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Leather Pass Chronicles News Views and little known truths from the Canadian Rockies... |
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E-NEWS NOW ONLINE Lest we forget
OCTOBER 2007 If you go into the woods today... Artists On Rails I am Albertan Tuktu Prayers Vampires in the Basement Brian Patsy and Moses A spontaneous Artwalk Artists in the Pines 2008
It's a Francophone July
Canada Day - with an accent!
Jasper is a Creative 'City'
The Centennial approaches!
~a look back at Jasper's Centennial Year~
21 Caribou
Living on Sunshine Video
Family Day, CN and Marshmallows CN
Jasper Community Mission Impossible
Jasper in January The Year in Review, in advance!
Victorias Secret, Caribou and Indian Giving
Ah, November - its all about the weather
Community museums are key to culture
The Who, Trailer Park Boys and Mel Hurtig Tom Thomson and the Pine Beetle
Is that a Mexican Flag on the Banff Springs?
Green Party on the right track
Neufeld Watchel and Watchel
UNESCO's Indigenous Peoples Day
Heritage Day
From Fiddler on the Roof to Fiddler on the Rails Traditions made new again, First Nations art Bikeology and Caribou MAY 2006
On MountainTop Rock
 COMING SOON Foothills Mens Chorus Artists on Rails
Cowboy Poetry Gathering
Other VideoLogs by DTMI
Webcasts will be available on line for about a year. They will be archived and available upon request after that.
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OCTOBER 2007 If you go into the woods today... Updated October 20, 2007
This is the west entrance to Jasper...that is the Tramway on Whistlers Peak. The view from there will be quite different next season. I, like many that I have spoken to, watch in horror as the pipeline expansion pushes through. It was to follow the trail of the original pipeline of 40+ years ago. I am no tree expert but these trees, at this altitude in the mountains, have to be older than 50.
And where might they be going? Local resident use? Or corporate sales?
And if you don't know where you are the highway signage most certainly isn't going to help, as most of the signposts that mark those marvelous highpoints of travel are covered with garbage bags. I wondered 'why' all the way home - these signs simply tell you what mountain you are passing... Our number one industry (pre-pipeline) was tourism, our visitors deserve to know the names of the mountains!? The breathtaking trek to visit friends was not what it was last fall. Most of us have accepted the fact that change happens, we all drive cars - we all use oil. And if they weren't going through the Park they would be going through somewhere else where they wouldn't be scrutinized and watched as they are here... The heritage, trees, and rivers will recover. But what about the human scars I am seeing? This is a land that many have cherished and honoured since 'my generation' arrived here in the 70's and 80's. This is something we have never experienced before, a disregard for most of what we had come to believe, that wilderness is 'relatively' forever and safe in our Park. And this is just one pressure our little community will see in the next year - a new terminal for rail traffic has opened this fall in Prince Rupert. Our busy little railyard is going to get a LOT busier. The $170 million dollar container facility is North America's newest container port. Its 30 hours closer to China and Japan than any other North American port. That 30 hours equals $400 savings on each container. The other ports on the west coast are also becoming overly congested. COSCO has signed onto this route with promises of 500,000 containers a year. This increase in rail traffic on an aging track that is not designed for 1369 additional container cars a day, and CN's unprepared labour force is sure to show the stress as it increases on a system that is already stressed! And we get front row seats to all of it! As our little remote wilderness surrounded community meets big business...the social and 'humane' costs rise.
And should you arrive from the East...
Images by MAW Photography (My Alberta Windshield Photography)
Last month's talk at the Museum (and an expansion on those thoughts) is still poignant to these issues, The talk expanded upon the relationships between changing
ecosystems and human interaction. Thought
provoking theories about how human interference has historically
affected the ecology of an area and then contemplating questions and
scenarios about how to reverse those ecological shifts…lots of big
words and charts to confirm what we are all seeing. I
walked away with the image in my mind of the ecosystem he explained
where a species appears that wouldn’t normally be there.
This species is indicative of an imbalance in the system.
To return the balance would mean damage to the species that has
appeared and any of the other animals, flora and fauna that have grown
dependent on that species being there. As
I moved through Jaspers streets on my way home I was reminded of the
wonderful wild National Park that I am allowed to reside in.
Tonight I walked past heavy construction equipment and large
trucks. ‘Species’ that
wouldn’t normally be here. But because of human interference they are.
What kind of imbalance can we expect to see from this new shift?
What symbiotic relationships will arise around this situation? While the lesson I believe I was being told tonight was to accept change…ecosystems have become out of balance and to get the balance back would require damage to the new system and its inhabitants…and do we ‘as humans’ have the right to inflict / reverse what we see as undesirable because we cant accept change? I
can’t help thinking that the real lesson is closer to ‘look at what
happens when people interfere with the natural environment’.
This is a National Park – a place set aside for wilderness to
be preserved. If we cannot
co-exist in this wild place without ‘shifting’ the ecology we are
failing as custodians. And
the uprooted trees I walked by tonight, and the huge trucks with ATV’s
are further proof of a change in the original thinking of what a
wilderness reserve is. Can
we accept the new system that will evolve from the changes Jasper is
going through today? Because,
I believe I was questioned tonight about the ethical and moral right to
remove / reverse the side effects of what these demolished trees and
negative impact vehicles will leave behind as the Jasper of tomorrow. Or
perhaps the real lesson here is - If I have no moral or ethical right to
question the existence of things that evolve from changes that are
created when humans interfere with a natural system, I suggest we avoid
any interference with natural systems and intercept any unforeseen
future imbalances! In this 100th year it is evident, by this research, we have altered the natural state of Jasper National Park. It is not the Park of 1907. What are we creating for the inhabitants of 2107? Quite the dilemma we are leaving for our children.
EFFORTS HAVE BEGUN ON ARTISTS IN THE PINES 2008 Check out the 2006 calendar (just to see what you missed!) and get ready to be entertained, educated and pampered - in the PINES next autumn.
NEW to Artists in the Pines - for 2008, the art of Japanese drumming on the shores of the Athabasca River and FiddleMania.
May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 Sept 2006 Oct 2006 Nov 2006 Dec 2006 Jan2007 Feb2007 March2007 April2007 June 2007 July 2007
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