Features
See It Before It's Gone
By Steve MacDonald, Nicole Pointon, David Pye, Gene Shannon, Dawn Matheson, Bruce Ramsay, Rupa Parekh, Andrew Findlay
Jun 1, 2007

Climate change, overdevelopment and our relentless pursuit of convenience threaten not only obscure endangered species, but some of Canada ’s most iconic destinations—both natural and man-made—as well. See these 11 places before they’re gone forever. Or better yet, help save them for future generations

  Climate change, overdevelopment and our relentless pursuit of convenience threaten not only obscure endangered species, but some of Canada ’s most iconic destinations—both natural and man-made—as well. See these 11 places before they’re gone forever. Or better yet, help save them for future generations

Prince Edward Island Dunes

Sand is disappearing from Prince Edward Island’s shores—and while time is running out, it isn’t slipping through an hourglass. Precious dunes are under amphibious assault: Mother Nature on one side, beachgoers on the other. With rising sea levels and storms, every wave takes its toll, and every step off existing pathways destroys the root structures that bind the dunes together, sealing the fate of these unique seaside ecosystems.

TIME LEFT Estimates put the vanishing act at anywhere from a metre in the next 150 years to eight metres in the next 50 years. Storm surges, however, can wipe out a whole dune system in just a few hours.

SEE IT Don’t just pull up to any beach and start trampling. Prince Edward Island National Park has an interpretive centre at Greenwich on the north shore, where you can explore the dunes with minimal impact

( 902-961-2514; pc.gc.ca). It’s open from May until October, but go in the fall to have the place to yourself.  

SAVE IT Stay on existing paths, says Jackie Waddell, Executive Director of the Island Nature Trust
( islandnaturetrust.ca). They work to protect special areas, including dunes. Her organization also provides education, transplants marram grass and “they work to protect and manage natural areas in P.E.I.,” Waddell says.  —Steve MacDonald

Nova Scotia Lighthouses

“In a country where waterways were early roads, lighthouses played an enormous role,” says Barry MacDonald, President of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Protection Society (NSLPS). “They are beacons of our maritime past.”

But with modern automation, the historic structures are at risk.

“In the age of GPS navigation, the importance of lighthouses is downplayed,” says MacDonald. “And with shrinking Coast Guard budgets, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have no mandate for maintenance of these heritage sites.”

Two examples from the NSLPS’s “Doomsday List” of threatened lighthouses lie off the southwest tip of Nova Scotia, a vital—and perilous—area since the outset of maritime activity in Atlantic Canada.

Seal Island, North America’s oldest operating wooden lighthouse, currently sits leaking, with rotten shingles and peeling paint. The operational Cape Sable Lighthouse—the tallest in Nova Scotia—is succumbing to concrete decay.

TIME LEFT Seal Island and Cape Sable are but a few structures in imminent peril. Without care, many East Coast lighthouses will crumble, or be sold to unsympathetic real estate investors over the next decade.

SEE IT Seal Island Tours ( auracom.com) offers overnight trips from Clark’s Harbour, Nova Scotia. The NSLPS also hosts a guided trip to Seal Island each summer.

SAVE IT “We would love for the public to contact their MP to voice their concern and support of the Lighthouse Protection Act [Bill 220],” says MacDonald. Check out nslps.com for more info.   —Nicole Pointon

Quebec’s Maple Industry

When the winter snows begin to melt in late February, Quebecers usher in spring with the ageless tradition of “sugaring off”—the public side of Quebec’s global-leading $180-million maple industry, with production topping 75 million pounds of syrup annually. The industry is comprised of 7,300 Quebec producers who tap into their maple groves each spring for some of the finest sap on the planet. But warmer winters are shortening their season—and threatening their livelihood.

TIME LEFT Studies launched in 2000 are monitoring the long-term effects of environmental change on the maple industry. Evening freeze—an essential precursor to morning thaws that unleash the flow of sap—is less frequent and acid rain affects the soil that feeds the maple groves. Newly emerging species of insects also threaten the health of the traditional maple tree.

SEE IT Sucrerie de la Montagne ( sucreriede-
lamontagne.com), located 45 minutes west of Montréal near the town of Rigaud, is a Quebec Heritage Site. The mountaintop sugar house oozes authenticity, with mouth-watering Quebecois cuisine like smoked maple ham, meatball stew, pea soup and pulled taffy on a bed of snow.

SAVE IT At the Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec ( siropderable.ca), agronomist and economist Jean-Pierre Bellegarde is working hard to anticipate the effects of environmental change and to ensure the sustainability of this unique Quebec industry.  —David Pye

Ontario Ski Resorts

The five ski resorts based on and around the modest 750-foot hills of Collingwood have been as good as it gets for southern and central Ontario skiers and snowboarders for the last 65 years. Now, warmer winters have local powder junkies worried they’ll soon have to start buying their season’s passes for the Rockies. Warm temperatures this January resulted in 1,300 resort staff being laid off for weeks while the hills waited for flakes to fall. The season didn’t hit its stride until almost February.

