This new campaign by Greenpeace just in time for the olympics this month in London will raise a few eyebrows. I think it’s ingenious and a perfect time to redouble efforts in the arduous fight against Arctic oil exploration. The industry will never stop trying to extract oil from the precious pristine landscape of the Arctic. The fight to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge lasted years and still is under pressure with heavy dependence on political incumbency. Now other areas are targeted and oil groups are depending on resistance being lowered in these bleak economic times. With gas prices escalated and heightened conflict in the mid-East, people are more apt to give in to pressure to explore new fuel sources…especially in North America. This is time for all responsible individuals to step back from personal economic distress and fight for future generations….preserving the frontier of the North.
Oil lobbyists are banking on persistence. In our information – overloaded world, the tendency to be overwhelmed with “causes” can lead to complacency. As humans, we tend to engage a cause the first time with incredible effort and then less and less in subsequent campaigns. A perfect example of this is the harp seal campaign. In the 80’s the tenacious resistance to the practice of seal-clubbing was so intensely fought that the market dried up. Later on the passion to fight waned and activists moved on to another cause. It’s hard to focus on one campaign these days as we are more aware of numerous hardships in the world.
Polar bear on polar rover Photo Steve Selden
Granted, the oil issue is infinitely broader in scope. though we need to take that stance in order to preserve the planet. We have made incredible strides in alternative energy in the just the past two decades..we need to keep going in that direction and not fall back into the old familiar trap of oil…a limited resource. Will we keep using oil until the resource is exhausted or save a supply for emergency situations or future generations? We also do not know the planetary implications of taking all of this resource out of the Earth. I’m all for exploring less planet-exhausting resources! You?
My favorite season in Churchill is not polar bear season. No…Winter would not be my next choice….although hailing from New England I do love the cold. Well, that’s not really “cold” compared to the Arctic. Summer in Churchill is unmatched anywhere in the world I have traveled to. Alaska is very close. I think the beauty is enhanced for me by spending close to 15 years of alternating seasons….both Fall polar bear season and Summer beluga whale season... within the same year. Experiencing different seasons bonds one with the land, water and people quite differently then only seeing the place during one particular time of year. If I had to choose a season…Summer would be the one!
Churchill Summer is spectacular. Photo-Steve Selden.
Over the years I passed up many opportunities to guide polar bear trips full time out on the tundra of the Churchill Wildlife Management Area for Natural Habitat Adventures … instead staying with the Churchill logistical team organizing everything from dog sled trips to personal photography tours to escorting hospital visits for over a thousand travelers per season. I am more of an outdoor naturalist and the Summer trips encompass more in terms of piecing together a complete ecosystem. Life becomes so intertwined out of necessity as the season to reproduce and gather energy is extremely short. October and November in Churchill are the busiest tourist months of the year as everyone wants to experience the realm of the polar bear. Get in, see a polar bear, get out is the mantra for many tourists yet they are missing a myriad of life buried beneath the snow and ice. That’s why many travelers return….in Summer.
Beluga whale in the Churchill River. Photo-Steve Selden
Just as polar bears are the star everyone comes to see in the Fall, beluga whales are the main focus of the Summer season. However, it’s a different feel in the Summer. Since so much time is spent hiking on the land, much more is taken in. Multifarious flowers..including various orchids..bird life, ground animals, geological formations and fossils, Boreal forest and of course the marine environment provides an outdoor classroom for all ages with diverse interests. Whales are the headliner…though the journey around the land between time out on the water reveals the true secrets of life in the Arctic. An incredible web of life continually links the present with the past in this timeless landscape. Researchers in numerous fields return to Churchill annually and set up at the Churchill Northern Studies Center to learn more about how every living and even non-living thing relies on another.
Spring and Summer birding is unmatched! Photo-Steve Selden
I’ve often said that the biggest kept secret about Churchill is the Summer season. I feel as if I’ve only scratched the surface of the tundra so to speak. The incredible array of life and history observed on a trip to Churchill in the summer will peak the interest of anyone. Twelve years or more have left me yearning to learn more.
