Podcasts about icefields

EPISODE 7.20 Chic Scott is a renowned mountain adventurer, guide, and author who has been exploring high places for over 50 years. Born in Calgary in 1945, Chic is a fourth-generation Albertan and a third-generation Calgarian with a family history of organizing amateur sports. He represented Alberta at the Canadian Junior Golf Championship in 1961 but took up mountain climbing and skiing the following year and has been passionate about these pursuits ever since. Chic has climbed and skied in many locations around the world, including the Canadian Rockies, the European Alps, and the Himalayas. He has organized clubs and foundations, written books, and worked as a mountain guide. Some of his notable achievements include the first winter ascent of Mount Assiniboine in 1967, the first successful completion of the Jasper to Lake Louise High-Level Ski Traverse, and the first Himalayan summit reached by a Canadian, Myagdi Matha, in 1973. Chic Scott is an epic writer with over 150 articles or journal contributions and 17 books as writer or co-writer, including "Summits and Icefields: Alpine Ski Tours in the Canadian Rockies", "Pushing the Limits: The Story of Canadian Mountaineering", "Ski Trails in the Canadian Rockies", "Powder Pioneers: Ski Stories from the Canadian Rockies and Columbia Mountains", and "Deep Powder and Steep Rock: The Life of Mountain Guide Hans Gmoser". Chic's guidebook, "Summits and Icefields," is considered a classic of the genre, while "Pushing the Limits, the Story of Canadian Mountaineering," is considered the authority on the subject. He has received honorary memberships in the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, the Calgary Mountain Club, The Alpine Club of Canada, and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. In 2000, Chic received the Bill March Summit of Excellence Award at the Banff Mountain Film Festival, and in 2018, he received the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration from the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Chic currently resides in Banff, Alberta, where he writes books and magazine articles, gives presentations on mountain topics, and enjoys hiking, skiing, and climbing in the nearby Rocky Mountains. Dom: Intro Chic: From golf to skiing and mountaineering 4:35 Dom: Talks about the changes and prep 7:35 Chic: Illustrates the mountains melting 11:40 Chic: Weather and going into the unknown 15:59 Dom: Ques up the Banff film festival origins 25:05 Chic: Age is a number 31:12 Chic: Explains his love for literature 35:00 Chic: You thought your move was bad 40:00 Chic: Rappelling lesson learned 56:55 Dom: Outro Socials: The Avalanche Hour Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/theavalanchehourpodcast/ Guest - https://www.instagram.com/ Links: Chic Scott's Website - https://chicscott.com/index.htm Whyte Museum Fireside chats - https://www.whyte.org/digitalvault/categories/fireside-chats Whyte Museum Pushing the Limits Legacy interview series https://www.whyte.org/pushing-limits-legacy Sponsors for this episode: Wyssen : https://www.wyssenavalanche.com/en/ Crew: Host - Dom Baker - https://instagram.com/dom_baken/ Producer - Cameron Griffin - https://www.instagram.com/backcountrycam/ Donate: The Avalanche Hour Podcast - https://www.theavalanchehour.com/donate The American Avalanche Association - https://www.americanavalancheassociation.org/donate Music: Gravy - https://soundcloud.com/gravy Devil's Punchbowl - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0I2zpUuy1U

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet producer/writer/comedian Dan Galea. The two-time Canadian Comedy Award winner's debut musical comedy album “Inter-Dan-Mensional” on Comedy Records, executive produced by Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall who also appears on the album, is available next week at dangalea.ca. Dan spent twenty years working on the album, which he describes as a comedic diary of his life. It has everything from Disco to Metal and every song gives you a peek into who he is and what he is all about. Some songs are just silly, he says, “but so am I.” Scott Thompson joins us late to talk about his involvement with the record and why he loves comedian Flip Wilson. Then we'll get to know bestselling Edmonton author and professor Thomas Wharton. He has written several books, including his award-winning debut novel, “Icefields,” and “Salamander” which was shortlisted for a Governor General's Literary Award for fiction. His latest book is “The Book of Rain,” a suspenseful sci-fi novel about nature, environmental stewardship and the fate of the planet. “The Book of Rain” is a multi-plotted novel set in a world where ghost ore, a new minable energy source much more lucrative than gold, can disrupt time and space and slowly make an environment inhospitable. In one of three ghost ore hotspots in the world, the Alberta mining town of River Meadows, residents have been evacuated, except Amery Hewitt can't seem to stay away

On this edition of the Richard Crouse Show we meet producer/writer/comedian Dan Galea. The two-time Canadian Comedy Award winner's debut musical comedy album “Inter-Dan-Mensional” on Comedy Records, executive produced by Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall who also appears on the album, is available next week at dangalea.ca. Dan spent twenty years working on the album, which he describes as a comedic diary of his life. It has everything from Disco to Metal and every song gives you a peek into who he is and what he is all about. Some songs are just silly, he says, “but so am I.” Scott Thompson joins us late to talk about his involvement with the record and why he loves comedian Flip Wilson. Then we'll get to know bestselling Edmonton author and professor Thomas Wharton. He has written several books, including his award-winning debut novel, “Icefields,” and “Salamander” which was shortlisted for a Governor General's Literary Award for fiction. His latest book is “The Book of Rain,” a suspenseful sci-fi novel about nature, environmental stewardship and the fate of the planet. “The Book of Rain” is a multi-plotted novel set in a world where ghost ore, a new minable energy source much more lucrative than gold, can disrupt time and space and slowly make an environment inhospitable. In one of three ghost ore hotspots in the world, the Alberta mining town of River Meadows, residents have been evacuated, except Amery Hewitt can't seem to stay away

No- seriously, the week in the rockies as FABULOUS!  Blind Hog and Acorn both lost like 5-6 lbs, crazy good hiking days and wonderful lodgings.  Airports were "interesting" to say the least.  Missed one connecting flight by minutes, but truly that only set the holiday back by 4 hours- big whoop.  At least the luggage did not get lost~Three nights on the Icefields Parkway, three nights at Glacier.  Packed it in and could easily have made it a week in each place.  Things to look forward to in the future- a return trip to the Icefields!Blind Hog and Acorn tested for the 'Rona the day before the trip and the morning after returning.  Negative and negative.  Wednesday night Blind Hog had a hard time sleeping and Thursday he was not feeling well, chalked it up to the A-Fib but when he complained of "being cold," his temp read 99.1.  Another covid test popped positive before the solution crossed the control line!  Acorn tested positive 2 days later... We see this...  Least she does not have to wear an N-95 mask in the house all day!So, imagine ragweedy allergy symptoms and that is how they feel.  Indeed, they truly went on holiday and brought home no souvenirs, except...  except...

Thomas Wharton joined us to talk about the new edition of his classic novel ICEFIELDS. Along the way we talked about the curse of being prescient on climate change issues, as well as living a fuller life than your characters ever could. Come to the Zoom launch for ICEFIELDS: LANDMARK EDITION on Tuesday, October 26 at 7 pm Mountain: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/icefields-landmark-edition-launch-tickets-176566654617?aff=ebdsoporgprofile Grab your own copy of ICEFIELDS here: https://newestpress.com/books/icefields-landmark-edition

Welcome to The Morning News Podcast for Monday, July 20th. We begin with a look-ahead to today's City Council vote on making masks mandatory on transit – and indoor public places. We catch up with Matthew Conrod, Global Calgary's Social Host. Next we get the latest on Saturday's deadly motor coach roll-over at the Columbia Icefields. Global Reporter Adam Toy joins us with details on the on-going investigation. With City Hall's public hearings on systemic racism now two weeks behind us, where do we go from here? We speak with Ward 9 Councillor Cian-Carlo Carra on the action plan, moving ahead. It's some good news surrounding COVID-19; an increase in the survival rate among those infected. We get the details on a newly released study from Dr. Ted Jablonski. And finally – “Nature's Calling”….but there's nowhere to answer! We speak with an author who says we need to make public toilets – a ‘number one' issue….a problem which has been highlighted due to the pandemic.

