off the trigger as he continued to make his way downstream. Grizzly stopped and nuzzled then ate his free fish and the men managed to make their way safely to the truck.

     Before they boarded Jack struggled to replace the safety clip onto the trigger of the canister.  Andy supervised passing out instructions, as Jack got more frustrated. They were both soon huddled over the canister, trying in vain to snap the clip into place. Somehow, Jack’s finger slipped onto the trigger, releasing a sudden orange bomb of spray directly into the palm of his hand, which deflected the fire into both fellows’ faces. Instant burning, gasping, swearing, fumbling, can’t see, can’t breathe, and can’t drive.

Laughing Bear

     “Where is that bear?” they are wondering through the foggy background of pain and confusion. Need water but got none; the river is right there but so is the bear. All these thoughts ricochet around their fogged brains and burning sinuses that are trying to get reloaded with fresh oxygen but can’t. They are finally able to get in the truck but can’t see to drive through tear filled eyes. The radio doesn’t reach camp from here. They finally are able to get turned around and fumble their way toward safety. Finally they reach camp and rush into their rooms, shed their clothes and pile into the shower, fighting for the same nozzle of cold relief. By this time a crowd of very unsympathetic co-workers arrived in time to hear renewed gasps and cries of burning pain, now expanding downward. The oil-based pepper is flowing down onto tender bellies and cascading even further downward over even tenderer, dangling body parts. It seems to have no mercy on the men and their laughing mates seem to have even less. There seems to be no end to the fire and even cold water cannot extinguish their anguish.

     Finally someone takes pity and calls the hospital to try to figure out what to do. The sympathetic but snickering nurse orders the burning men out of the crowded shower. This is about the worse first aid you can provide. “Flood them with whole milk.” she advises. “The milk will absorb the peppery oil and don’t rub it in any more. After a bit get some Dawn dish soap and slowly rinse off the milk and pepper spray. They should be okay in a little while!”

     Bear spray is probably the best and safest deterrent you can take to the bush if there may be bears or other predators in the area. It is light and easy to carry on your belt where it can be easily and readily grasped if required. It does you no good to be buried in the bottom of you pack. If a bear approaches, slowly back off while speaking in a calm voice trying not to stare a challenge eye to eye. Get your bear spray out and release the safety. Make sure your companions are also slowly and calmly backing off, not running. If the bear continues its advance with ears back, lips curled be prepared. You must wait until it is quite close to you, ten feet or a bit more before you spray a short two or 3 second burst in a sweeping motion toward its face. Hopefully it is downwind from you but be sure to make sure it is making contact with the bear. You may need another burst so try not to empty your canister.

     Studies have found that good bear repellent is about 95% effective in stopping bear attacks or advances. A rifle or shotgun is effective in about 45% of the time in skilled hands. Pepper spray can also be used if the bear already has a hold on you or your partner. You can spray him but you probably should not shoot your rifle into that squirming, squalling mass of fur and friend.

     Before you ever get in the position of needing it, you should practise. Go out with your hiking companions and practise drawing the canister, releasing the safety and pressing the trigger. Aim the spray down toward an imaginary bear face and fan it back and forth being sure the charging bear has to pass through the peppery cloud. By all means don’t intentionally entice a bear to your camp or your body. Keep food away from both, make a bit of noise and hike with a group when in bear country. Get out and enjoy the wilderness and her critters but be prepared for all emergencies of which charging bears are probably one of the fewer.

     The above episode is true and happened more or less like explained. The guys suffered no permanent harm except for the emotional scarring caused by unending teasing and long memories of all who were witness to their embarrassing episode.

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How Do We Tackle Difficult Issues

     I am just wondering if there is any sense of continuing a formal environmental committee such as Wolf Matters.ca. Are we gaining any ground what so ever? I don't want to sound defeatist but what are we accomplishing? I feel like the NDP party of Alberta must feel. They will only ever get 20% of the vote in this province. We all complain about how bad the conservatives are but cannot defeat them.

     I ran into a situation last week to demonstrate what we are dealing with.

     My brother-in-law, a great guy, big farmer and upstanding citizen from small town Alberta who works hard, is honest and very red neck. He, his son and a few friends went ice fishing on their skidoos to Bistou Lake in far Northern Alberta last winter. They try to do this manly trip annually and to tell you the truth, I would also enjoy that very much. The thing that got to me was that while they were fishing, a pack of 8 wolves decided to cross this very large lake and were spotted by my family of red necks. The guys ran them down with their snowmobiles and managed to kill 6 of the pack. They are still bragging and laughing about this slaughter. They were able to salvage 3 hides as the rest of them began slipping their hair as they were packed so tightly on the skidoo toboggan. It is bad enough to me that these good people would slaughter these wolves very quickly around their farm land where there might be some possibility of the wolves doing harm to any cattle in the area, but up at Bistou Lake, there is nothing but natural prey for the wolves. I felt the tears well up in my eyes as they told their gruesome story. To maintain family harmony in an already unstable family group, I chose not to say anything.

