Monday July 31, 2006
Location: North Nahanni Naturalist Lodge on Cli Lake with Loyal & Ria Letcher, kids Loyal Jr., Stanley and friend Randall, and nanny/close friend Susan and elder 'uncle' Jo (Jose).

Yesterday we all flew to Cli Lake and the North Nahanni Naturalist Lodge by Twin Otter. I am the guest of Loyal Letcher who I met on my first day in Fort Simpson and who graciously invited me, a complete stranger, out to his lodge to spend time with him and his family. Here again, I'm finding that people of the North are open and trusting, I think this is something I may miss as I head further south.

Being a guy who lives in a van I don't really get to do much hard physical labour, so in return for Loyal's hospitality I have offered to help work around the lodge. Today we all went to work cutting grass, chopping wood, and working on generators. I usually spend much of my summer up at my family farm and am really missing working with my hands. There's no better therapy for me in this world than swinging an axe.

After working for a while around the lodge, I went out on the lake with Jose. The water is high and Jo wanted to see what was happening up the main river that feeds Cli Lake. As we head out he grabs his gun in case we see a moose. Loyal and his family are all out of meat it seems, so a moose would be a great gift.

Up river we come across a large beaver dam blocking our way. Jose tells me we have to bust it open, since, when not paying to fly into the lodge, this river is the only access route.

I have broken open many beaver dams in my life, since out east on my family farm near Gracefield we often have beavers flooding the land and turning prime bush into swampland. I have often though about us versus the beavers and our competing interests. For us our land is best left as a forested area. This allows us to hike our trails and also selectively harvest trees on our property before they go to rot. For the beavers, flooding the land expands their territory providing wider security and access to food.

As we pulled at the packed mud and branches of the dam, watched the water gush forward, I marveled at how perfect a structure a beaver dam really is. Built by these small little creatures, this dam was holding back an entire lake from running its natural course.

All this gets me thinking. You see beavers build dams that destroy/change huge sections of the landscape, killing off trees and shifting an entire ecosystem. How is this any different from humans? We built structures that serve our interests and in doing so we completely change our environment and the course of the river as it were. This is something I will be thinking about throughout my project. Where does nature begin and end? Are all the grids, societies and systems we've built separate from or simply an extension of the natural world. Are all of our actions: war, oil & gas, consumption, destruction all just part of the natural cycle?

If yes, the question becomes where is this cycle headed? And, if indeed everything we've built is a part of nature, then, we too, are subject to the ebb and flow of nature's rhythms. And in that case, we should be prepared for the event that mother nature/spirit/god decides to come along and break apart everything we've built.

The illusion of stability pervades everything we've built. Easily forgotten are the lessons left by ancient civilizations. And now we find ourselves in the present moment, nothing can harm us, we're safe, provided for, and very comfortable.

peace,
d