After a recording break of… well, longer than we care to think about, we've returned to the realm of podcasting just in time for the world to fall apart around us. Nice. Anyhow, for the first episode of our hopefully more-consistent second try at this whole podcasting business, we got down to business and spent most of our time catching up on the games we've been playing. That consisted of the relatively hot, new-ish release Doom Eternal on Blake's front, and the relatively cold, two-console-generations-ago-ish release Mario Galaxy from Sean. Also in the mix were La Mulana, Divinity: Original Sin II, Death Stranding, Hearthstone, and some discussion about our differing feelings about exploration in video games. Theme music provided by Icefields. Find more of Icefields' music on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Icefieldsmusic.com

It was formed over 240,000 years ago during the Great Glaciation, and today is the largest icefield in the Canadian Rockies, covering over 200 square km. Located along the Alberta/BC Border, the ice is a significant barometer of the climate crisis. The Columbia Icefield is home to one of the most visited Glaciers in North America.  Hundreds of thousands of visitors, discover and witness an epic change each year. The ice is retreating faster than ever, but the story here is not just the loss of a piece of Canada’s iconic landscape, which is problematic in itself,  it’s what’s occurring as a result of it. “There’s actually a reservoir of pollutants that have been in the atmosphere over the last several decades to a century or so stored in those Icefields” says Martin Sharp, Glaciologist, and science professor at the University of Alberta. The melting is opening  a vault of lethal contaminants, creating a crisis unlike any other.  Find out just how far the water flows on this episode of the Big Blue Marble.

A long drive up the Icefields parkway, another drive from Jasper to Maligne Lake, then a boat cruise to this magical place called Spirit Island.

It's the season of the witch, so we decided to focus our entire episode on scary video games, be they traditional horror titles or simply games that gave us chills. For help with this endeavor, we enlisted the service of horror connoisseur Kate Currie, one half of The Library Ladies' blog. Along the way, we touch on Left 4 Dead, P.T., Night in the Woods, Castlevania, Resident Evil 7, and of course that paragon of horror titles, Super Mario Bros. 2. Yes, seriously. Also under discussion: whether poor controls are an important part of making truly terrifying games, the role of the uncanny in scaring us, and whether sometimes it's more exciting to play as the monster than it is to flee in terror. Theme music provided by Icefields. Find more of Icefields' music on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Icefieldsmusic.com

What with all the talk (and a less-than-stunning trailer) of a sequel on the horizon, we decided to take on Spelunky and give it as close to a well-rounded discussion as we could manage. It's a game that has the honor of being both one of the greatest titles ever created, and also something neither of our hosts have been able to beat despite dozens of hours spent travelling its strange caverns. Not that defeating the game is really the point of Spelunky, a game that's very much about the pure experience of play, as well as the not-quite-so-pure experience of being endlessly hurled by a yeti into the same wall for all of eternity. Theme music provided by Icefields. Find more of Icefields' music on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Icefieldsmusic.com

Remember way back in 2017, when all anyone wanted to talk about with video games was how The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the best Zelda ever, the best game ever, and quite possibly the best thing ever made? Well it's now a year and a half since BotW dropped, so we felt it was about time to take stock of the title with a more nuanced, dare we say critical look, and discuss what made it both so exciting and so, in many (perhaps unpreventable) ways, disappointing. Topics include the magical first few hours of the game, how Nintendo's take on open worlds differs from other studios, and why the downloadable content falls completely flat. Plus, we consider the possibilities for where Zelda might go in the future, and our hope that Nintendo isn't simply planning a Breath of the Wild 2: Link's Boogaloo. All this, plus Blake intentionally asks Sean for more information about Hearthstone,and somehow doesn't regret it. Theme music provided by Icefields.

Well another year's E3 has come and gone, and the future looks bright indeed. With that in mind, in the latest podcast episode we focus on the games that have us the most excited, and discuss how the show seems to be growing up and moving away from its smoke and mirrors of vaporware and empty surprises. All of which is to say that we spend a lot of time talking about Death Stranding, and even some time on games that aren't Death Stranding, though often in relation to Death Stranding because who are we kidding that game still looks absolutely nuts. Also discussed: samurais vs. ninjas, the flood of pirate games, what the hell Bioware is doing with Anthem's missing AI, how Square and Nintendo secretly had great showings, and whether or not The Division 2 is worth paying any attention to. Theme music provided by Icefields. Find more of Icefields' music on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Icefieldsmusic.com

The training wheels are off as we move onto our "first" episode of the podcast. While we briefly touch on some of the games we've been playing and news from the last couple weeks, we largely focus—in our own meandering way—on E3. With no insider knowledge to speak of, we use our memory of the E3's of yore to make semi-educated predictions about what this year's big event might entail. And once that's done, we jump way off into the deep end to indulge our fantasies about what the most exciting releases would be if we could remake the industry with our whims. Theme music provided by Icefields. Find more of Icefields' music on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Icefieldsmusic.com

This is the very first episode of the Exposition Break Podcast! Blake and Sean sit down to talk about Rage 2, Star Fox racer rumors, a 60fps Blight Town in Dark Souls Remastered, the new God of War, Star Fox Guard, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Then, Sean wildly misses the dates for E3 and Blake fails to fact check him. Theme music provided by Icefields. Find more of Icefields' music on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Icefieldsmusic.com

