One last thought of Churchill…

Every night at 10:00, the town siren wails a warning. Move inside children, adults too. It’s best to heed the warning as the denizens of the ice have moved ashore and they are the world’s largest land carnivore.

Car horns formed a cacophony of noise that sounded like a wedding or celebration; but not at 11:00 at night. Following the horns were gunshots and small explosions. The conservation folks were chasing the bear, hazing it so it would leave town. Later there was another, and early in the morning another yet.

The town – Churchill – rests on the western shores of Hudson Bay, just north of the 58th parallel. While sub-arctic, its environment is very arctic in nature. It happens to sit in the area where one of the world’s largest concentrations of polar bears comes ashore each spring to await the autumn freeze.

Polar bears usually eat ring seals and don’t typically hunt humans. But there are delinquent, old, sick, and hungry bears that will attack, as well as females with cubs that feel threatened.

So the siren sounds a warning and the town’s people heed it - there can be bears roaming the town on any night.

People create a sense of place...

The Churchill Northern Studies Centre is located in a building on a old rocketry and aurora borealis research center. The building is austere, run down, and way out of date - a lifeless relic of the cold war.

But, where ever we go and whatever we see, it's the people that create a sense of place. Audrey, Rosalind, Robert, Emma, Aisling, Gerry, Cliff, Kat, Carley, LeeAnne, Avril, Mike, Kim, Christina, Devon, and Marie create that sense of place at CNSC. They are the staff and volunteers that we worked with at the Centre. Cooks, housekeepers, maintenance people, program coordinators, and administrators all make CNSC a place where people can feel at home while important work is done.

We tried to lend a hand in some way to all of the CNSC staff. In return, we were rewarded by each person in small and large ways. Sometimes it was just having someone new to talk to and to share our experiences with. Or, it was the camaraderie of working as a team to put out a meal and clean up after 80 people. Other times, it was the opportunity to lend our unique expertise to the operation.

To all of you, our new friends, we send our sincerest thanks and our best wishes.

Researchers Needed for Dangerous Assignment

"There's a bear at Dump Beach" came over the radio as Amanda and Erinn got ready to leave. They were prepared. Their kit includes binoculars, radio, 12 gauge shotgun (bear gun), and a lot of nerve. All they want to do is sample water in small ponds near the edge of Hudson Bay. But in order to do that, they frequently have to run a gauntlet of polar bears - or lose a day of sampling.

The shoreline can be a dangerous place this time of the year. The Hudson Bay ice pack is melting quickly and bears are swimming to land and summer dens. The polar bear is the largest of the land carnivores, but this doesn't make them slow. They are fast swimmers and can run at over 25 MPH. Time and distance to the sanctuary of a car are important. Much more important than having to shoot a bear.

Amanda and Erinn approach their research site by road; followed by a short walk across tundra and boulders. They blow the horn and stop to scan for bears frequently. Hopefully, a slumbering bear will pop up and run away. The all-clear is given, but the distance to the research site is measured in the minutes it will take to get back to the car.

For eight weeks now, they have returned to the same site to take samples and conduct their experiments. At times, bears were already there and research was put on hold. And, there have been a few close calls when bears have emerged from the Bay causing them to scamper back to the car and safety.

In spite of the danger, they stay dedicated to their work, returning to the site day after day, running the gauntlet of bears.

Girls In White Satin...

With their coats glistening white like ghosts, they emerged from an afternoon fog. They have left the ice - it is melting - and their food source is leaving with it. They swim ashore seeking a place to rest and wait for the ice to return - along with their primary food source – the ring seal.

Two cubs are usually born in October, but now there is just one. The arctic is a harsh place. Only the fittest survive. After leaving a den of snow, the mother has been eating seal blubber and snuggling down into the white landscape to feed her cub on rich breast milk. On the ice, they have traveled far, always looking for food. Patiently waiting, the mother stands still near a seal's breathing hole, never moving, waiting, for the instant when she will lunge for a meal.

Now ashore, they wait for the ice to build again; their white coats contrasting with the dark tundra. The playful cub will be schooled by its mother and growing bigger. For the next two years, the mother will always be ready to repel a threat.

They came to the Churchill Northern Studies Centre for a visit but the threat is too great – to us and to them. So they have moved on to a quiet area where they can wait in peace for the ice to form. Then they will return, ghostly moving in a sea of white.

Churchill Northern Studies Centre

The Churchill Northern Studies Centre (CNSC) is a facility dedicated to arctic research and education. The Centre serves as research station that provides accommodations, food, basic laboratory facilities, and other logistics. In addition to research, the Centre is host to Elderhostel and its own learning vacation programs.

The CNCS is housed in an abandon U.S. and Canadian aurora borealis research facility that was run by NASA. The research conducted used rocketry and the area is pockmarked by craters and debris from rockets falling to earth.

Located near the 58th parallel, the area is considered sub-arctic. However, researchers value this area because it is at the confluence of three major eco-systems: tundra and permafrost, boreal forest, and the marine environment of Hudson Bay.

During our time here, there will be up to 40 researchers conducting studies on a broad range of topics. At the same time, there are 40 students taking a university field course or participating in Earth Watch activities. Later, there will be a learning vacation group coming to see beluga whales.

