The days are short already in Alberta and the differences are marked from eastern Pennsylvania. The stars last night were beautiful. They burned brightly from the deep darkness that surrounded Meanook Biological Research Station, and the Milky Way spilled across the sky to remind us how our galaxy earned its name. Every tiny pin-point blazed with great clarity. No Aurora Borealis yet, but maybe we will be lucky to see them later in the trip. The aspen, birch, and larch have lost their leaves and fall is hanging on here by a thread with the looming long, cold, and dark of winter just around the corner. We are driving now, to Fort McMurray, as I type. Meanook was welcoming last night, but it was a short short stop-over. Onward to the uglies of oil-town, Canada. A few years ago, I was able to get above it all in a helicopter and was able to see the expanse from a bird's eye view. Not exactly a pretty picture.

We’ve been trying to put together a project looking at the effects of drought and flooding using roads as our dams and differences are already apparent here in this big mess. This really isn’t surprising at all. Changes in the hydrology make big differences when you are talking wetlands and there are huge changes going on here. Google Earth is a great resource for checking out all the oil pads and roads and how all of this manipulation wreaks havoc on these systems. Carbon cycling changes, vegetation changes, chemistry changes, pretty much everything changes on both sides of the road and these changes are translated deep into the systems often in ways we don’t understand. Sometimes the most important thing to appreciate is that ultimately, we know very very little. Guess that is what science is all about.
I understand a nor’easter is happening back home and as I move through space and time and dust and stench here, I hope all is well with my place and my neighbors and my loved ones.
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