With the Churchill beluga whale season approaching I thought I’d offer up some inspiring photo’s from recent years guiding these amazing trips up in the North. Over twelve years of guiding Summer trips for Natural Habitat Adventures have produced a few stellar shots. Out on the water the action can be sublime. I would always warn travelers not to “focus” on trying to get that amazing shot, rather become part of the experience. Often the will to get the perfect shot creates a void between one and the actual wildlife encounter. In these days of technological immersion, the gap between the actual experience and seeing life through a camera is blurred. However, without hesitation, I know the real thing offers much more inspiration then looking through a lens. Tell that to an avid photographer. Certain excursions can be frustrating to photophiles …the power is somewhat lost from the side of an Italian -made zodiac. Either way, the experience with these incredible animals is transient and everlasting.
This rare shot captures a beluga head above water. Photo-Steve Selden
This is the most common photo taken of beluga whales in the waters around Churchill, MB. Photo-Steve Selden.
Calf in mother's slipstream in Churchill River. The calves are darker gray color. Photo-Steve Selden.
Near the mouth of the Churchill River the water is crystal clear and belugas are quite visible under water. Photo-Steve Selden.
A pod of male beluga whales near the mouth of the Churchill River. Photo-Steve Selden.
Churchill has been buried in a thick, dense fog for some days last this past week. Spring in this area tends to bring this affect as the melting ice becomes open swaths of water in the Hudson Bay. Fresh -water rivers such as the Churchill, Knife and Nelson among others flow into the bay as their earlier break-up signals the onset of Spring. This fresh water facilitates a speedier melting time -frame as the warmer water from the South mixes with the frigid salt water. All of these varied water temperatures blending with warming and cooling air temperatures create air moisture leading to increased fog. If your from the coast you really can love this time of year. If your from the coast and work with boats, not so much.
Foggy Churchill River. Photo-Steve Selden
Yesterday, June 11th, the wind-chill temperature was -7 C with a 40% chance of snow flurries. The unpredictable weather is another charm of the North. I remember guiding a group of Summer travelers and we were on Kelsey Blvd. watching the Canada day parade (July 1) some years back. The snow started lightly but then turned into an all out storm. The makeshift floats, polar rovers and fire engines sped up and disappeared fairly quickly into the white -out at the East end of town. We all scurried to Gypsy’s for hot toddy’s. Snow in July…..that’s Churchill.
While the fog is clearing, beluga whales begin to appear in the Hudson Bay and the bird population is building. Soon the Churchill River will be full with beluga’s chasing capelin and gulls and jaegers above picking off fish pushed close to the surface by hungry pods of whales. The weather will still be inconsistent but there will be glorious days in between that will allow the Arctic to unveil its’ magnificent beauty.
Beluga whale in the Churchill River. Photo-Steve Selden
Out on the water fog can be both exhilarating and heart – wrenching. Out on the zodiac boats whale – viewing, the fog transports one to another world. Even though the massive grain port structure might be within sight, the fog dilutes the place and moments with the belugas into a memory of a lifetime. It’s only fitting to share this space in time with intelligence under the frigid waters of the Arctic. Beluga’s belong in this environment. After sharing so many years with these animals in the wild, the thought of even one confined to an aquarium is numbing.
There have also been instances when the fog has created sense of doubt and even fear. Early in the Spring the ice can clog the river channels like an ever changing jig -saw puzzle. shallow areas can creep up on you and the weather can turn on a dime. One minute of doubt and indecision can create a tense scenario in the mind and then subsequent decisions are quite important. Water creates a sense of beauty and horror all within the same thought sequence. Respect is the common thread whenever a boat is under foot. The Churchill River presents one feel while the Hudson Bay places a magnifying glass over the situation. These dynamics however go hand in hand with the experience…leaving a traveler with a sense of awe for the Arctic environment.
Churchill, Manitoba will no longer add fluoride to its’ or beluga whales drinking water. A four year, four month campaign by Churchill No Fluoride led by resident activist Mark Brackley has culminated with victory for those dedicated to stopping the process of adding fluoride to the water supply once it is pumped from the Churchill River. Voters won majority in a plebiscite last October in favor of ending the fluoridation of the town’s water supply. However, small town politics are always sticky and the vote was put up for review by Mayor Mike Spence and city council. Apparently the council was searching for an alternative fluoride treatment process to replace the existing system. With pressure from Brackley and his constituents, the vote was finally ratified and unanimously approved last week by city council. A date of September 15, 2012 was set as the day when town water will be fluoride free.
Churchill CAO Albert Meijering said a fluoride rinse program will be installed in the local school and any resident will be able to take part in the program.