Orchids tricking Bumblebees Wandering trails around the Bow River valley, it seems like every day there are new and exciting changes taking place. The leaves have begun to emerge and the early season blooms are adding a splash of colour to the meadows and forest leaf litter. Today I saw my first Calypso orchids of the season. These tiny, delicate orchids are one of the first forest flowers to emerge in the spring. The forest floor is still a tangle of pine needles with nary a hint of colour, other than the few green leaves and similarly coloured buffaloberry blooms, willow bushes, and bilberry. Calypso, or Fairy Slipper orchids as they are also known, are one of the most beautiful of the mountain orchids. More intricately coloured than the showier Yellow Ladyslipper Orchid, it takes a keen eye to see the amazing detail in the bloom. Each plant produces a single basal leaf close to the ground. In the spring, not long after the snows have melted, a single stem will emerge to produce a single, tiny flower. They rarely reach higher than 20 cm above the ground and the flowers are only around 3 cm across. In some regions, it's nicknamed "Hider-of-the-north" because it's so easy to miss. While there are 4 species globally, there are only two found in the mountain west, Calypso bulbosa var. americana and Calypso bulbosa var. occidentalis. On the eastern side of the great divide, you'll only see the americana variety while British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana and Alaska have both. All of the flowers are similar in appearance. The first thing you'll notice on close examination is the typical ladyslipper appearance. Usually, 3 sepals and 3 identical petals rise vertically and to the side of the flower. The actual slipper has a pinkish cover and the pouch is intricately coloured with dark purple streaks. It sports a yellow beard which holds pollen, and a lower lip. In the eastern slopes, the americana variety has a white to pinkish lip while the western occidentalis variety has a lip covered with darker purple spots. Perhaps one of the most remarkable features of the Calypso orchid is that it doesn't provide nectar to the bumblebee queens that seek it out looking for a sugary reward. Instead, they get large amounts of pollen deposited on their body with no actual nectar for their effort. This is not very common in nature. As you can imagine, providing a sugary treat is a huge motivator for bumblebees to come visit. Instead, the Calypso provides bright colouration that says, come over and say hi, and then provides little in return to the bumblebee. Food deception, as this behaviour is known, has seen more intense study during the past few decades. Biologists have come up with a number of theories as to why it occurs. Food-deceptive orchids usually see fewer visits by bees for obvious reasons, but it can also help to ensure cross-pollination by making bees less likely to visit the same plant twice. Two competing theories try to explain how food-deceptive orchids are able to attract pollinators even though they don't offer nectar. The first focuses on the fact that they are often one of only a few bright flowers at this time of year, and this may increase their chances of being visited, despite the lack of nectar. Alternatively, they may still benefit from other nectar-producing flowers nearby. Their blooming period overlaps with a few other pollen producers like willows and some bilberry plants. A 2015 study published in Scientific World Journal found Calypso pollen on 7% of bumblebee queens captured on willow plants, and 18.2% of those visited more than one flower. Since flowering willows make an area attractive to bumblebee queens, the Calypso likely benefits from their proximity. On a smaller scale, the lack of a diversity of other flowering plants helps the Calypso to attract queens that may have been attracted to the area for willow or bilberry nectar. Why not just provide nectar like other flowering plants? Quite simply, it's expensive. Calypso orchids save resources by not producing nectar. A single visit by a queen can take a lot of pollen and so they don't need too many repeat visits. They still need to attract the queen though. Their bright yellow pollen beard and purple streaked pouch provide a visual attraction. They also have a strong smell similar to the smell of vanilla. Essentially, while the flower doesn't offer a reward, it still takes advantage of bright colours and a strong scent to attract a hungry bumblebee queen. In the end, these tricky flowers are able to attract enough queens to ensure reliable pollination. That brings up another question: why just bumblebees queens. The simple answer is that the queens are the only bumblebees around when the Calypso blooms. As summer begins to draw to a close, a bumblebee colony begins to prepare for the following year by producing a final brood of larvae that will contain several queens along with some males. It's those queens that will find a safe place to hibernate for the winter, usually around 20 cm below the surface. They produce glycol in their blood to keep them from freezing to death. Other than these few queens, the rest of the colony dies at the end of every season. After a 6-month sleep, these groggy queens emerge to look for the very earliest spring flowers. In this area, Calypso are one of these wildflowers, along with willow, buffaloberry, and bilberry that greet their arrival. It's this grogginess and the naivete of these newly emerged queens that is likely why the Calypso is able to fool them into pollinating them. As she gathers strength and experience, she'll get to recognize Calypso and avoid them in the future. The next year, it'll be another naïve new queen and the process begins anew. Her next order of business is to find a den. They're fond of mouse, ground squirrel, or weasel burrows. They'll even take advantage of an empty nest box as well. Once she finds a den, she begins the real job of preparing for a new brood of worker bees. Unlike honeybees that can have thousands of individuals, a bumblebee colony will only have a few hundred. She starts by building a wax honeypot that she fills with nectar. This will offer her a food supply when the weather doesn't cooperate. They don't make hexagonal honeycomb-like honey bees, but instead, she makes waxy cups. Into these, she'll lay 5-15 eggs. These will pupate in about 20 days and emerge as adults after 4-5 weeks. From this point on her foraging days are over. These solely female workers will take over those duties and she'll spend the rest of her life in the den laying and tending to eggs. At the end of summer, the colony begins to produce additional queens along with some males. They leave the nest and look for suitable mates. Once mated, the queens will try to feed on as much pollen as possible in order to store up reserves for the winter. She'll then look for a den to hibernate, waking up just in time for a new crop of Calypso to bloom. Let's Talk Parks Canada Way back in episode 26, I dedicated the entire episode to slamming some of the decisions that Parks Canada had made in the previous years that were putting the important ecological integrity of parks at risk. At that time, Parks Canada released the results of an intergovernmental panel that had listened to stakeholders looking into Canadians views on Parks Canada's management of the nation's parks. Simultaneously, they were trying to force feed an $86.4 million dollar bike path from Jasper to the Columbia Icefields - while trails with decades of history were falling into disrepair. To their chagrin, a master of the Freedom of Information Act, Ken Rubin, managed to get all of the original internal documents from Parks Canada's own scientists that reflected the same concerns that many of us had - along with some that I hadn't even considered. To the agencies credit, they didn't deflect the results of the report. They owned. It. Also in their defence, some of the decisions were a reflection of a decade of the Harper government's anti-science, anti-conservation policies. It was a decade of open the floodgates, spend money where it will return the most short-term returns and let the ecology be damned. The Liberals have taken the time to listen to a decade of frustration on how Parks Canada has lost its way. I first came to the Canadian Rockies in 1980 along with my best friend, to hike the 176 km South Boundary Trail running from Nigel Creek in Banff all the way to Medicine Lake in Jasper National Park. Today, routes like the north and south boundary trails are no longer viable backpacking routes. An April 16, 2018 document released by Parks Canada titled Backcountry Fact Sheet for Operators describes the routes as such: "Users of the North and South Boundary trails should consider these more like wilderness routes and expect trees down, with a variety of un-bridged stream and river crossings. Campgrounds are primitive with little if any infrastructure apart from designated areas for cooking, camping and open pits for human waste." When I visited in the 80's, Parks Canada was expanding the facilities at these backcountry sites by providing good toilets, trees for hanging food, and well-designated campsites. It was still a wilderness trail, simply due to the fact that it traversed long distances with little proximity to highways. At the same time, these were also the days of backcountry wardens and we regularly encountered them in the backcountry. In 2018, once you leave the highway, fuggedabout seeing any representative of the Parks Canada Agency. The days of backcountry patrols are long gone. Even the warden cabins are falling into disrepair. Now while the South and North Boundary Trails have always been considered wilderness trails, other trails like the Tonquin Valley Trail in Jasper National Park are not. Back in Episode 10, I talked about growing complaints about Jasper's most popular backcountry trails becoming virtually impassable due to decades of neglect. Jasper's Fitzhugh Newspaper profiled the neglect. It quoted one particular example: "When B.C. resident Philip McDouall set out with three friends to hike the Tonquin Valley Sept. 16, he expected to encounter challenging conditions typical of a backcountry trail. What he didn’t expect to find was appalling trail conditions, dilapidated infrastructure and facilities overflowing with excrement". Of all the trails in Jasper, the Tonquin is one of the most iconic. The article continued: "On top of the appalling trail conditions, he also said many of the campsites are in a state of disrepair with dilapidated cooking areas, broken bear poles and outhouses that were nearly overflowing. At the Clithroe Campsite, in particular, he said the outhouse was so full there was evidence people had been defecating in other areas of the site. 