Episode 40: Remembering Dan Gibson - Nature Film Maker Extraordinaire

In this episode Holly Gibson Stewart, one of my long-time Canoe Lake friends, joins me in sharing stories of her father, Dan Gibson, and her perspectives about his extraordinary film and music career.

One of the key founding members of Pimlott’s Algonquin Wildlands League in the 1970s, Dan Gibson was a Taylor Statten Camps Camp Ahmek alumni and a long time resident of Canoe Lake since the mid 1940s.   From there, he went on to leverage his keen interest in photography and Algonquin Park’s wildlife to become an award winning wildlife film maker, sound recording artist, inventor of the Dan Gibson Sound Parabola recoding device, founder of Dan Gibson’s Solitudes music label, Juno award winner and a recipient of the Order of Canada. His ground breaking role in helping all of us see, hear and better appreciate wildlife cannot be underestimated.

This  episodes musical interlude is called Stream of Dreams and is from Dan Gibson Solitudes Harmony CD and brought to us with the approval of Digital Funding LLC.  Solitudes music can be found where ever you get your music streaming.

Episode 39: What Good is a Wolf? PT2 More of Pimlott's Myth Busting

In this episode, I share more o Douglas Pimlott and his researcher's ground-breaking and myth busting research on the wolves of Algonquin Park.  Topics of interest include details as to how wolves move, what they eat, how they establish territory and of course wolf vocalization and the history of Algonquin's premier public wolf howls.

Musical interlude is a track from Dan Gibson's Solitudes Breaking Through the Mist  album and is called Return to the Pack.  It is  brought to your with thanks from Digital Funding LLC. This and other of Dan Gibson's Solitudes work can be found on Apple Music, Spotify or anywhere else where music streaming is found.

The majority of the  references for this episode include:

• Russell Rutter and Douglas Pimlott’s 1967 The World of the Wolf

Episode 38: What Good is  a  Wolf! Pimlott's Early  Myth Busting

This episode is the first of a series on the Algonquin Park wolf research that began with Douglas Pimlott's early work from 1958-1962. Prior to that time, Algonquin Park wolves had mostly been seen as vermin out to destroy all other Park wildlife. 

This episode's musical interlude comes from Dan Gibson's Solitudes Algonquin Suite and is called Reunion of  the Wolves.  It is  brought to your with thanks from Digital Funding LLC. This and other of Dan Gibson's Solitudes work can be found on Apple Music, Spotify or anywhere else where music streaming is found.

Here’s the list of references that have informed most of these episodes:

• Russell Rutter and Douglas Pimlott’s 1967 The World of the Wolf

• Kill the Wolves and Kill the Park - Aug 5, 1993 Vo 34, #7

Episode 37: Lake Water Rising Part 2: The Gilmour Tramway

In this second of two episodes on the Gilmour great misadventure, I focus on Gilmour’s great tramway adventure. where the company tried to haul and float logs from the Algonquin Park Highlands to  Trenton. On a completely different river system and uphill for a fair amount of it, the adventure was an engineering marvel but a practical disaster of both time and money.

In addition to my own research for many of my books and other podcasts, most of the content comes from a few key sources including:

• When Giants Fall – The Gilmour Quest for Algonquin Pine by GARY LONG & RANDY WHITEMAN

The musical interlude in this episode is the Wakami Walers version of the Log Drivers Waltz from their 1993 Waltz With the Woods Album. Don’t forget to check out other versions on YouTube, which a great fun to watch. Don’t forget to lend your support to the Wildlife Research Station as they embark on another busy season of research activities.

Episode 36:

As I noted in the last episode one of the really interesting aspects of Chief Ranger Peter Thomson’s first Algonquin Park report, was the almost nonchalant way he described the fact that the newly constructed dam at Tea Lake was expected to raise the water level by nearly four feet.  In this first of two episodes on the Gilmour's great lumbering misadventure, I wanted to give you a sense of what the Oxtongue River-South Tea-Canoe-Joe and Smoke Lakes area looked like in the pre-Gilmour time and share why the Gilmour and Company lumber operations built South Tea Lake dam in the first place.