Flouridation of water supplies has been prolific since the 1950’s and 60’s worldwide as an effective way to prevent tooth decay. Only recently has strong opposition and lobbying gained enough force, backed by scientific evidence to convince local governments to cease adding the substance to drinking water in many locations. Opposition opinion against the process is based mainly on the fact that dosages of fluoride are not regulated. Simply put, the more water consumed, the more fluoride you take into your body. Churchill is a dry climate and water is consumed more often than many other towns. This makes the issue even more pressing here.
Most European countries have stopped water-fluoridation programs, including recent converts Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland. Other Canadian cities have stopped the fluoridation process prior to Churchill. Most recently Flin Flon stopped adding fluoride to its water supply at the end of July 2011 and Calgary stopped in May 2011. Winnipeg lowered its’ fluoride content from .85 milligrams per liter to .7 milligrams on recommendations from Health Canada and Manitoba Health. Brackley and his group will now focus their efforts on Winnipeg, assisting local activists there with hopes of removing fluoride from the provincial capital’s drinking water. The battle continues on.
Beluga whales in the Churchill River.
Before the final vote to end fluoridation was cast by Churchill town council, Brackley had planned to film a documentary this Summer on the affects of fluoride on the marine habitat…specifically how water runoff and discharge containing fluoride into the Churchill River could be harming the beluga whale population that fills the river and Hudson Bay each year. No significant research has been conducted in the far north where research dollars don’t go as far as Southern communities. Most likely that project will not need to happen now.
Less than a week ago Churchill was hit with a late season Winter storm. Inevitably the cold season will give way to warmer temperatures though for now the Churchill area continues to cling to below freezing cold. Today the mercury reached a high of 27 F and the Hudson Bay remains ice filled.
However, for the same reason ice forms earlier in the Fall along the coast of Churchill, the land-fast ice and ice just along the coast begins to dissolve more quickly this time of year. Numerous fresh water rivers, including the mighty Churchill River, flow into the bay in the area. This saturation of fresh water freezes faster in the Fall and the same warmer water from the South tends to escalate the water temperature along the coast in the Spring. While the bay remains fairly consistent overall in ice-pack concentration, open water appears in the same places ice starts to form late November. The ice chart below from the Canadian Ice Survey illustrates current conditions.
Current ice concentration in the Hudson Bay.
Once the ice begins to diminish and break up in the bay, nearly 2,500 beluga whales will make their way down from the Hudson Straits in the Northeastern Hudson Bay area. Many females will be giving berth once in the “warmer”…40 F waters of the Churchill River mouth or if they can hold off the birthing, they will make their way up the river to the warmer, often 50 plus F water. This area, 12 -18 kilometers up river provides an incredibly comfortable “nursery” for mothers and calves. When you see the number of whales, many with calf’s in their slip-stream it’s magical. A completely different feel from the clear, cold choppy water around the mouth and in the bay itself. Groups of adult males cruising through the icy water provide action packed viewing quite regularly. Feeding on capelin – minnow sized fish spawning by the thousands in Summer- whales zig -zag across the mile- wide river intently focused on their prey. Meanwhile above the surface, iconic Arctic birds like jaegers, Arctic terns ,Franklin’s gulls and Bonapart’s gulls copete for capelin pushed to the surface by the frenzied whales.
Feeding whales in the Churchill River. Steve Selden photo.
Early June is birding season in Churchill though many species endure throughout the Summer. Wildflowers will begin to bloom as soon as the temperatures allow for the consistent warmer days. Arctic avens will carpet the tundra with their whiteness first followed by waves of others all through the Summer. My Churchill wildflower book looks like it’s been through the washer from 12 years of guiding Churchill Arctic Summer trips. Complete with pressed mosquitos on every other page, the book is also filled with engrained memories!
Photo Steve Selden.
Although the temperatures will slowly climb into the 50’s F next week and then higher still through June, July and August, the nights tend to cool down to require a fleece and hat most of the Summer. Days for the most part stay cool although Churchill has been the hotspot from time to time in Manitoba. No matter the weather, Summer in Churchill is unmatched in the raw beauty it unveils. If you’ve traveled to this place in Fall for the bears, you will love the Summer….the treasures of the tundra and the waters are different every day. After 12 years I still know there is more to see. Polar bears, beluga whales, incredible bird life and wildflowers…even aurora borealis in later Summer…Churchill has it all and more!
