Don Bertolette (July 12, 2009) wrote:

Gary-
Having travelled for about 24 hours, then slept for 12, I'm just now becoming aware of my surroundings in any meaningful way (did find an excellent pub with nice array of taps nearby!).
Northwest Territory (NWT), once larger is still sizable with 1,171,918 square kilometers (these numbers are large enough to not be meaningful to most of us, but for US standards, this would be 452,480 square miles). Its capital is Yellowknife, an area once inhabited by the Dine (Athabascan) although without permanence until gold was discovered some 75 years ago. Since then it has grown to I believe around 16,000 with a surprising vigor, numerous skyscrapers visible on approach (from 7 to 12 story relatively new structures).  This year there are 600 plus more folks, with the arrival of the International Congress of Circumpolar Health, for which we are here (Rhonda is one of several keynote speakers).
Back to limnology...the largest lake in NWT is the Great Bear Lake (and fourth largest in the Americas, at 31,328 square kilometers, or 12,095 square miles) followed by Great Slave Lake which graces Yellowknife with its wonderful views, with 28,568 square kilometers (11,030 square miles). The deepest lake in Canad, Great Slave Lake is 614 meters deep (or 2,020 feet).
Not content with holding water, the Mackenzie River passes through NWT on its way from Alberta to the Arctic Ocean and at 1,800 kilometers (or 1060 miles) is the longest river in Canada, the second longest river in North America, and the third largest in the world. And one more superlative for Bob's memory bank. Virginia Falls, at 90 meters (or 300 feet), is more than twice the height of Niagra Falls.
Okay, enough quantitative data you must be saying by now...having gone to a showing last night, of a movie documentary of water and its importance to the First Nation (analogous to Native Alaskans, Native Americans). The purity of water to those that live a subsistence lifestyle (we would say, 'live off the land') is critical.  Their water is their life, as it brings the abundance that allows them to live generation to generation.
That abundance is being threatened, upstream on the MacKenzie River as it passes through Alberta's burgeoning tar sands/oil production industry. The First Nation has excellent leaders in their midst, a unity of the people and growing power in the larger scheme of things, but as everywhere, the industrial objectives have little concern for the people, unless it affects their prodigious bottom line. So the battle is set and goes on as we speak.
About the only other limnological item I can attest to is from the approach to the airport and the drive to town.  Numerous small lakes abound in the area, it would seem as the result of glacial scouring of the Canadian shield, which makes itself apparent wherever not covered by what I'm currently identifying as Black Spruce (65 mph assesment to be verified later today). I can suggest that the balance of bugs and fish in this area seem to be in balance...certainly there's an abundance of black flies and mosquitos, although not bad here in the city.  Photos of 35 pound lake trout in the local paper didn't seem out of the ordinary, perhaps as a result of a catch and release regulation over a certain size. I did meet two Texans at the brewpub that had been fishing and said the largest catch of the day was a 50 plus pounder.  Just as well that they're released as 10 pounders are preferred for eating...arctic char, usually smoked, appear on many menus.  
I'm attaching a few photos taken from near our hotel, of the general countryside. I expect to gather more information and will relay what I find in the disciplines of limnology and "limBology".
-Don

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Don Bertolette (July 13, 2009) wrote:

WENTS/ENTS-

I’ve put together a slideshow of images, taken as I drove
from Yellowknife to the Cameron Falls trailhead, and then along the trail to
the falls. My first time using Photobucket, I can’t promise that I’ve done all
things correctly, but I hope so…it was a nice ride, hike and I hope you enjoy
it (at least you’re able to enjoy it in a mosquito-free environment! A
narrative follows the Photobucket link (where individual slide titling and
descriptions can be found):

http://s875.photobucket.com/albums/ab312/forestoration/?albumview=slideshow

The community of Yellowknife is adjacent to Great Slave
Lake, and many smaller waterbodies.  The
terrain is that of the Canadian Shield, an ancient exposed bedrock that has
since the last ice age been partially covered with a Boreal Forest Ecosystem. Numerous
bedrock exposures remain unforested. Where forested, stands tend to be either
pure stands or depending on variable soil constituents, mixed forest stands of
black spruce, white spruce, balsam fir, quaking aspen, balsam poplar, or white
birch.

 As a sample of the
countryside, I chose the Ingraham Trail which is paved at first and later
graveled and a fine travelling surface.
Running east from the city of Yellowknife, the road eventually parallels
the Cameron River for some 20 kilometers, passing by many small to medium
lakes, some of which are populated with small summer homes, some not. All are
quite scenic and retain much of their wilderness character.