     How do we combat this ingrained lust to kill one of our great predators? There is a culture of manly right-of-passage ingrained into such a large percentage of our population that it seems impossible to defeat or even slow down. My family continues to raise generation after generation of people ingrained with this lust to defeat the predators of our land. Their grandsons now have rifles and enjoy hunting coyotes, squirrels, along with deer, moose and elk. I don't mind hunting, I think it is a good thing to know how to feed your family in tough times. I get that. I am very much a part of this culture. I was raised within it and took part in many hunts. I also shot bears, wolves and coyotes and hoped at one time to get a shot at grizzly but never did.

     I have other brothers who have sons and outdoors lovers who cannot wait to get a shot at any wolf, bear, cougar that steps into their sights. I have listened to other people wishing they could be in the helicopter shot gunning wolves. My Dad one time shot 6 black bears in one sitting and another friend shot 5 in his grain field at one time for no other reason than bloodlust. I remember arguing with my brother over the salmon harvest. He would go annually salmon fishing to B.C. His truck carried a deep freeze and generator and he carried every fish he could back to Alberta with no thought to salmon and halibut stock declines. He paid for his license and the boat ride and was dam well going to get his money’s worth. His is not the only deepfreeze/generator package that I know about travelling annually to B.C. for the salmon fishery.

     This is the culture we are battling and trying to open their very closed minds to the possibilities of beautiful nature. Lord help me if I mention anything at all about trying to be environmentally aware of the destruction of our wild lands. Being an environmentalist is akin to being a Southern Baptist preacher spewing hell fire and brimstone at our family reunion. Right now many members of my family work and make their living with the companies in the very region of the province where the caribou are threatened by clear cutting and oil extraction. Getting that oil out of the ground and chopping those trees down right now is paramount to any environmental damage and be dammed if this isn't their right. I once worked for a sawmill owner who would have liked to put a bounty on Spotted Owls in B.C. so there would be no excuse to hold up logging old growth forest depriving him of more millions. It doesn’t matter that certain populations are extirpated here as there are still more in another places.

     This is the same dilemma that we are facing with the governments and resource extraction companies who are working here. They feel that they have the right to bull doze everything in their path for corporate profits and re-election. They have the right and the power to use all tools at their disposal to destroy whatever stands in their way. Poison, snares, traps and helicopter gunners will go out to destroy hundreds of predators under the guise of protecting a few caribou when they admit in their own correspondence that habitat fragmentation is the number one reason that caribou populations cannot grow and be sustainable. They seem willing to sacrifice this caribou population for resource corporate profits while accusing and hanging the wolves and bears.

     Both federal and provincial governments muzzle their scientists to prevent any educated information from reaching the general population. If you don't know about what is going on around you, you cannot raise a ruckus and  you will think things are just fine. Governments are happy to see us constantly distracted by meaningless celebrity news with the hope that we will talk more about Kim's booty job than any real issues.

     I do feel that there are many people who do care deeply about the wilderness in this and other provinces. We see every summer caravans of holiday trailers heading to some semblance of wilderness to experience a bit of nature. People do need rejuvenation that nature provides and we can see the desire to see predators by the "bear jambs" along any highway.

     Somehow we have to try to raise awareness to more people to what we are doing to our wilderness before it is so depleted that we will be confined to a few small parks. How do we do this? I truly look forward to showing my grand children something of the wilderness that I have seen. I don't want them to just see a moving benchmark of wildness that they may think is natural and real.

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Letter to the Premier

     This is a letter I just sent to our Provincial Premier, The Honourable Jim Prentice

     Our Provincial government is trying to figure out how to save the dwindling populations of caribou in the little Smokey region of north-central Alberta.

     The simplest solution is to stop habitat fragmentation in caribou country. I have never been able to understand government and industry need to extract every resource right now! The oil, gas and timber is not going anywhere, it will be there years down the road. The noise and activity of all the traffic and equipment disrupts the very shy and reclusive wildlife even further reducing the land base they have available for use. I suggest opening an area to extraction, do the job, fix the mess, restore the land and move on. Leave meaningful corridors through which wildlife can migrate. Limit the amount of traffic to times of year least disruptive to them. Right now we see miles of destruction with little evidence of restoration. I have looked at several examples over the past year:

     Coalmines south of Hinton have literally moved mountains. I see grass growing on some of their reclaim but not a tree to be seen to replace the forest that has been removed.

     I looked at logging south of Grande Prairie where I used to work. Instead of an 80 year cycle to maintain an annual allowable cut in perpetuity, there are few mature trees left standing as well as miles of new roads, gas and oil facilities, pipelines and continued logging due to pine beetle, a disaster not accounted for in the past. Forest fire could have also happened instead of beetle. The cut cycle has occurred in 40 years, ½ the time required for a forest to be replaced. Is the company now going to request another, even larger land base and stretch even further into marginal territory which encroaches even further into wildlife territory?

