EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
One of the things I love most about being an editor at Can Geo is collaborating with passionate contributors to make a piece come together in the best way we can. When Trina Moyles came to me with her pitch about grizzly bears possibly moving into Wapusk National Park, her words were so compelling – not to mention her experience writing about bears in Black Bear, her upcoming book – that I knew the story would be a slam dunk. The next step was finding a photographer in the Churchill area that knows bears. Enter Drew Hamilton, a wildlife photographer and bear-watching guide who divides his time between polar bears in Churchill and grizzlies in Alaska, the perfect fit. Finally, I had to find a way to get them into Wapusk to join bear biologist Doug Clark on his grizzly denning survey. Having Trina and Drew along to observe this important endeavour was key to embedding this story in current, ongoing science. And Doug was so generous with his time (thanks, Doug!). Now, Parks Canada has it that you can’t just waltz into one of the largest polar bear denning areas in the world, and for good reason. You need permission – which we got (thanks, Parks!), but how to get Trina and Drew actually in the park? There are no roads; they can’t walk in (and if they could, they probably would prefer not to). So, a helicopter charter it was! Before this story, I had never chartered one before, and, as you’d probably imagine, it’s really expensive – like really, really expensive. Thankfully, Travel Manitoba, the province’s tourism board, was keen to help us with the cost of those flights and Trina’s lodging at the nearby Churchill Northern Studies Centre (thanks, TM!) to make this story happen. It takes many moving parts to get a story off the ground (pun intended!), but it’s always worth it when it does. - Michela Rosano, Senior Editor |
