The Northwest Territories has one type of snake – the red-sided garter snake – and it lives around Fort Smith, an area pummelled by wildfires last year.

How are the snakes coping with that? Are they in trouble or are things OK?

Johanna Stewart is a master's student in environment science whose job is to spend two years out there among the snakes, tracking them and learning what's actually going on.

We interviewed Johanna three times over the course of this year to figure out how that research works, what Johanna is looking for, and what we know so far. Plus you'll meet Big Bertha, a snake with a past.