Within the first few kilometers, the Ingraham Trail crosses
the Yellowknife River with the appearance of being wide and deep, with a fast
current.  Looking up river, the forest
runs down right to the river’s edge, broken here only by a summer cottage with
a small dock for small boat access.
Downriver, the Yellowknife runs into Great Slave Lake.  The roadway continues through the countryside
with roadside wildflowers brightening the otherwise green forested expanses. Fireweed
and woodrose, familiar to Alaskans, grow along the roadway, with an occasional
columbine.

Many of the lakes and marshes appear to seasonally and annually adjust to differing water levels, while
the black spruce looks on...

 The focus of the afternoon’s activity was to be a hike out
to Cameron Falls, some 40 kilometers from town.
Parking at the trailhead, I met three hikers just coming out of the
forest into the parking area, somewhat abruptly. We smiled, we chatted briefly,
and off I went into the forest…it soon became clear why the hikers had been in
such a rush. Swarmed by mosquitos, black flies, and an incredibly aggressive
relative to what I’d call a deer fly (at least in California), I could hardly
get my pack off, get it open, get out the hat/headnetting I’d put there
thinking I might need it,  and get it on…a
serious piece of equipment, it had thin bunji cords that you put your arms
through to keep it close and tight to your shirt. Blessed relief was had, after
a short killing spree of the few mosquitos that were caught inside. Wearing
long pants and long sleeve shirt, I had only to sink my hands deeply into my
pockets to attain fair protection from the flying beasts. Even then, the longer
snouted ones were able to penetrate my shirt, when I wasn’t in motion.  

Ever walked over hill and dale, at a spirited pace, with
hands deep in your pockets?  It took but
20 minutes to traverse a typically 30 minute hike.  Was it worth it?  It was a
great trail, with sections of board
walk through marshy areas, and steps to negotiate steep rocky sections. With
the crossing of each of two ridges, the sound of the falls grew noticeably
louder.  Each of the ridges tended to
have less soil coverage, and were characteristically bedrock with depressions
pocketing sufficient soil to have “islands” of mosses, forbs, grasses, wildflowers
and/or small jack pines, white birches, or quaking aspens. When I say
sufficient soil, I am describing shallow (perhaps several inches thick) and small
(sometimes as little as a meter square) patches in small rock basins.  Sometimes
it takes nothing more than a crack in the bedrock for jack pines (Pinus banksiana
lamb.) or birches

Would Bob be offended if I named this tenacious southern dweller the Bob Leverett tree?
Okay, I admit it, this was my favorite tree of the hike, at my favorite location overlooking the
Cameron River as it exits Cameron Falls! It has two criteria that I am beginning to recognize as
critical characteristics for the really old old-growth...one, the ability to live economically and two,
the ability to face adversity and prosper...(I know, it's not a long lived species, but hey, I'd be
smiling if this were my next life!

and aspen to take up residence. The forest
across much of the trail consisted of primarily white birch and black spruce of
small dimension due to the limited soil availability. These boreal species
range across much of the Canadian provinces. Jack pines, a close relative to
the lodgepole pine (they hybridize) share an interface that approximately
splits Canada east/west. Jack pines will range just a little bit higher before
giving way to a purer black spruce/white birch community.  Like the lodgepole, jack pines have
attenuated cones that expose their fire-adapted ecology, persisting through
many years, and opening primarily in response to the heat from wildfires.  
It is said that indigenous natives have been
known to parboil male flower cluster to remove resins, to make them a desired
food item.

I was finally myself not considered as a food item for the
swarming hordes, when I at last arrived at the Cameron waterfall. There the air
was displaced by the cascading falls (some 15 meters in height) into enough
wind currents that the viewpoint was bug-free and the hat/headnet was
greatfully remove.  And a gorgeous
waterfall it is. Loud, chaotic, braiding, it looks impassable by even the most
serious watercraft (which do ply upper and lower Cameron river waters).

After a satisfying respite, the netting went back on, hands
once again sought the depths of my pockets, and I returned in a fashion similar
to my initial entry. At the trailhead once again, I met a young couple in
tanktops and shorts, bade them good luck, and returned to my transport…another
brief battle ensued extinguishing the mosquitos attached to me, before driving
off. No better recommendation I can make than that made by the Boy Scouts…”be
prepared!”, and a good time can be had by all.

-Don