'It was horrible,' said McDouall, 'The way the one chap described it, when you lifted the lid up and sat down you were literally sitting on the last person’s turd'." Why do I dredge up these old stories again? Because this past week the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna published the government's response to the 2017 "Let's Talk Parks Canada" nationwide consultation. The early results of the consultation, which I talk about in Episode 26 was just the first response from the government on the many challenges facing our parks and protected areas, as well as cultural, and aboriginal sites. McKenna, in the government's official response to the consultations published just last week, has reaffirmed Parks Canada's commitment to making the protection of ecological integrity job one. The government has taken a beating over the past few years over the increased development within the parks and the endless focus on bringing more and more cars through the park gates. Most of this was the legacy of the Harper years, but the Liberals are trying to chart a new course. While the words are comforting, we'll need to see whether the words result in action. (I'll add a link to the report in the show notes for this episode). The report puts forward three priorities for Parks Canada going forward: To protect and Restore our national parks and historic sites through focussed investments, working with Indigenous peoples, working with provinces and territories, and ensuring ecological integrity is the first priority in decision making. Enable people to further discover and connect with our parks and heritage through innovative ideas that help share these special places with Canadians. Sustain for generations to come the incredible value—both ecological and economic—that our parks and historic sites provide for communities. The value they bring to fighting climate change, protecting species at risk, and shaping our Canadian identity and jobs and economic opportunity for local communities. These are all things that we have been fighting for for the past decade in the mountain west. During the engagement process, the number one concern voiced was simply that the parks were not being protected and that ecological integrity was NOT the first priority. Respondents also voiced concerns over the reduced role of science and scientific funding in the decision-making process. Parks Canada has historically produced some of the most compelling wildlife research in the country and many of the respondents, myself included, reflected this disillusionment. Along with reductions in scientific funding, rigor, and the freedom to publish, respondents lamented the lack of maintenance of existing facilities. I've covered this in the preamble to this story but the challenge remains. Decades of decline leave long lists for renewal. In defence of Parks Canada though, many good things have begun to happen on this front. There have been huge investments in trailhead facilities in Jasper, along with dramatic investments into the Mount Edith Cavell day-use area. While the focus currently seems to be on repairing long-neglected front-country facilities, it's also important that funds are equally invested in even more decrepit backcountry campsites, trails, bridges, and signage. The more backcountry facilities deteriorate, the more damage the use of backcountry trails generate. If trails are experiencing deep rutting or flooding, hikers will bypass these areas leading to widening or braiding of trails. If outhouses are not maintained than hikers will bypass them and backcountry sanitation is also compromised. Parks has also realized that decisions have not been made transparently in the past. Decisions allowing the Glacier Skywalk, and tentatively an $86.4 million dollar bike trail from Jasper to the Columbia Icefields are only two examples. Other decisions allowing expansions to the Lake Louise Ski areas should also be coming into question. The Icefields bike trail should be immediately cancelled and reviews into the Lake Louise Ski Hill Expansion properly assessed. Participants in the study displayed a lack of trust in the transparency of decisions along with the ability of Parks Canada to really put ecological integrity on the top of their priorities. When stated goals simply don't match management decisions, trust gets eroded. Minister McKenna also vowed to focus on both ecological integrity AND to "restore funding to research, ecological monitoring, and public reporting." The past decade has not been easy on Parks Canada and the nation's parks and reserves desperately need stable funding to ensure important research is ongoing. The 30-year study of wildlife movement corridors and highway crossing structures is a great example. The global value of this study is largely based on its long years of study. Good science takes time, and this study shows dramatic changes in wildlife adaptation to crossing structures over time. Without stable funding, science like this would be lost. We need the federal government to be a leader in research, ecosystem and facility restoration, and environmental assessments. These pillars can help to reduce some of the damage caused by a decade of neglect. Traffic management in busy parks was also a key point in the feedback received by Parks Canada. Over the past decade or so, with deteriorating backcountry conditions and increased frontcountry development, some 95% of the traffic visits the same 2% of the park - the paved corridors. As an example, traffic on Banff Townsite roads increased 17% between 2014 and 2017, increasing from 22,600 to 27,500 per day during July and August. This weekend's Victoria Day holiday could see a repeat of last year. On the Sunday of the long weekend, Banff saw 31,600 cars moving in and out of the townsite. The roads are only designed to accommodate 24,000 cars per day. The cars backed up at both entrances to town with delays in some cases stretching as much as 30 minutes. This doesn't even take into account the increased transit service in the mountain parks. Local Roam Transit saw an increase of 25 percent during July and August. While the final numbers are not in, it's expected that some 700,000 riders will have taken advantage of the service. In addition to this, vast numbers used shuttles from Calgary to Banff, Banff to Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, and from the Lake Louise overflow campground to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. Last summer, ATS Traffic performed magic in terms of keeping vehicles moving, reducing traffic jams, and keeping people from parking for kilometres along busy roadways. While this is laudable, we need to ask ourselves an important question: how many visitors are simply too many? If our focus is on bringing more and more and more people to the shore of Lake Louise, we may reduce traffic snafus, but we are also negatively impacting the visitor experience. Ten years of the Harper government trying to push as many cars as possible through the gates to cash in on the rush didn't factor in the importance of the experience. Tourism is fickle. The experience is critical. Last summer, I was on a multi-day trip and was finishing my day at a hotel in the Village of Lake Louise. My most beautiful lady, Jules was coming to meet me to stay the night and have a nice dinner at the Station Restaurant. She drove from Canmore to the Lake Louise exit. To meet me, she needed to take a left turn off of the exit, but the ATS Traffic staff forced all cars to turn right towards the ski hill. She complied, even though it was the wrong direction. When she had an opportunity, she did a u-turn to head back towards the village. When she got to the village, no vehicles were allowed up the road towards the Chateau. Instead, they were all required to turn right to go towards the Station. She was becoming increasingly frustrated and was on the verge of heading home when she was finally allowed the right of way. Essentially, they were stacking cars off of the highway. The roads don't have the capacity to accommodate so many vehicles trying to go up the hill to the Chateau, so the ATS staff were simply stacking the cars along any road that was available. This prevented cars from backing up into the busy traffic lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway. It was one of the most painful tourism experiences I've witnessed, but safety was the primary concern. When we walked to the restaurant, we chatted with drivers stuck in the various stacking lanes and they expressed major frustration. Many had travelled long distances to see Lake Louise but instead were stuck in Toronto-style traffic. Even if they eventually made it to the lake, along with the thousands of other visitors in their convoy, the experience was not a positive one. As a destination, we can't afford large groups of visitors flocking to sites like Trip Advisor and saying: "don't go to Banff…they've ruined it!". We need to look at hard limits to the number of people that can visit sites like Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. As much as we need to appreciate the revenue that each additional car brings, we also need to think of the future. If tourists of today slam the experience, then how many visitors will come tomorrow? This doesn’t even consider the impacts to wildlife and ecological integrity that comes about as a result of high-intensity, volume tourism. Since park fees stay in the park they're collected, it forces the park to rely on those dollars for their operating costs. When parks depend on gate fees, it's hard to imagine they can focus on improving visitor experiences and ecological integrity when doing so requires them to give up large amounts of important operating income. The funding of the park should NOT require the park to compromise its mandate in order to have the cash to keep the lights on. One of the final topics covered by Minister McKenna has to deal with expanding opportunities for new people to experience Canada's Parks. She repeatedly mentions "new Canadians" as a group that, as the future of Canada, need expanded opportunities to explore and learn from our natural landscapes. I totally agree that new Canadians can play a huge role in the future of our parks but we need to facilitate the experiences in a way that will help them understand the ecology, sensitivity, and uniqueness of the parks. When literature is only available in two arbitrary languages, we're not facilitating the experiences of visitors whose first language is not English or French.  Canada has huge numbers of tourists arriving from countries like Germany, Japan, India, Taiwan, Korea, and increasingly, China. Many of these visitors don't come from places with intact wilderness or truly WILD life. We read about wildlife habituation and other park management challenges, and often the names in the articles reflect the potential for language barriers. We need to make sure that the literature we provide to visitors is in a language they can understand. If we want visitors to the National Parks to respect and appreciate nature, we have to help them understand just how delicate wilderness really is. That is best done without artificial barriers. All literature should be available at least in English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi, and Arabic. I would also argue that Parks Canada should reach out to diverse communities through outreach as a way to help bring the messages of conservation to these same communities in their native language. Let's make sure our visitors have all the tools they need to have the best, and safest, visit possible. The landscape will thank us for it. And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. Don't forget that Ward Cameron Enterprises is your source for step-on, hiking, and photography guides in the Canadian Rockies. You can find us online at www.WardCameron.com or visit our Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/WardCameronEnterprises. If you'd like to reach out to me on Twitter, you can hit me up @wardcameron. Don't forget to visit the show notes at www.MountainNaturePodcast.com/ep060 for links to additional information as well as an easy subscribe button so you'll never miss an episode…and with that, the sun's out and it's time to go hiking. I'll talk to you next week.

