My Journey North Here I am on a typical day on Hershel Island My name is Darcie Matthiessen and I am a fourth student at University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George, BC, Canada. I am currently completing my degree in Natural Resources Management, majoring in Fish and Wildlife. I spent two years at Yukon College in Whitehorse where I completed my Renewable Resources Diploma in 1999. Through my experiences, I have learned that I am extremely interested in working with wildlife in the artic. An Experience of a Lifetime In the spring of 2002, I decided that I would like to try something new. I realized that I had only studied birds, and although I was very passionate about them, birds are a small part of the ecosystem in which we all live. I applied for the Johnny Charlie Scholarship with the Porcupine Caribou Management Board (PCMB) where I would learn about caribou, sheep and arctic vegetation. Through my job with the PCMB, I had some amazing experiences as I was subjected for the first time to the world of the arctic. The experiences that I had are ones that I’m not likely to forget. Caribou: "And they sure do move!" I worked for the Regional Biologist of Dawson City, Dorothy Cooley. We conducted weekly waterfowl counts on a couple of lakes outside Dawson, took several trips up the Dempster Highway to study Dall sheep, and I wrote Caribou Update articles for the Yukon News on Caribou. I learned a lot about caribou writing those articles and was absolutely amazed at the satellite technologies that exist for tracking their movements. And they sure do move! The Porcupine Caribou migrate yearly from central Yukon where they winter to the northern coast where they calve. There are many challenges for them as they migrate such as predators, river crossings, finding food, insects, and deep snow. Although they make it look easy, for me it can be a great challenge walking across that tussocky terrain. When I try to imagine the life of a caribou, I do not think that it would be easy! On my way to Hershel Island Herschel Island Trip The highlight of my summer was my trip to Herschel Island Territorial Park to assist vegetation specialist, Catherine Kennedy. I had the opportunity to visit one of the most beautiful and unique ecosystems of the world – the Arctic! Herschel Island is a small island off the northern coast of the Yukon. Caribou, muskoxen, and grizzly bears may swim from the mainland to this island in the summer and walk across the ice bridge in the winter. It is the part of the summer range for a number of arctic bird species such as a breeding colony of Black Guillemots. Collecting plants specimens Plant Life During my time on the island in mid-July, I learned a great deal about the different vegetation types found on this unique island as well as how vegetation classifications were developed. We observed the flowers that flourished to cover the hillsides with pinks, purples, blues, whites and yellows. My favorite flower was forget-me-nots (Myosotis species) because they were a beautiful purple and my favorite edible berry was the Cloud Berry (Rubus species). I was very surprised at the many plant species that could exist during such a short growing season in the low temperatures and with little precipitation. It was beautiful! Bird Life I also saw a number of bird species that I had never seen before such as Common Eiders, Black Guillemots, Lapland Longspurs, Snow Buntings, and Long-Tailed Jaegers and mammal species such as ringed seals, bowhead whales and for the first time, I saw Porcupine Caribou! A wish came true when I saw those 5 male caribou on a snow patch escaping the wrath of the numerous biting insects. I had finally witnessed the animals that I had written about. They truly were fascinating and we watched them until they had traveled over the horizon. Ecosystems: the Whole Story During my time working for the PCMB, I learned a great deal about the Porcupine Caribou and I was made aware of how important these and other caribou are to many species of the north (including us humans.) Although birds may still be my passion, my job with the PCMB further reinforced how important it is to look at an ecosystem as a whole and not the individual parts within it. Through my fortunate experience in working with the PCMB, I am more aware of what I do not know, and I would like to continue working with wildlife to learn more about how our great planet works. Try This! Sort out all the names of plants and animals that Darcie has written about. Make a list of them. How many do you know? Set up research teams to find out more about each name. Report your findings to the team and class Display collected words and definitions on a bulletin board. Make a game or write a story! Create 2 cards of each species and play Concentration (place all cards upside down and each turn try and match the cards). Write a story where each species is a character. Set the story in the Arctic during the summer. Copyright 2003 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form