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magazine / jf10
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January/February 2010 issue |
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Reverberations
Wild laws
Brian Payton’s description of Canada’s
evolving treatment of wildlife
(“The wild life,” December 2009)
was thorough and most interesting.
However, he did not consider federal
and Ontario legislation intended to protect
wildlife, as well as human life and
agriculture. These laws do not do so and
typically go too far.
The Ontario Municipal Act, for example,
imposes property-use restrictions on
farmers who harvest their trees for home
heating, fence construction and income
augmentation. For the past century or
two, farmers in Ontario have carefully
preserved their woodlots, wetlands and
soils — and without coercion from
Toronto — because it is in their interest
to do so. Such legislation discourages
family farms and encourages farmers to
rid themselves of endangered species in
order to avoid the risk of jail or fines.
Meanwhile, developers quietly buy up
devalued land the owners can no longer
farm and then acquire exemptions to the
Greenbelt Act and local zoning. The
result is more encroachment on wildlife
habitat. Before any more laws are proposed
by well-meaning groups who have
never stepped off city pavement, some thought must be given to the
effect on those who own most of
the land and what that will
mean to Canada’s wildlife.
Charles Hooker
Orangeville, Ont.
The editor’s notebook, “From
game to wildlife,” and Brian
Payton’s article, “The wild life,”
both allude to the idea that hunting
and trapping is responsible for
the apparent decline of wildlife
across Canada.
I think the issue could have
done a better job of uniting interests
in wildlife if it had recognized
the history, value and contribution
of hunters and trappers in protecting
Canada’s wildlife. Shooting a
white-tailed deer in my rural backyard to
be eaten by my family seems infinitely
more eco-friendly than ever-increasing
numbers of eco-tourists paying thousands
of dollars for commercial flights to and
from the West Coast’s plush resorts just
to have an opportunity to view bears.
There is no free lunch when it comes
to the impacts on wildlife as a result of
our modern standard of living. Please,
let’s spread out the consequences and
build alliances, not point fingers, especially
at a segment of the population
that has arguably done the most to
promote and preserve wildlife in North
America and Canada, namely hunters
and trappers.
Michael Buss
Dwight, Ont.
When I was looking at your recent
map “Wildlife migrations of North
America” (December 2009), I was struck
by the configuration of Hudson Bay and
the necklace-like formation around it of
the St. Lawrence River, the Great Lakes,
Lake Winnipeg, Lake Athabasca and
Great Slave Lake. I had never noticed this
pattern before. It is as if Hudson Bay was
the location of a huge impact that created
a crater, pushing up the surrounding land
and allowing the “necklace” of bodies of water to form around that. Am I just
imagining the correlation?
Karin Arkinstall
Kelowna, B.C.
The Geological Survey of Canada and others have
investigated the rocks of the Hudson Bay area
and found no evidence in the rock types or geochemical
signatures of any of the kinds of geological
changes that a large meteorite impact would
have produced. Rather, Hudson Bay was at the
centre of the huge, spreading continental ice
sheet that covered most of Canada during the
last ice age, approximately 18,000 years ago.
Many of today’s landscape features reflect the
dynamics of that ice sheet and the rebounding of
the land since the ice melted. — Ed.
Our new BFFs
As an outdoor-education teacher, I
have taken students on educational
excursions to Peggys Cove, N.S., in the
east, Churchill, Man., in the north and
the Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C., in
the west. Yet one of the most memorable
events my class has attended was
the reintroduction of the black-footed
ferret in Grasslands National Park on
October 2 (“Return of the ferret,”
December 2009). I took 20 grade-12
students, and regardless of whether they
were outdoor enthusiasts, you could see
that they realized the significance of the
day. I am glad you chose to do an article
on this historic event, and I appreciate
the coverage writer Candace Savage and
photographer Jo-Anne McArthur gave
the ferrets on their long journey back to
the Canadian prairie.
Darin Faubert
Wadena, Sask.
I live in the Okanagan valley, but I grew
up in Saskatchewan. I have long waited
for the day when I would hear that my
favourite endangered critter was being
returned to its Canadian home. I shed a
tear as I read that article.
Charlotte
via internet
Thank you for your wonderful special
anniversary issue. Happy 80th birthday!
I’ve enjoyed numerous books that
I learned about from your “Reviews”
section . Some, such as Trevor Herriot’s
Grass, Sky, Song, are precious keepsakes.
My dad grew up on the Saskatchewan
prairies, and I’ve made several trips there.
I only wish he were here with us to witness
the return of the black-footed ferret.
All the best for the next 80 years.
Mary Cassar
Brant, Ont.
Osprey watch
I also watch an osprey nest, not quite as
closely as Donna Young and her family
(“Nesting instincts,” December 2009),
but just as avidly. The nest is on a high
platform on the Grand River here in
Kitchener-Waterloo, and I observe the
family from across the river. I look for
them every spring and watch the nest
renos as the parents fly to and fro, searching
for building materials. When the mom
finally settles down to incubate, it seems
like forever before the little downy heads
appear. “My” birds appear to have two
babies at a time, and fortunately, all the
babies have attained young adulthood. I have watched as the biggest of the babes
starts to flap its wings and rises above the
nest to end up perched on the rim. When
the fledglings finally fly, it’s like experiencing
my daughter’s first steps all over again!
Seeing these creatures glide, swoop and
dive is breathtaking. I have had many a
laugh watching the young birds learning
to fish, crashing into the river, rising up,
shaking off and trying again.
Dinah Hogg
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.
Aw, rats!
It sounds as if the summer of 2009 was
a good year for rats in more than just
Toronto (“Discovery,” December 2009).
If grossly exaggerated media reports are to
be believed, Alberta lost its rat-free status
early in the fall, with the discovery of a rat
in Calgary. That report, along with four
other discoveries in rural communities in
southern Alberta, apparently means that
the defences protecting 661,848 square
kilometres of the province have been
breached and that Alberta is overrun by
the destructive pest. Oh, woe is us; you
have our empathy, Toronto.
Brent Harding
Calgary
Pudding from the sea
Thanks for the article on Irish moss
(“Surf ’s bounty,” October 2009).
When we lived in Boston in the 1950s,
my grandmother used to make a lovely
milk custard with it. I remember she
loved to torture visiting relatives from
the Midwest by serving “seaweed
pudding.” The mention of it would
make one aunt blanch, while her
daughter loved it and always asked for
it by name. The dried moss sometimes
included tiny shellfish and starfish,
so cleaning it before boiling was a chore
I, as a child, loved to help with. On a
trip to Maine years later, my mother
and I picked some Irish moss from
the rocks and proudly took it home
to Grandma.
Virginia Karr
Crescent Spur, B.C.
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* Letters may be edited for length, accuracy and liability.
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