If you're a follower of this podcast, you'll know I'm a great champion of the job that Parks Canada staff undergo on a daily basis. Every day, they're on the front lines trying to keep our wildlife both wild and safe, keeping resources protected and plucking injured wilderness wanderers off of mountain tops by helicopter. Without these champions of our wilderness Canada's National Park system would not be the world class system of protected areas that it is today. On the other hand, over the past 10-15 years, decisions have been taken from the scientists and experts that know the resource, know the priorities, and know where to best invest limited park dollars. Decisions are increasingly being made by distant bureaucrats with little connection to a local sense of place. It happened gradually. During the Harper years, the backcountry began to be de-emphasized and more and more focus was placed on getting more cars through the gates. As backcountry trails began to erode, bridges to collapse and boardwalks to rot, Parks Canada allowed skywalks, via ferratas, summer ski hill operations, and gondola expansions - all in the name of bringing more and more and more people through the gates. During the 2017 Canadian Parks Conference held in Banff National park this past March, Canada's Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna indicated that ecological integrity was again, job 1 within Parks Canada. There were three things that were her priority: "The importance of ecological integrity, science, conservation and traditional knowledge and my renewed focus on it, " She went on to state "The integral role of indigenous people will continue to play with Parks Canada as we move towards reconciliation and three, the future. What will our legacy be for the next 150 years and how can we work together?" Internal Parks Canada reports have been uncovered by Ottawa Freedom of Information Warrior Ken Rubin that shows that even Parks Canada staff had serious doubts about this project from the very beginning. According to a 2016 background document, they said: "Trail use is likely to be high and will induce further development…or at least demands for further development," They go on to indicate that any trail of this magnitude will surely need pullouts and rest stops every 5-10 km, not to mention connected campgrounds and additional asphalt based infrastructure. Recently, Rubin released another bombshell. In additional documents, he unveiled one of the real reasons this bike trail seems like it is being forced upon us despite almost universal opposition - time and money! While Parks Canada recently held 'public consultations', reports from those present said that it felt like it was less of a consultation and more of a "this is happening but let's hear, but not listen, to what you think" event. Way back in Episode 9, I reported that an intergovernmental panel was visiting Banff to hear from stakeholders regarding the increase in numbers in the park and the changes in the character of tourism in the mountain parks. After a decade of decisions made to increase tourism, despite science-based arguments showing that they were poorly conceived, many of us had little confidence in this process. However, on March 24, 2017, the report was published under the title: Taking Action Today: Establishing Protected Areas for Canada's Future. It's a big read, stretching some 120 pages and includes some great information, some re-focused stress on ecological integrity - and even a heavy dose of crow. Under the section on ecological integrity, for the first time it acknowledged the competing goals of protecting biodiversity and "sharing these great areas with Canadians as a way to maintain support for ongoing work to meet protected areas objectives. The report recognized that trying to combine these two goals can be at cross purposes. It states: "These two roles are important; however, their interpretation and implementation are varied. Many perceive a conflict between the two. Through testimony and its site visits to Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, the Committee became acutely aware of the differing points of view. Essentially, one person’s use and enjoyment of a park can be another person’s impairment." While Parks Canada sees increased numbers as a great way to foster understanding, there is a point at which too much fostering can lead to negative perceptions. As the report indicates: "In fact, some witnesses felt that planned increases in visitation will impair not just ecological integrity, but also the role of parks in connecting Canadians with nature as overcrowding at attractions diminishes visitor experience. " In terms of some of these contentious developments, the report acknowledges: "Public consultations on development proposals have become limited to a few weeks of geographically restricted consultations, often after years of behind-closed-door discussions with private developers, and often after decisions have already been made internally. In many cases, like the Lake Louise Ski Resort expansion and the Glacier Skywalk, proposals have been approved in spite of strong public opposition. Public accountability measures like the Minister’s Round Table, which is legally required every two years under the Parks Canada Agency Act, have become tightly scripted events, focused almost entirely on how to increase park visitation, with no attention paid to nature conservation in recent years." Give the episode a listen to get the full story.