TIME LEFT A 2005 University of Waterloo study predicted that ski seasons in Southern Ontario would be up to 30 per cent shorter by the 2020s with current snowmaking technology, and between 30 and 60 per cent shorter by the 2050s.

SEE IT Collingwood’s ski season normally runs from mid-December until nearly Easter, but best to check snow conditions before you depart ( bluemountain.ca).

SAVE IT Many resorts are embracing green technologies and actively encouraging their patrons to do the same. Register for Ski Canada’s Canadian Snow Industry Symposium at Blue Mountain in late July to hear a senior climatologist from Environment Canada give his prognostications on what the future holds
( skicanada.org/symposium).   —Gene Shannon

Southern Ontario Drive-In Theatres

Films alfresco took off in the ’50s as car travel exploded. Ontario boasted the lion’s share of drive-ins in Canada with around 200, pulling in hoards of hot rods and passion-pit patrons for popcorn and pogos and the promise of a magical night of sound and light under the stars.

TIME LEFT In an age of urban sprawl and DVDs, it’s shocking to find a battered neon sign advertising a drive-in on some 20 acres outside town. Such places have little reason to persevere, yet a few still do. Ontario has just over 20 with no new construction planned. “You gotta be in it for the dancing hot dogs,” says Brian Allen, whose family owns five, referring to the cartoons that played during a film’s intermission. “Not the revenue.”

SEE IT Drive-ins have lapsed into novelty status, luring mostly families with their car-load bargains. The largest is Oakville’s 5 Drive-In, with three screens and a long season (March to January), while the others run in the warmer months ( driveintheathre.com/list/canada.htm).

SAVE IT Visit often. Individual owner-operators single-handedly keep drive-ins open, scrambling to create a unique communal experience. Oakville’s 5 Drive-In ( 5drivein.com) includes a beach volleyball court and remote-control car racing, while Guelph’s Mustang ( mustangdriveinguelph.ca) serves up a diner-style concession, vintage trailers and live intermission announcements of birthdays, wedding proposals and kid jokes.  —Dawn Matheson

Lake Winnipeg’s Boreal Forest

Despite being at the virtual centre of North America, referring to the eastern shores of Lake Winnipeg as the “heart” of the continent would actually be bio-metaphorically incorrect. That’s because, as the Earth’s largest roadless and industry-free tract of wild boreal forest, this area is more accurately “the lungs of North America.” An effective scrubber of carbon, and therefore a key player in climate change, the forest is also home to the numerous species including the threatened woodland caribou, as well as ancient aboriginal culture.

TIME LEFT The Manitoba government has its sights set on juicing the economy through development of the boreal forest for mining, forestry and industry. Through the Broad Area Plan, a New Brunswick-sized, 82,000-square kilometre swath of lush forest and Canadian Shield could be opened for business.

SEE IT Just because the place lacks roads doesn’t mean that it’s inaccessible. You can travel one of the many rivers that run through the forest with an outfitter like Wilderness Spirit Adventures ( wilderness-
spirit.com), or launch a boat, canoe or kayak to see the bounty from Lake Winnipeg yourself.

SAVE IT The Manitoba Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society ( cpawsmb.org) is campaigning hard to raise awareness and bring stakeholders to the table.  —Bruce Ramsay

Saskatchewan Grain Elevators

Seventy-five years ago, rural Saskatchewan was awash with farmers and their bushels of grain piled high on wagons. Rows of impatient horses were tied up at the livery and the train chugged by every hour. The golden stream of grain pouring into the hopper tank seemingly never stopped. Today, the Bulyea Elevator No. 1, the first in the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, is a solemn reminder of the borrowed time on which these beacons of the Prairie economy exist.

TIME LEFT In the 1930s, the heyday of grain production, Saskatchewan operated 3,300 elevators, one every 11 kilometres. Today, 525 remain, many on the verge of demolition. “They were our kind giants,” one farmer laments, “watching over our towns.” Giant concrete terminals service massive areas now, expediting the end of rural Prairie life.

SEE IT Take the long flat drive along Highway 1 or Highway 16 for a vista of Prairie sentinels en route. The Western Development Museum in North Battleford
( 306-445-8033; wdm.ca) exhibits a “working” 1920s elevator; the tiny village of Edam has converted theirs into a five-storey museum ( 306-397-5555), as has Hepburn, into the Museum of Wheat ( 306-947-2170). Indian Head draws tourists with the Craft-Tea
Elevator and Restaurant ( 306-695-3516).

