My contract as instructor in the Natural Resources program at Aurora College is done. For the summer, I'll be working with Parks Canada as a Resource Conservation Technician. Yeah! I'll be out in the field for a good part of it as a field assistant for some botanists with the Canadian Museum of Nature. We will be going to Tutktut Nogait National Park to collect plants for the museum herbarium in Ottawa. We've been grounded in Paulatuk for several days due to fog. So the plane can't pick us up and drop us off near the park.
Tuktut Nogait Park is in the NE corner of the Northwest Territories right on the border with Nunavut. We'll be travelling on the Hornaday River by canoe for 3 weeks. A real expedition! Tuktut Nogait is one of the most remote and least visited parks in the system. There was only one group of visitors last year - 2 people flew over by small plane and required a landing permit to stop at a lake to go fishing.
This year, in fact, several private trips this year have been cancelled due to flight restrictions within the park itself. The Bluenose caribou herd have declined in recent years and local residents are concerned about the impact of overflights on caribou within and near their calving grounds.
There are 4 botanists and 2 Parks staff paddling north on the Hornaday River. Another research crew of 4 from Parks Canada will be flying in with us and backpacking south as part of an archaeological survey looking for evidence of ancient human occupation and use of the park.
This is definately the life!
Check the link below to find out more about the park
http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/tuktutnogait/index_E.asp
To find out more about the botany project you can check the CBC News North story
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/06/26/nwt-plants.html
Let's hope the fog clears and we get to go tomorrow. I'm scheduled to return to Inuvik July 21 - weather depending.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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