     Is anyone actually doing any restoration work in the oil sands mines and settling ponds? Is there any new forest growing to replace those that were removed? Are they going to keep digging and pumping sludge until the companies go broke or quit saying they can no longer afford to clean up? This remediation work needs to be ongoing and finished before new mines started.

     Medicine Hat and a gas company want to destroy the last small bit of land that is home to the Sage grouse. They have written that: "It doesn't matter if the grouse is extirpated here, there are still a few of them surviving in the USA!" Is this legacy the will of our population and the heritage that we want to leave our grand children?

     The government is extremely concerned about a few wild/feral horses in western Alberta that seem to me to be doing very little harm to their environment. Leave them alone to be enjoyed by tourists and outdoor enthusiasts and get concerned about the habitat destruction by logging companies running amok causing trap line destruction and contributing to massive flooding and river destruction.

    

     The mad rush to get every drop out of the ground today is also probably contributing to the world over supply/ low price issues. Now the government is using this issue to threaten us with dire economic consequences!

     The land along the eastern slopes and stretching out into boreal forest was all caribou range a few years ago. I remember when there was a caribou hunt still allowed until almost 1980. This traditional caribou territory was healthy for all types of wildlife until it began to be opened up by logging and petroleum companies. Prey and predators lived in harmonious balance until we began to interfere. It was a spectacular land.

     I don't understand but if I am to believe the government, I am sure that poisoning, shooting, snaring and trapping every wolf and wild horse in the area will solve all of our problems and the caribou, and sage grouse will all suddenly thrive!

     I must apologize for our recklessness to my grand children now!

     Please Mr. Prentice, help us get this madness under control. I don't believe that you want as part of your legacy to be known as a person who had the power to preserve our wilderness and did nothing. You don't want to be remembered as the Premier who lost the last caribou or sage grouse. This is much more real and long term than some corporations profit.

Sincerely

Robert Scriba

Old Stomping Grounds

     A few days after Christmas we headed for Grande Prairie for a visit to see friends and relatives. I also wanted to tour the area south of Grande Prairie where I worked as a logger for Proctor and Gamble at the time. When I left the city around 9:00 it was -27 degrees Celsius but the sun was bright and lightening the hoar frost and snow covered forest. The main haul road south from the Weyerhaeuser pulp mill was in beautiful shape as it used to be with the help of winter frost and snow filled potholes. It was 1979 when I last travelled this road, 35 years already. Where has the time gone? As I drove along I remembered incidents and landmarks from my past.
     Mile 11 was the spot a loaded log truck driver dodged a coyote and ended up out in the swamp, still upright but now jobless.

Coyote

     Here at mile 29 was the spot another fellow tipped his truck over and scattered logs for more than a hundred yards after hitting a bump and losing control on the down hill slope.
     Right here we were travelling home after a late shift around 2:00 in the morning. I was driving a crew cab with three or four work mates, including my friend Smokey, an East Indian immigrant. It was a bright moonlit, cold winter night when suddenly several timber wolves crossed through the high beam headlights. I immediately stopped and shut the truck off, hoping to see more wolves. We stood outside the truck and enjoyed listening to the wolves howl back and forth from each side of the road. We were surrounded by spectacular wilderness symphony. What a memorable few minutes. I could not convince Smokey to sit beside the road while we drove away.
     There is the spot I shot a moose while hunting with my wife and first son Michael when he was around a year or a bit more old. I remember having a friend of mine help carry that moose to the road. He was a big strong Frenchman who broke trail while I staggered along behind trying to hold up my end of the moose load.

Trees planted around 1975

     Mile 32 corner is where I planted my first trees into the naked cut block. Those trees now stand more than thirty feet tall. It worked! This was the same area that the company helicopter landed in front of one of our delimbing machines to inform the operator that he was on fire. The rear engine was burning giant billows of smoke and flames while he was driving down the road.

Compressor Station

     It is difficult to see some of the landmarks as there are new roads, oil well sites, compressor stations, pipelines and gas plants scattered all the way along the road. The old airstrip is not even noticeable.

5 or 6 year old Lodgepole Pine 

     There are no more mature trees left, or very few. This forest has been infested by the Mountain Pine Beetle which has destroyed millions of Lodgepole pine from B.C. through Alberta and beyond. The company is trying to salvage as much of the dead and dying timber as possible. When I was logging here the plan was to cycle through the forest on a eighty year cycle. Timber was supposed to last forever if this allowable cut could be maintained.

Mountain Pine Beetle Infested Trees 

     It is now 40 years since the first trees were cut in 1972 and there are few mature trees left in the Weyerhaeuser district one area. I wonder what will happen in the next few years to the forest, the wildlife and the land. What new pest or fire will come through to disrupt man's best laid plans.

Healthy Looking Coyote

      I did so enjoy spending time with a coyote who has discovered that there may be a few scraps of food at a mandatory truck stop where the drivers must check their load security and equipment. This coyote will hopefully not become another blotch on the road, himself food for scavengers. This is mile 42 and it is plus 2 degrees C. It always seems to be warmer out here than in town.

Snowy Cattails

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