This week we're looking at some important changes to the tourism infrastructure in Jasper National Park as well as some insights into the life of bats in the mountain west http://traffic.libsyn.com/mountainnature/Ep025_Mountain_Nature_and_Culture_Podcast.mp3 Story 1 - The Tourism Files As the summer season approaches, there are a number of new announcements taking place within Banff and Jasper National Parks that are definitely worth taking note of this year. If you work in the guiding industry, definitely stay tuned as these stories will affect your tours in a good way this summer. One of the big announcements is a complete overhaul of the food services at the Columbia Icefields Chalet. For years, the scenery has been spectacular, but the food…well..not so much. Over the years, options for motorcoach tours and family travelers have been slim along the scenic corridor between Banff and Jasper. A few years ago, the Chateau Lake Louise closed down its famous lunch buffet in the Victoria Dining Room and this left a huge hole in the dining options outside of the major centres of Banff and Jasper - especially for larger groups. Brewster this year has hired a new company to help manage the Chalet. Forrec is a global company specializing in developing attractions all around the world. They're the people behind sites like LegoLand in the U.S. In Canada, they developed the Bat Cave at the Royal Ontario Museum and also worked on the Muskoka Boat and Heritage Centre. In a recent article in Jasper's Community Newspaper, Fitzhugh, Matt Dawson, Forrec's senior director of visitor operations stated: “The building is crowded and underwhelming, It’s a missed opportunity – Brewster ranks high (on online travel sites and apps) but the building gets poor or non-existent reviews. People are just blanking it out of their minds. So we want to have complementary experiences inside that enhance what they have outside.” I can certainly agree with this characterization. The building has historically been the pain before the pleasure. It has been a cram of people, all in a rush, pushing their way through a crush of equally rushed crowds. Their first order of business has been focused on cuisine. There have always been two separate restaurants in the hotel. The first, located just above the main staircase, has been a buffet restaurant largely catered to motorcoach tours. The food was adequate at best and never changing. The second restaurant was the public cafeteria style free-for-all. The food was passable but really uninspiring. It was simply…necessary. The day is long, ya gotta eat, so eat. Nobody ever remarked about remarkable food. To be fair, these two restaurants feed some 600,000 hungry visitors every year. The buffet restaurant is now known as "Altitude". According to Dawson: “Altitude is a 450-square-metre buffet style servery,” Dawson explained. “It takes inspiration from the natural environment. So the colour palette is inspired by glaciers, lots of icy blues and whites, harder surfaces – it’s cool and contemporary, and would not be out of place in downtown Vancouver.” When it comes to the food, in an article in this week's Crag and Canyon, menu items will include "rack of lamb with mint sauce, fish, steaks, burgers, flatbreads, and pizzas." Well- hay…I can work with that. An upgrade to the Icefields Chalet has been a very long time coming and this is welcome news. One thing I would like to see is a way to better design the human traffic flow. I'm stoked about the improved food because, as a guide, I eat a lot of meals there every summer. The newly designed restaurants look great as well. If you want to see some images, Check out this story in the Crag and Conyon Newspaper: http://www.thecragandcanyon.ca/2017/04/12/glacier-discovery-centre-completes-interior-renovations-to-restaurants Can Forrec improve this iconic destination? If they can, I'll be impressed. Let me know if you visit. I'd love to hear some first-hand impressions. Mount Edith-Cavell is one of Jasper National Park's premier destinations. The interpretive walk to the Angel Glacier overlook is one that inspires awe and, a few years ago, terror. Permits Required for Mount Edith Cavell Road In 2012, the Ghost Glacier came loose from the steep slopes of Mount Edith-Cavell and into the tiny tarn known as Cavell Pond. The resulting tsunami-style wave erupted from the tiny lake and swept down the valley taking out an interpretive trail as well as much of the public parking area. This event really brought to the fore, the dangers of a rapid glacial melt. It also led to the closing of the Mount Edith Cavell road for the remainder of the 2012 season. While it reopened in 2013, it was clear the combination of increased visitation as well as increased risk due to rapid glacial retreat meant that Parks Canada needed to do some redevelopment in order to move the parking lot out of the danger zone while also increasing the capacity. As of this summer, there is now a limit on the number of cars that can travel the Mount Edith Cavell Road. If you want to visit the area…and you really really DO want to visit this site. Limited access is a really really good idea. It makes sure that the people that do get an opportunity to visit the site will get a great experience. Starting this summer, in order to visit Mount Edith Cavell, you'll need a permit issued by Parks Canada. The free permits will be available outside of the Jasper Information Centre in the heart of Jasper between 08:00 and 10:00 every day. Only one permit per vehicle is required. It is being put in place primarily to ensure that each vehicle should have a place to park in the main lot. It will also help to reduce the overcrowding challenges at the site as well as the long line of vehicles parking along the really narrow access road as it approaches the parking area. For those of us that are part of an organized group tour, we won't need vehicle permits, nor will backcountry users, cyclists, or hostel guests. Parks Canada staff will be on location at the start of the road to check permits for vehicles as well as tour operator licenses, reservations for the Tonquin Trail, Tonquin Valley Backcountry Lodge, Amethyst Lake Lodge and the Edith Cavell Hostel. This is a great development for Mount Edith Cavell. We need to make sure that the access to the location is both safe and sustainable. If you are a repeat visitor, I truly believe that this will improve the access to the location. While fewer visitors will be able to snap photos of the glacier, it will help to reduce the impact and the crowds. Story 2 - Going Batty As days slowly warm up, it won't be long until, if you're lucky and very watchful, you may be able to see dark objects flitting across the night sky in search of flying insects. Bats are still largely a mystery in the mountain west with scientists in the dark on most aspects of these furry mammals. Researchers don't know very much about their population, distribution, or even where non-migratory bats overwinter in the Rockies. In most instances, the bats we see locally are likely to be big brown or little brown bats (also called the little brown myotis). The remaining 7 species are more solitary and less likely to be spotted by the average viewer. If you're lucky enough to a rarity, you'll likely not know, for as the saying goes, they all look mostly alike when flitting across the night sky. Alberta is home to the Big and Little brown bat, Eastern Red Bat, Hoary Bat, Long-eared Myotis, Long-legged Myotis, Northern Myotis, Silver Haired Bat and the Western Small-footed Bat. All bats are members of the order Chiroptera which loosely translates to 'hand wing' in Greek. Essentially, the bones that form the structure of the wing, are the bat's finger bones,  which are connected by a thin skin membrane called the patagium. Because the wing is essentially, well, a hand, bats can move it like a hand while flying, which allows them to literally swim through the air. Only the thumb remains exposed, extending from the wing  as a small claw used for climbing. Bats represent one of, at least, four times in history that self-propelled flight has evolved. In addition to bats, birds, and insects, my personal favourite, the pterosaurs, took to the air some 228 million years ago. The first known ancestral bat dates to around 50 million years ago. Canada's bats are all a member of the family Vespertilonidae which means "evening bat". This refers to their preference for hunting at night when insects are more active. Birds, with their rigid wings are better at providing lift but the wings of bats are more flexible allowing them to bend them into different shapes which in turn almost instantly varies the direction and degree of lift. Their flight is also more efficient than that of both insects and birds. As an example, a hovering bat uses 40% less energy than hawkmoths and 60% less than hummingbirds. Unlike the rigid wings of birds, they have almost two dozen wing bones that can each be controlled independently to some extent. Add to this the pliable nature of the wing membrane, and you have an aerial predator of unmatched flying abilities. If you ever have the chance to watch the beautiful flights of bats as they fly, tumble, barrel roll, and almost instantly change direction to hone in on a their dinner, you will have marveled at their nimble aerial displays. Bats combine aeronautic agility with active sonar to hone in on flying insects using echolocation combining millisecond timing and millimetre accuracy. While not all bat species use sonar, all the bats in Canada DO. Bats emit high frequency pulses of sound at a rate of up to 200 per minute. While we can't hear these pulses, they can hear the pulses reflect off of objects in their flight path. Depending on circumstance, bats produce three different types of pulse. One pulse is used when searching for prey. Once located, they change to an approach pulse and at the last minute, change to a feeding pulse as they prepare to capture dinner. Sonar allows the bats to literally see with sound!  It helps them find all manner of flying insects, but also to navigate around obstacles. Echolocation is an almost magical way for bats to navigate the night skies in search of dinner. As autumn approaches so does the mating season. Bats swarm together for this purpose and once impregnated, female bats carry the active sperm for several months, waiting for late-winter or early spring before fertilization takes place. This delayed implantation is often talked about when referring to black and grizzly bears, but bats and some members of the weasel family also utilize the same strategy. Once the pups are born, usually one, or rarely two, per year, they're fed milk by their mother for the first 6 weeks, beyond which they are on their own to fend for themselves. Occasionally, female bats gather in maternity colonies in frequently used locations. When we think of bat swarms and winter hibernation in bats, we think of caves. In fact, Banff National Park has just discovered the very first cave to show evidence of hibernating bats within its boundaries. The cave is in the northern reaches of Banff, close to the Columbia Icefields. Biologists believe the bats are little brown myotis, but they are sending out bone samples in order to get a more accurate identification. Outside of Banff, Canmore's Rat's Nest Cave also shows evidence of bats using the warm cavern for hibernation. I have photographs of bat skeletons that I took back in the 1990s from this cave. A 2013 study stated that: "There are four known bat hibernacula in the Province of Alberta: Wapiabi (Chungo) Cave, southwest of Nordegg, Cadomin Cave, south of Hinton, Procrastination Pot (or NDP Cave), east of Jasper and Walkin Cave south of Fort Smith. The nearest hibernacula west of Banff in British Columbia are a couple abandoned mines near Cranbrook sheltering Townsend’s bigeared bat (Plecotus townsendii). Recent research by Lausen 2006 has determined, using radiotelemetry, that big brown bats (Eptesicus fiscus) use narrow deep rock crevices or erosion holes located in steep valley walls in Dinosaur Provincial Park. The potential possibilities of sub-human size cracks and crevices suitable for over-wintering bat use in the Canadian Rocky Mountains verges on uncountable." Very little is known as to the winter use of bats in caves within the Canadian Rocky region. Within Banff National Park, there are at least 11 caves that have been explored by spelunkers, but the potential is there for many more caves to be hidden within the vast wilderness that is Banff. There may also be many smaller caves that would not attract the attention of people due to their inaccessibility, but that may serve bats just fine. There is another potential habitat in Banff as the same 2013 study mentioned: "One fairly unique Banff habitat that might be used by bats is the geothermally warmed zone around its hot springs. Both caves and crevices, plus sub-human size cracks and holes may provide seasonal roosting and nursery bat habitat." Along with caves, abandoned mines can create a perfect location for hibernating bats, Banff, Kootenay and Yoho National Parks each have abandoned mines with open entrances that could be worth closer inspection by researchers. And of course, caves are not the only places bats will hibernate. Many species, like the big brown bat, are fond of rafters, air vents and other man-made structures that may have some artificial heat. Bats also use hollows in bridge structures as well. One bridge in Waterton Lakes National Park has been very popular with little brown myotis. Bats look for warm, moist, dark places in these structures, ideally with a temperature in the 39-42 C range. They rely on existing openings in order to access buildings because, unlike rodents, they lack the gnawing teeth to excavate their own entrance. Potential hibernation and maternity sites worth investigating are the Banff Springs Hotel attic, some of the areas older churches, the Park Administration building, Banff Park Museum, Deer Lodge, Num-ti-jah Lodge and any other classic old structure that still has not been fully modernized. One trend that has had an impact on bats over the past few decades has been the move towards updating old buildings, many of which may have been home to large colonies of overwintering bats. One 1983 study indicated: “Although the big brown bat is clearly associated with the townsite area, no nurseries have been located and only one roost has been identified. Old buildings with accessible attics are being replaced by well-insulated and generally inaccessible attics. Thus, artificial nurseries, roosts and hibernation sites are disappearing. Natural sites used by these bats may need protection if the species is to remain in the mountain national parks.” Alberta's bats do not gather in the huge numbers that you see in movies. Many hibernate in small groups or even as individuals. The eastern red, hoary and silver-haired bats avoid hibernation altogether by migrating south. Understanding where bats spend their winter is critical in helping to mitigate the effects of white-nose disease when it eventually makes its way to western Canada. This deadly disease has been steadily migrating westward since its discovery in 2007. Last year, it made a sudden western jump and was for the first time identified in Washington State. To the east, it's approaching the Ontario-Manitoba border. It's inevitable that it'll make its way to the Rockies and researchers are hoping to be prepared. As they find locations, like the recent cave discovery in Banff, they are looking at seasonal use while also studying temperature and humidity. White-nose fungus grows best in temperatures between 5 and 14 C. It appears to disappear in areas where the temperature reaches 20 C. . As the fungus attacks a bat, it will be spread to neighbouring bats through physical contact, with each developing a white colouration on the hair around the mouth. The fungus doesn't kill the bat, instead it creates discomfort, causing the bat to wake more often. The bat then wastes energy grooming in a futile attempt to be rid of the fungus. This, in turn, uses precious energy and depletes fat stores. They slowly starve once they've drained all their fat reserves. In areas where white-nose has gained a foothold, bat mortality ranges from 75 to 99%. So far some 5 and a half to 7 million bats have been wiped out in the 10 years following its arrived in North America. It's for this reason that renewed interest in bats winter strategies is critical in the mountain west. One advantage we may have is that bats often don't gather in densely populated hibernation sites. The greatest mortalities occur where the bats are tightly grouped and can spread the fungus from one to another across an entire colony. Once infected, the fungus can remain in the cave until the next year's hibernation begins, starting the cycle anew. (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121218094216.htm). This means that once a hibernation site is infected, it is likely to stay that way, infecting successive generations of hibernating bats. So how do researchers learn more about the bats found within the mountain west? Field research into potential hibernation and maternity sites is just one step. Some bats can be fitted with tiny tracking devices allowing them to share their location for a brief period before the devices naturally fall off. Since most bats are incredibly light, most can only carry a minuscule 0.35-gram transmitter. This would transmit over a 1 to 3 km range and would fall off after 8 to 10 days when the adhesive naturally breaks down. Acoustic monitoring is another up and coming technique for monitoring bats. Audio detectors can be  purchased for use in stationary locations, mounted to vehicles, and even used in a hand-held manner. This allows for a variety of uses. Unfortunately, most equipment is designed for a single monitoring method. As an example, a stationary monitor can be set up near, or in suspected hibernation sites to monitor bat vocalizations. Vehicle mounted detectors would allow mobile, wide range detection along routes that can be traversed on a regular basis. Handheld detectors allow active monitoring of bats in an area with the acoustic pulses being displayed as real-time sonograms on the screen to assist in identification. All three techniques will be needed to get a handle on bat populations in the Rockies, and they'll be needed soon. The thought of white-nose disease devastating our bat populations is terrifying. Bats are an essential part of the mountain ecosystem - especially when we realize that many eat up to half their body weight in insects every night. That's a lot of mosquitoes that don't need swatting. Conclusion Please remember that Ward Cameron Enterprises is your one-stop shop for getting the most out of your visit to the Canadian Rockies. Step away from packaged tours and let us create your custom experience. You can drop me a line at ward at wardcameron.com or check out our show page at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com. There you'll find show notes, links to additional information and all of our back episodes. If you want to connect personally, hit me up on twitter @wardcameron or check out us out on facebook at: www.facebook.com/wardcameronenterprises.

