1. The wonder and beauty of the
boreal winter
In March 2013, Pew’s Arctic Science Director Henry
Huntington headed for the boreal forest with four
friends to explore the Canol Road, built during World
War II to support a pipeline connecting the Norman
Wells oilfields on the Mackenzie River in the
Northwest Territories with the new Alaska Highway
in the Yukon.
Here are some of the things they saw on their
1300 km/800 mile trip.

3. The Yukon section of the Canol
is maintained for summer use as
a gravel road.

4. Not so on the NWT side, with
the result that we could not
quite reach Norman Wells …

5. Even without maintenance, the road and
equipment are still visible, seventy years later

6. The trip was wonderful, if cold (-42°C/-44°F was our low, and it was often in the -30s)

7. We traveled
from the pines
of the South
Canol to the
spruce, tamara
ck, willow, and
poplar there
and farther
north

8. Not forgetting the ambitious
spruce high on the slopes, and
willows on a high plateau

9. Plus lots of animals! Winter is a
great time for tracks.
Clockwise from upper left:
wolverine, snowshoe hare, wolf,
caribou, moose, porcupine, fox,
least weasel

10. Fortunately, the bears were
still hibernating, but they left
scratch marks on trees and
fur in the spruce sap

11. And the
ptarmigan,
one of my
favorites!

12. The ice and snow are also beautiful, delicate, and complex

13. The sky offers its own
spectacles night and
day, from aurora to sun dogs

14. May the boreal long continue to inspire and delight us,
and may human presence remain light and respectful

15. From left: Glen Liston, John Burch, Jon Holmgren, Matthew Sturm, Henry Huntington