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December 2009 issue	In this issue Table of Contents Feature: Black-footed ferret Feature: Wildlife management Feature: Blue whales The Inside Story Editor’s Notebook Reverberations À la carte Mosaic Reviews

Outport spirit
In his monologue Labrador, playwright TJ Dawe said, “Home. That’s what they call it: Home. They never say Newfoundland. Home. The place you do nothing but miss when you’re away. And that brings you comfort and solace when you return.”

I wasn’t born in Newfoundland. I reside in Upstate New York. But in 1994, I discovered that my home is with Bjorn, Marina and Cliff on Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula. I’ve been back 14 times; twice a year these days, planning for the next under way before each visit’s end. So I was beyond pleased to read “Route 430 revisited” (October 2009). It’s the gift of an extra visit.

I wonder, however, at your attributing the NPer with “Viking spirit” on the cover. I’ve seen Big Brook and Great Harbour Deep close, boats idle and houses empty or boarded. In many a conversation, I’ve felt the sadness at a way of life gone or, at least, going. But what I’ve never heard is an NPer sorry for himself. They’re remarkable people. The cover should have said “outport spirit.” They have no need to borrow what they already have.

George E. Sollish
Syracuse, New York

Your cover story on the Tablelands and Gros Morne National Park was a delight to read. It was doubly enjoyable for me, as it rekindled my memory of time spent in the region in recent years and my experience of the places and events and, yes, the people. Your other pieces on Newfoundland do paint a rather bleak picture, economically speaking, which is a shame. I have found Newfoundlanders as congenial and friendly as any people in the world. I have wandered the globe in search of my Shangri-La, and I have dubbed my time spent at Norris Point as My Shangri-La Found.

Nisar Beg
Mississauga, Ont.

How delightful it was to discover this article. We took our motorhome to Newfoundland in July and visited just the Northern Peninsula. We camped in Gros Morne National Park, in the St. Anthony area and in the Codroy Valley. Yes, we did get caught in the winds near Wreckhouse — and survived.

Ken Cochrane
Riverview, N.B.

Bridging green and old
The story “Under one roof” (October 2009), about the balance to preserve historical buildings while planning for a green future, is an issue on the front burner in many communities.

There is an important debate going on in Victoria now over the city’s plan to replace the historic Johnson Street Bridge with something modern. The 86-year-old blue bridge is an icon from the days when we had more of a working harbour. It is a bascule bridge and is quite rare, as it is two bridges in one: a road bridge and a rail bridge. Each can be raised independently, making the viewing of the process an interesting attraction.

If the city has its way, this much-loved fixture would be demolished starting in November. The rush to replace it is due to supposed seismic risks and the need to cash in on infrastructure stimulus money. On Oct. 24, federal Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities John Baird announced that the Building Canada Fund will help finance, to the tune of $21 million, a new bridge. This leaves $42 million to complete the project. Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin is determined to consider only a new bridge, and not the option to repair the existing historic structure. There is a groundswell of opposition to a new bridge, maintaining that it can be safely refurbished for half the cost.

Dennis Robinson
Victoria

I read with keen interest the article in your October 2009 issue describing the “nascent partnership between heritage conservation groups and the sustainable building community.” I draw to your attention another dimension to this topic: construction on a smaller scale, in rural and wilderness settings, where heritage and sustainability meet.

Using reclaimed materials in new and small-scale green construction can also result in what the author calls the “emotional assets” of heritage materials. One example is the new lodge of Wintergreen Studios in southeastern Ontario. This solar-powered, off-grid building uses straw bales as infill (the first little piggy had it right; he just forgot the plaster), with posts and beams reclaimed from a nearby barn. Other reclaimed and repurposed materials abound in the lodge and outbuildings: discarded copper roofing, fence posts, broken pottery, glass, cedar fence rails, stone and even plants from the surrounding meadow that adorn the living roofs. The result is spectacular: the lodge is warm, both physically and psychologically. It feels as if it has been on this site for many years and has grown out of the meadow on which it stands.

But Wintergreen Studios is more than an incredible building. It is also a non-profit educational organization dedicated to creating awareness about the environment. It is the brainchild of Rena Upitis, a former dean at Queen’s University and a musician, an architect, a teacher and a naturalist who is now dedicating herself to creating environmental awareness. For more information, visit www.wintergreenstudios.com.

Philip C. Abrami
Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance
Concordia University
Montréal

Former wardens reply
The letter in the October 2009 issue from Alan Latourelle, chief executive officer of Parks Canada, leaves the members of the Park Warden Service Alumni Society of Alberta concerned that he continues to blame the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) for the drastic reduction of the warden service.

He fails to mention that several less extreme solutions to the law enforcement issue were presented by PSAC to Parks Canada managers, recommending that law enforcement become a specialized function of the warden service, not a separate entity. PSAC wished to see a reorganization similar to that of park rangers in the United States or provincial conservation officers across Canada, who have maintained their distinctive uniform with no safety repercussions. With Parks Canada choosing the more extreme solution, a law enforcement presence in the wilderness backcountry of our national parks has been effectively eliminated. Surely judicious managers could see that the elimination of protection where it is needed most — along the park boundaries — will lead inevitably to the destruction of wildlife and the resources it was intended to protect.

Decisions are not written in stone. It is time to leave the short-sighted choices of the past behind and move on to viable solutions. The Warden Alumni asks that management place good stewardship ahead of past conflicts and reassess the recent changes to the warden service to more effectively protect the natural resources within our national parks.

Dale Portman, President Park Warden Service Alumni Society of Alberta
Cochrane, Alta.

Ed Struzik, author of “Wardens in arms” (July/Aug 2009), responds: Former chief park warden Ray Frey may have said it best when he noted that everyone loses and no one wins in a family feud. Perhaps it’s time both sides start building bridges that can harness the passion that all Parks Canada employees, retired and active, have for our national parks.

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* Letters may be edited for length, accuracy and liability.