We're volunteering in support of the Centre by providing general labor in a variety of activities, primarily in the kitchen. In return for 36 hours/week of labor, we get free room and board and the opportunity to spend time in the field with the researchers (which is a real treat). In addition, the Centre has arranged a special tour for us to see beluga whales and Karen has been invited to join a tundra buggy tour on her next day off.

The area around the Centre is a mix of boreal forest and tundra. There are many ponds and flooded areas from all the rains. Summer is about three weeks late - many of the spring flowers are blooming now, many of the baby birds are just hatching, and the ice is still melting in Hudson Bay.

We highly recommend taking one of their learning vacations or volunteering for this worthwhile cause. Just know that Churchill is remote, the CNSC is 25 kilometers from town, there is limited to no transportation, and you just can't go for a walk, run, or bike ride due to the polar bears. You'll live in dorm rooms with bunk beds and eat in a common dining room. But if you want to experience the far north in a sub-arctic environment, experience life in a true research station, and chat with researchers from all over Canada and some from the U.S..... this is a great adventure.

And, yes, if you volunteer...... you do have to wash dishes.... lots of dishes!!!!!

Always another dish...

There’s always another dish…

We came to the Churchill Northern Studies Centre knowing that we would be washing dishes for our room and board. We had no idea that there are an infinite number of dishes.

The life of a dishwasher is peculiar. Just when you think you are done - you aren't. There’s always another dish. Beside the obvious places – such as the kitchen and dining room – there are cups in corners and dishes on desks. They seem to be… everywhere!

One would think that there are a finite number of dishes. After all, we are 250 miles beyond the end of the road. How would they get here? Do they fall from an airplane? Are they carried from the train? Have they stowed away on a boat? This is a research station, and we have joined in the studies here to answer the question: Where do the dishes come from?

We conducted interviews with key stakeholders involved with the acquisition and maintenance of food purveyance equipment (dishes). It was determined that a finite number of dishes were initially delivered to CNSC by train. The initial delivery has been supplemented by small deliveries. So it can be concluded that the dishes are not propagating through human intervention (delivery).

At this point we were forced to conduct an exhaustive study of each food purveyance item* which was conducted by a certified** dishwashing research assistant. The data obtained from this study was collated and outliers*** eliminated from the data set. The following extremely complex statistical analysis was conducted utilizing the following formula: {DW=[∞]d,kfs,c,cc,pp(R)}**.

Based on the outcome of the analysis, and anecdotal reports, we have determined there is an 89.31789 percent likelihood that dishes are a self propagating species.

Consequently, there is always another dish.

*DW= dishwasher; d=dishes; kfs=knife fork spoon; c=cup; cc=coffee cup; pp=pots & pans; R=researcher
**certified=gone crazy or mad from doing dishes
***broken dishes

Respectfully submitted by:
Riley & Karen Caton
Independent researchers****

****Unemployed consultants – CNSC Volunteers Summer 2009

Adaptation...

The climate around Churchill is so harsh that it's amazing that human beings can exist here. After all, we are at 58 degrees North latitude in an area that is sub-arctic. The Inuit have lived here for many many generations and are masters of adaptation. If it weren't for our artificial habitat (clothing and housing) it would certainly be impossible for us to visit.

The natural inhabitants are experts at adaptation and utilization of their surroundings. The red fox kit (pup) blends in with its surroundings when it lies down and the polar bear is a master of disguise for most of the year. Caribou blend in to the tundra so well they are hard to see at a distance.

We'll continue to look for wildlife for the next four weeks and update our photo file (http://www.catonphoto.zenfolio.com/ - Portfolio/Churchill MB) on a regular basis. Please let us know what you think.

Trying to figure it out...

The Arctic Circle is at 66 degrees North latitude and Churchill, Manitoba and the Churchill Northern Studies Centre is just north of 58 degrees. By comparison, the 45th parellel (another way of saying latitude) is between Portland and Salem, Oregon. So Churchill is pretty darn close to the Arctic. It’s also pretty close to the North Pole at 90 degrees.

Needless to say, the weather varies a great deal here. And since we are in Canada, the weather reports are given in Celsius, not Fahrenheit. So we have had to do a little converting to figure it out. Here’s the formula: [°C] = ([°F] − 32) ×5/9. Now, figure that out in your head... So we looked up the following mnemonic to help us remember what it’s like outside: When it's zero it's freezing, when it's 10 it's not, when it's 20 it's warm, when it's 30 it's hot! Or, thirty is hot, twenty is nice, ten is cool, and zero is ice.

I guess it really doesn’t matter because you are so busy waiving your arms to shoo away the bugs that you don’t notice the weather.

An Arrival... The Churchill Northern Studies Centre

At times it seems as though we are living in a perpetual winter, except for those 80+ degree days at home. Now that we count them, we've had three springs this year. Our third spring is occuring at the 58th parallel, not far from the arctic circle. We're in Churchill, Manitoba looking for the ice to clear from Hudson Bay, polar bears to come on shore, beluga whales to congregate, and the tundra to bloom. However, spring is also hearlded by the onslaught of hords of the mighty mosquito. They arrived today, along with us.

So join us as we spend five weeks at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre getting to know the environment at the arctic's edge. Check out our photos under "Portfolio" at http://www.catonphoto.com/.