Story 1 - Why do wolves hunt in packs? Have you ever wondered why wolves hunt in packs? After all, a single wolf is capable of taking down a 300 kg (1000 lb) moose all on its own. Theoretically, if a wolf hunted alone or in a group of one or two, they would just get more of the meat to themselves. New research from Isle Royale National Park in Michigan has focussed on another reason - ravens.  Biologists John Vucetich and Rolf Peterson of Michigan Tech and Thomas Waite of Ohio State University led the study which delved into the mechanisms prompted wolves to hunt in large coordinated packs.  When wolves take down a moose, there is far more meat than they are capable of eating in a single sitting. Unfortunately for them, leftovers are not simply ignored. Within minutes of a kill, ravens begin to arrive. These aggressive scavengers can down up to 2 kg or 4 lbs of meat per bird per day. In many cases, the wolves can lose up to half a carcass to ravens.  By hunting in a larger group, the wolves are able to reduce the percentage of a kill lost to ravens, making it more efficient to hunt in larger groups. The ravens hunt in groups, and they may be forcing the wolves to follow suit.  Story 2 - The bears wake up It's official, the bears are beginning to emerge from their winter dens. At this time of year, it will invariably be the big male bears that wake up earlier, with females emerging several weeks later and new moms waiting until May to show themselves. There are a lot of challenges to these early risers. Food is scarce and the first shoots of spring are some weeks away. The Boss, also known as bear 122,  The Boss, also known as bear 122, is usually the first grizzly spotted every spring. He spends the early part of the season patrolling the CPR mainline in search of carcasses and grain spills. Other bears may look to avalanche slopes for bighorn sheep and mountain goat carcasses. This year is experiencing record avalanches so hopefully, most of the bears are going to wait a while before venturing into steep terrain.  Other spring foods include bearberries, which are the only berry that remains on the plant throughout the winter in the central Rockies. Other bears will search for squirrel caches of whitebark pine nuts. These highly nutritious foods will prompt grizzlies to excavate several metres into the snowpack in search of a squirrel's cache.  It's also a time of year where they may be attracted to human food and garbage. It's time to take down your bird feeders and make sure there aren't any attractants around your property that might draw a hungry bear in. It's also time to make sure you're carrying your bear spray as well.  Story 3 - Icefields Parkway bike path Last summer, Parks Canada announced plans for a new bike path that would run from Jasper to the Columbia Icefields. I first introduced this plan way back in episode 3 and over the past few weeks, parks has held public comment sessions on the proposed trail and is in the process of compiling the results. The trail will run 109 km or 65 miles from the town of Jasper to the Wilcox Campground. At a Public Consultation held in Jasper on March 14, Siivola indicated that the route was chosen specifically to "ensure users feel comfortable while enjoying nature, to maximize the use of existing infrastructure, to minimize the effects on natural and cultural resources, to connect day-use areas, viewpoints and campgrounds, and to minimize the number of crossings". That's a tall order for any trail - especially given Jasper National Parks poor record in recent years for maintaining even its most iconic trail systems. On February 8, Jasper National Park finally reaffirmed its commitment to increased maintenance of its backcountry trail system. In a story published in the Fitzhugh, Jasper's Superintendent, Alan Fehr was quoted as saying: "We have a lot of assets in Parks Canada and a lot of them were built 40, 50, 60 years ago, maybe longer, and they are in need of repair or maintenance, and in some cases replacement. This trail seems to be just another push to increase the number of people in the front country of the parks. Over the past decade, we've seen the backcountry neglected while the front country got bike races, via ferratas, summer ski hill operations and vast increases in vehicle traffic. If you missed the recent open houses, you can still make your voice heard. Public comments are open until April 24th 2017. To learn more about the trail, visit: http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/jasper/plan/sentierdesglaciers-icefieldstrail.aspx To add your feedback check out: http://pc.sondages-surveys.ca/surveys/sondage-survey/icefields-trail-north-consultation-feedback-form/?l=en-ca The more people that weigh in on this trail the better. If you believe that corridors like the Icefield Parkway should remain wild, then please add your voice to the opposition towards this proposal. There are so many great ways that Parks could use these dollars. This is not one of them. Story 4 - Winter Olympics take two Calgary is considering a bid for the 2026 winter Olympics. After the success of its first Olympics in 1988, the city was able to boast the first winter Olympics in history to actually turn a profit. It's also unique in that almost 30 years after the games ended, all of the venues are still in use.  As the exploration committee looks at possible venues, Lake Louise Ski Hil, as it did during the 88 bid process, is up for consideration for the alpine events. Currently, it hosts the season openers for both the men's and women's downhill events every year so it clearly has the terrain necessary for an Olympic event. It is controversial more for the fact that it lies in a sensitive location and there are fears that any Olympic bid will be used as leverage to increase development at the ski hill.  My support would be to use the original Olympic venue, Nakiska at Mount Allan which was built specifically for the 88 games. It would need a retrofit, but it has everything needed to host the events, and it's closer to Calgary. 