In addition to my own research for many of my books and other podcasts, most of the content comes from a few key sources including:

• When Giants Fall – The Gilmour Quest for Algonquin Pine by GARY LONG & RANDY WHITEMAN

The musical interlude is called Paddle and Portage. It comes from Dan Gibson’s Solitudes CD called Algonquin Suite, which is brought to you courtesy of Digital Funding LLC. All of the Solitudes collection can be found where ever you get your streaming music such as Apple Music or Spottily amongst others.

Episode 35: Algonquin’s Early Beginnings: The first Official Canoe Trips Summer-Fall 1893

In 1893 the Algonquin National Park Act was passed and soon after Peter Thomson was appointed Chief Ranger. In this episode I share his first report of his activities in the summer of 1893. As well is another provided by Mr. James Wilson Superintendent of Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park who was asked to tour ‘the territory’ which he did via canoe during the late fall of 1893. His observations, descriptions and recommendations are for the most part just  as insightful today as they were when reported in early 1894. 

This episode’s musical interlude is called Forest Song from Dan Gibson’s Solitudes’ CD called Algonquin Suite. Many thanks to Digital Funding LLC, owners of the Dan Gibson's Solitudes copyright, who have granted permission for its use. Search using Dan Gibson’s Solitudes’ on your favourite music streaming site to listen too the entire CD.

Source document is a compilation published by the Legare Street Press iin 2013, who "publish works that have been selected by scholars as being culturally important and are part of the ‘knowledge base of civilization as we know it." It is occasionally available on eBay for those interested in purchasing their own copy. 

Episode 34:  The Amazing World of the Canada Jay

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been enamoured by what my family used to call Whiskey Jacks - now called Canada Jays. I and my brothers would sit on our front deck holding our hands out whilst these little gray darlings would come and, with a little coaxing, take pieces of bread and other goodies from our hands.

In this episode, I am joined by Dan Strickland, former Algonquin Park Naturalist and Dr. Ryan Norris an ecologist who is an Associate Professor with the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph, Ontario. Both are experts on the ecology of the Canada Jay and share some of the latest research findings based on nearly 60 years of Algonquin Park-based research out of the Wildlife Research Station.

Some key links:

• Indigenous artist Mark Nadjiwan’s drawing of a Canada Jay can be found on his website https://www.threetreesart.com/for-seven-generations.html

permission for its use. Search using Dan Gibson’s Solitudes’ as the search term on your favourite music streaming site to listen to the entire CD.

Episode 33: More Fish Fun Facts and Harkness Fisheries Lab Research Gems

In this episode I'll continue my journey through the world of fisheries research in Algonquin  and hope to bring to life some of the really interesting and fun fish facts that I've been able to ascertain. Also of course, introduce you  to a few  more  of the Fisheries researchers and  there work. 

This episodes musical interlude is called Easy Stream from Dan Gibson's Solitudes Breaking the Mist CD. His music can be found on Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and most other places where you get your music on the web.  

Fisheries photos can be found on my VIDs and PICs page on www.algonquinparkheritage.com. Enjoy!

Episode 32: Fish-Fish and More Fish: Early Years of the Harkness Fisheries Lab

Not being that into angling, except when my twins were young and fishing off of our Canoe Lake dock a regular pass time, it's been seriously enlightening to learn all about the Harkness Laboratory for Fisheries Research on Lake Opeongo. This is the first of two episodes that explores the history of fisheries research in Algonquin Park, which began in 1936.  YOu'll have an opportunity to meet some of the amazing fisheries researchers and their work both then and more recently. I now know more about fish than I ever thought possible. Now you can as well!!!

There are too many sources to list here, but you can find the complete list along with some great historical photographs on my website blog www.algonquinparkheritage.com  

The music in this episode comes from  composer Sarah Spring whom you can find on any music web site or her website www.sarahspringpiano.can

Episode 31: More Cool Algonquin Wildlife Station Research

This concludes a 3-part series on the history and research that is going on at the Wildlife Research Station. My focus in this episode is more recent work on moose, salamanders, Canada Jays, hemlock tree regeneration, sapsuckers and beaver as well as another wonderful collection of Wildlife Research Fun Facts.

This episode’s musical interlude comes from Sara Spring and is another of her piano compositions called Across Long Lakes and can be found at saraspringpiano.ca

For this episode in addition to my own research for my books, most of the content comes from a number of key sources including:

• Rory MacKay’s 2018 Algonquin Park A Place Like No Other