Canadian parks on film
Dale A. Johnson, a filmmaker who lives in Alaska, showed his films and lectured on the parks of Canada at a Nov. 5 gathering of Maine Charitable Mechanic Association members.
Johnson has had his work aired on CBS and ABC television. His pictures of birds, animals, wildflowers, trees, waterfalls, rivers and mountains made viewers wish that they could accompany him through these parks. I was one of those viewers. The films were filled with beauty, and his descriptions were very informative.
The tour started in eastern Canada, at L’anse aux Meadows National Park in Newfoundland, where Vikings landed in 1,000 A.D. Lief Erikson and his men built sod and wood longhouses of turf. Slag from ironmaking has been found there. Norse houses can still be seen, depressions in the grass, which were discovered in 1964.
Gros Mone (“Big Gloomy”) Park, on the northern coast of Newfoundland, had as wildlife brown lemmings, willow and rock ptarmigans and woodland caribou (artic deer), which once dropped to 600 but are increasing again. They band songbirds there, but numbers are dropping each year.
Nova Scotia was discovered in 1497, visited by John Cabot five years after Columbus’ voyage. We saw pictures of yellow throat and savannah sparrows. Moose were reintroduced to this park in 1947. The local entertainment: Scottish fiddlers and girls dancing the reel.
Cape Breton Island Park, in Nova Scotia, was established in 1936. Its Atlantic and Gulf of St. Lawrence shoreline is rugged, with coves and forests. We saw pictures of lynx, a handsome, stub-tailed cat with thick fur. It is larger than the bobcat, with longer ear tufts and legs.
Kejimkujik National Park has birch woods, lakes and old virgin forest with some trees more than 400 years old. At Prince Edward Island National Park, there are 25 miles of forested coastline on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with beaches and bays. We saw pictures of a man gathering Irish moss after a storm. It brings 50 cents a pound. We saw the setting of the book, “Anne of Green Gables.”
Kouchebouguac National Park is in New Brunswick, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with islands and sandy beaches. We saw a black bear, fresh from hibernating, wood thrushes and foxes.
Fundy National Park, also in New Brunswick, has some of the highest tides in the world, at 40 feet. We saw a beautiful (tall, of course) great blue heron. There was a covered bridge at Dickinson Falls, and red spruce trees, once logged to rarity, now coming back.
At La Maurice National Park, in Quebec, once clear-cut, bare ledges were exposed, the great “Canada Shield” of bedrock that covers about half of Canada. La Maurice has more than 150 lakes. Point Pelee National Park, in Ontario, was established in 1918. It is a peninsula in Lake Erie, noted as a sanctuary for birds. Some 100,000 birdwatchers visit this park each May, almost as many as the birds found there.
Ellesmere Island National Park, the most northern park in Canada, is hundreds of miles north of the Arctic Circle. We saw wolves and musk oxen. I was upset to see a wolf attack a young musk ox (a large, black-furred animal) biting at it. It was soon aided by several more wolves, who helped to kill the poor musk ox. That’s the survival of the fittest, I guess, but it looked cruel to me.
Grasslands National Park, in southern Saskatchewan, is prairie, and has never been plowed. Riding Mountain National Park, in the Rockies, established in 1929, is a forested plateau, rising 1,000 feet, above the plains, with many glacial lakes and abundant wildlife
Waterton Lakes National Park is in Alberta, and was established in 1895. It is the Canadian portion of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park abutting Glacier National Park in the United States. It is noted for lakes, wildflowers and animals. Whistling swans and Canada geese stay all winter, as winds blow so hard that the lake doesn’t freeze. Banff, Jasper, Kootenay and Koho national parks all touch. Banff is Canada’s oldest. It was established in 1885.
Wood Buffalo National Park was established in 1922. It protects the only remaining herd of wood buffalo in its natural state and related plains buffalo, the total herd numbering 12,000 to 14,000 animals. They came back from near-extinction. Johnson showed a long-ago photo of a man atop a giant pile of buffalo skulls.
Nahanni National Park is in the Northwest Territories. There are no roads to it or in it. A river runs through it and many travel there by canoe. The Virginia Falls there are twice the height of Niagara Falls.
At Pacific Rim National Park, where it’s green year-round, its rain forest gets 120 inches of rain a year. Kluane National Park is far north and remote. Its Mount Logan is Canada’s highest. It has the world’s largest non-polar ice fields. This park borders Wrangler-St. Elias National Park in the United States.
I would enjoy seeing these park films of Mr. Johnson’s all over again. His photography is so good, and seeing all these wildflowers, animals and scenes all in color made a wonderful evening.
The next Mechanic Lecture, Nov. 26, will be a tour of Louisiana, a musical tour, led by an Englishman and his New York-born wife, who now live in Louisiana and are country music singers. The lecture is at 7:30 p.m. in the Catherine McAuley High Auditorium, 631 Stevens Ave., Portland. First-time attendees are welcome free, just tell the ticket-taker at the door.
Can’t get enough of these
This week’s recipe is from “Cooking With Heart and Soul” by Isaac Hayes, 2000. Mr. Hayes is a musician, actor, radio personality, philanthropist and cook, but his book jacket tells us that what he loves most is getting together with family and friends and hosting a feast. The book is full of interesting recipes.
HOMEMADE CHOCOLATE SALTY BALLS
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar
In a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and corn syrup and mix well. Using a spoon or a melon baler, shape the mixture into balls.
In the top of a double boiler, slowly melt the chocolate chips.. Dip the balls in the chocolate and set the dipped balls on wax paper to set.
On a plate, mix together the salt and sugar. When the chocolate balls are set, roll in the salt and sugar mixture to lightly coat.
Mr. Hayes says, “Enjoy.”
I wonder why he used “salty” in the recipe title. 1/8 tsp. is hardly worth using. But the preparation is easy.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