Story 1 - Winter Weather Predictions I look at some of the predictions for this year's winter weather. We've had a few very mild winters now but the change towards La Niña conditions may shake that up with higher than average snowfalls. Story 2 - Leave Your Drones at Home Camera drones are becoming more and more popular in the mountains and this year saw a dramatic increase in illegal use of these devices in the mountain parks. Drones are illegal in both the national and Alberta's provincial parks and can result in hefty fines. Please leave your drone's at home Story 3 - Dr. Brian Luckman on the glacial history of the Athabasca Glacier Dr. Brian Luckman has been studying the Athabasca Glacier for the paast 50 years. He has pioneered new ways of studying the history of mountain glaciers using tree rings and even lichen growth. This is a portion of a presentation that he gave at the Jasper Museum in September and is reproduced with permission.    

Story 1 - Mountain Soundscape I wanted to share a sound file that I recorded recently as part of a haunting morning video of elk during the annual rut in Banff National Park. If you enjoy the audio, check out the original file at: http://bit.ly/2dwQzJp . Story 2 - Glaciers in the Mountain West This week we are treated to a presentation by Bob Sandford. Bob is the EPCOR Chair for Water and Climate Security and the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. Please enjoy Bob's presentation titled: The Snows of Yesteryear & The Future Climate of the Mountain West.

Well it's official. We're now on the iTunes Store. You can subscribe directly by searching for us on iTunes or simply by clicking the following link: http://apple.co/29V9UOh. Subscribing is the best way to make sure you have access to every episode as soon as it's uploaded. We also appreciate any reviews from happy listeners. Every review helps more people to discover this podcast so please give us a rating and help the message spread. Story 1 - Citizen Science If you regularly find your way high into the Alpine, why not help out scientific research taking place in the Rockies. The High Elevation Localized Species (or HELS) initiative is designed to keep real-time records of sightings of hoary marmots, mountain goats, pikas and white-tailed ptarmigan. Each of these animals are alpine specialists and so it can be difficult to collect ongoing date simply due to the remote and often widely separated locations that these animals call home. By crowdsourcing sightings from those of us that like to play in the mountains on a regular basis they can begin to gain a much clearer understanding of their range, behaviour, movement and population. Participating in the program is easy. Head to www.BowValleyNaturalists.org and follow the links to the HELS reporting area. You'll simply be asked to register followed by a simple reporting process. Important information includes the species, number of individuals, any details of the sighting and the location. If you don't have gps coordinates (as most of us won't), you can pinpoint your location on a digital topographic map. Story 2 - Bear 148's Wanderings Bear 64 was one of the greatest bears of the past several decades. She called the town of Banff home and helped scientists learn more about the use of wildlife over and underpasses as well as the bears use of important seasonal foods. She passed away in 2014 and now her female cub, bear 148 has taken over her territory with gusto. Recently she took to exploring her home and decided to take a bit of a walkabout. She travelled east along the Trans Canada Highway all the way to Canmore, and after passing the Legacy Trail on the highway (and causing a brief closure), she headed up to the Spray Valley and wandered all the way to the south end of Spray Lakes Reservoir. After turning north, she made a beeline back to the town of Banff covering the distance in just 20 hours. Now that it's buffaloberry season, she'll be looking for good patches to spend the next month or so until the first frost of autumn brings the berry season to an end. If you're travelling the trails in and around the Bow Valley be sure to make lots of noise. When bears are feeding on these berries they are completely focused on feeding and may not hear your approach. It's up to you to be vigilant for the both of you. Leave your ear buds at home and be sure to have bear spray on your belt and know how to use it. Over the past two days there have been two bear attacks, one near Cochrane and a second today near Canmore. The bears are on the trails and because the buffaloberries need sunlight to grow, they line our low elevation trails. If you haven't listened to episode 1, check it out as we talk in great depth about the importance of these important berries. Story 3 - We're Off to See The Icefields…By Bike! Jasper National Park has announced a 66 million dollar plan to build a paved bike path from the town of Jasper all the way to the Columbia Icefields. This trail would use portions of the original highway as well as paralleling the current road as it winds its way uphill toward the glaciers. The plan has received mixed reviews with cyclists applauding it and environmentalists warning of the loss of habitat as well as the potential for increased traffic along this important wildlife corridor. This is a difficult story since the environmental impact would be very high but at the same time the highway is becoming more and more dangerous for cyclists to take the risk. This is a story that we'll be watching unfold for some time and Parks has yet to reveal all of the details of the proposed trail. Story 4 - Book Report I love images taken from camera traps. You know the ones, where researchers have set up special cameras that are triggered by movement so that they catch wildlife unaware. They are critical for studying very wary animals and have been used in every corner of the globe. There are some awesome local videos produced by using these cameras as well. Glenn Naylor of Kananaskis Country did this amazing video in Kananaskis by monitoring a scent tree used by bears:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AihvuZiDhsg. Jasper National Park has also produced a series which you can watch here: http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/jasper/ne/prissurlevif-caughtintheact.aspx. Now back to our book. Biologist Roland Kays of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences has used camera traps for years in his work. Recently he realized that he was not the only biologist with a 'greatest hits' folder on his computer. He began to reach out to other biologists to see if they might be willing to share some of their best images as well. The result is a fabulous book called:   Candid Creatures: How Camera Traps Reveal the Mysteries of Nature, looks at the history, the techniques and the humour related to using camera traps. The images reveal a world that is hidden to humans and in many cases reveal behaviours not previously observed. Why not pick up a copy at Amazon.ca. You can buy it from this link: http://amzn.to/2awoLi7. By purchasing the book from this link you are helping to support the show.

Story 1 - Mountain News Items Parks Increasing Prosecutions for Feeding Wildlife This has been a difficult year for wildlife in the Rockies. We've had numerous bears killed along highways but we've also had a growing problem with visitors giving handouts to wildlife. It all came to a head recently when the alpha female of the Bow Valley Wolf Pack had to be euthanized after becoming aggressive as a result of being fed repeatedly. Let's help keep the wild in wildlife. Colorado Black Bear Locks Itself In Subaru The mountains are Subaru country and in Colorado a lady woke up to learn that a black bear had opened the door of her car and then somehow locked itself inside. Needless to say the distressed animal spent the whole night trying to get out and in the meantime trashed the interior of the car. Wildlife officials released the bear without incident. White Water Rafters Cry Foul Rafting companies in British Columbia have been blocked from accessing the Lower Canyon of the Kicking Horse River, one of the classic rafting trips in western Canada. The legal wrangling will continue for some time but as of this writing it is still blocked by a metal gate. Story 2 - Eating Bugs at the Calgary Stampede Every year the Stampede introduces a long list of new foods for the midway food booths. This year was no exception. We headed into Calgary to try a few of these delightful snacks, in particular the Sticky Toffee Bug Balls, the Golden Grasshopper Pie Pop, the Big Pickle Dog and finally the Bacon Beer Battered Corn Dog. You can see a full listing of the new foods here: http://blog.calgarystampede.com/2016/05/03/34-new-foods-hit-the-stampede-midway-in-2016/ Story 3 - Disappearing Glaciers In this story we look at the rapid rate that glaciers are disappearing from the western mountain landscape. According to some scientists, by 2100 70-90% of all of our glaciers could disappear. We look at a few of the implications of this rapid melt.