SAVE IT The Country Grain Elevator Historical Society in Montana promotes preservation for all Prairie elevators ( country-grain-elevator-historical-society.org), while the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation
( 306-787-5729; cyr.gov.sk.ca) partners with rural communities to fend off the wrecking ball.   —Dawn Matheson

Waterton Lakes National Park

The meeting point of grassland prairie and the Rocky Mountains, Waterton Lakes National Park in southwestern Alberta, together with Glacier National Park in northern Montana and Flathead Valley in southeastern British Columbia, forms a unique, fragile ecosystem supporting a diversity of plant and animal life unparalleled in North America.

TIME LEFT Haphazard land development has restricted movement for endangered and sensitive species like the grizzly bear. A recent federal government policy reversal appears to have cleared the way for coal mining in the Flathead Valley, considered a fundamental territory to protecting the southern Rocky Mountains. On the Montana side, scientists fear the remaining iconic glaciers may disappear by 2030 due to climate change.

SEE IT May until late September is the ideal time to visit, with most of the 200 kilometres of the park’s hiking trails open in June. For a deeper insight into the unique flora and fauna, the Trail of the Great Bear program offers annual programs, field trips, guided walks and hikes with naturalists and scientists, as well as customized self-guided tours
( trailofthegreatbear.com).

SAVE IT The Waterton Natural History Association (WNHA), in association with Parks Canada, is raising public awareness through exhibits, public presentations, volunteer activities and field courses ( wnha.ca). The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) is working with local landowners to protect vital wildlife habitats
( natureconservancy.ca).  —Rupa Parekh

The Front Range of Kananaskis Country

Like folds in a scrunched blanket, the hills of Kananaskis Country, west of Calgary, lift first to gentle, treed 7,000-foot passes before climbing higher again to sharp granite ridges. Last summer, the Alberta Government announced that it was allowing clear-cutting right in the heart of the region—justifying the move as a measure against the spread of the pine beetle.

TIME LEFT You’d better hurry. With clear-cutting (in the hopes of creating treeless barriers to slow pine beetle migration) expected to start this summer, the government’s pine beetle reasoning presents an interesting Catch-22. In the contract with the sawmill, a clause states that if clear-cutting doesn’t slow down the spread of the beetles, then the loggers are to speed up their sawing—to clear more trees.

SEE IT To get an informed look at the at-risk areas, pick up a copy of Craig and Kathy Copeland’s Where Locals Hike ( $27.95 at chapters.ca) and choose any of the trails around Moose Mountain. For another great view, climb Jumpingpound Ridge. Bring your mountain bike for an unforgettable descent.

SAVE IT The Alberta Wilderness Association
( albertawilderness.ca) is taking action against the clear-cutting. Most vocal, however, is the Bragg Creek Residents’ Group ( braggcreek.ca), which boasts K-Country as its backyard.  —Bruce Ramsay

Cape Scott Provincial Park

Perched on the edge of the Pacific, the North Coast and Cape Scott trails form a 70-kilometre wilderness journey through some of Vancouver Island’s wildest scenery and obscure history—from the Kwakiutl aboriginal culture to the Danish homesteaders and their ghostly abandoned farms near Hansen Lagoon. But change is afoot. Under the provincial government’s “fixed-roof accommodation policy,” Cape Scott is the first of B.C.’s parks to be opened up to private tourist business. Park advocates are crying foul, concerned that old growth trees, wildlife, tidal pools and the wilderness experience will be compromised by economics.

TIME LEFT If you like your parks wild, you better make haste. In February, the government selected Vancouver Island-based Strategic Forest Management Inc. to plan for five, 10-bed yurts to be set up in Cape Scott.

SEE IT Currently, the North Coast Trail is still under construction. The trek to Cape Scott is a 47-kilometre round trip excursion starting at San Josef Bay. At the best of times it’s a soggy walk and until private enterprise ups the luxury ante, the Cape Scott and North Coast trails remain a demanding, multi-day trek
( env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks).

SAVE IT A coalition of environmental groups has banded together to lobby against private for-profit development in B.C. parks. Log onto savebcparks.com, or call Gwen Barlee at the Western Canada Wilderness Committee ( 800-661-9453).  —Andrew Findlay

Tweedsmuir Provincial Park

British ColumbiaThe mountain pine beetle, Dendroctorus ponderosae, isn’t much bigger than the head of a pin, but the voracious pest is laying waste to vast swaths of interior B.C. forest—from Prince George in the northern part of the province to 200 kilometres west, into beautiful Tweedsmuir, the province’s largest park and one of the epidemic’s origins.

TIME LEFT It’s already decimated an estimated 9.2 million hectares of forest and experts say 80 per cent of provincial pine forests will be destroyed by 2013, threatening to turn places like Tweedsmuir into a tinderbox of dead wood.

SEE IT While clearcut logging has been ramped up elsewhere in the province to harvest beetle-damaged wood and control forest fires, the provincial government has spared Tweedsmuir, one of the jewels in B.C.’s park system. Visit this remote and wild park that straddles the dry interior forest and damp Coast Mountains before the beetles—or government-approved loggers ( rainbowadventurebc.com).