Ice road conservationist

It was like driving through a glass of milk!  I was encompassed entirely by white, with only thin patches of black ice allowing me to discern the ice road in front of me from the deep snow banks on my flank.  It was -40°C when I left Inuvik this morning.  Winding through the channels of the Mackenzie Delta, I drive alongside black spruce and hillsides for over 100 kilometres before the frozen river widens out and the trees disappear.

Entering the Arctic Ocean, NWT. Credit: D. Slavik, 2012

Pingos outside of Tuktoyaktuk, NWT. Credit: D. Slavik, 2012

You can tell by the long, thin, deep cracks that now mark the road that this is not your typical tarmac.  The “ENTERING OCEAN’ sign on the side of the road marks where – the Mackenzie River merges with the Beaufort Sea – where the road of ice is constantly moving and heaving with the ocean.  Driving along the shoreline, I soon pass several pingos– small, cone-shaped hills with hearts of ice that grow from permafrost.  This lets me know that I am approaching the community of Tuktoyaktuk- a community of over 900 residents, almost entirely Inuvialuit, that has been a base for oil and gas exploration since the 1970s and is preparing for further exploration in the offshore waters of the Beaufort Sea.
The reason for my visit to Tuktoyaktuk in the middle of February is three-fold.  When I arrive in town I head to the school to meet Jenny Jacobson and Beth Russel at Mangilaluk School.  They were recently awarded a Green CommUnity School Grant to further establish their recycling program, and I figured I’d drop by to personally deliver the cheque.

Recipients of Green Community Grant: Dan Slavik (WWF), Jenny Jacobson (Educational Assistant), and Beth Russel (Student). Credit: A. Cudmore, 2012

I also took the chance to present to the local high school students, which I have been doing in the other communities I’ve visited, about the work WWF is doing in the Arctic and how they can become involved in community-based monitoring programs similar to the field projects we have supported across Canada.
That evening I visited the local Hunters and Trappers Committee to introduce myself, and the work WWF has done and is currently doing in the Beaufort Sea and across the Arctic.  They were interested to hear about our support of human-polar bear conflict avoidance in Arviat.  When I left, they invited me back to visit “anytime,” and I plan to take them up on that offer.
The next day, low and behold, I find myself standing beside Alex Debogorski (star of the Ice Road Truckers TV series) at the grocery checkout in Inuvik. He stares at my WWF logo, and then at me. I meet his eyes – An Ice- Road Trucker and an Ice- Road Conservationist.
This community and others in the region are faced with their share of changes, challenges, and opportunities – from a changing climate, to offshore oil and gas development, and a host of other socio-economic issues affecting the communities’ well-being.  As a conservation organization that has been working in the Arctic for over 30 year, we recognize the importance of these face-to-face meetings, and this is why I drove the 184 kilometers from Inuvik in -40°C. It’s a great opportunity to hear the perspectives and concerns from the people of the Arctic as they work to balance conservation and development, as well as tradition and modernization, and to look for ways that we can support them in finding this balance.