A selection of recent work and older favourites.

in print & online

Science and Environment

• Walking on Water. Maisonneuve, Fall 2020. ~ When you walk city streets, what lies beneath your feet? Concrete, yes, and rocks and soil, but that’s not all. Almost certainly there’s also water flowing down there—gagged and bound and interred by urban infrastructure.
• Little Action from Feds as Deadline to Remove Salmon Farms Looms. The Tyee, Sept. 25, 2020. ~ Eight years ago, the Cohen Commission gave DFO a deadline to prove salmon farms do not threaten wild sockeye. Now time’s up.
• Hidden Hawaiian Bird Nests Finally Found. Hakai Magazine, March 20, 2019. ~ With the help of night vision binoculars, surveillance cameras and keen-nosed tracker dog, a determined young biologist discovers the band-rumped storm petrel’s secret nesting site
• The Last Cannery Standing. Hakai Magazine, August 14, 2018. ~ On Canada’s west coast, only one cannery is still processing wild salmon.
• Throwing Dead Fish for Fun and Ecological Profit. Hakai Magazine, June 1, 2017. ~ The surprising benefits of chucking salmon carcasses into a spawning stream.
• Lovely But Deadly. Cottage Life West, Early Summer 2015. ~ Deceptively dainty sundews dine on unsuspecting prey.
• The Return of the Marmot. British Columbia Magazine, Spring 2013. ~ Captive breeding is helping to restore the Vancouver Island marmot to its natural haunts.
• Rethinking the Beaver. Canadian Geographic, Dec. 2012. ~ It’s time to reconsider our relationship with our ecosystem engineering rivals.
• The Threat to BC’s Bear Heaven. The Tyee, Jan. 2, 2008. ~ In the Flathead Valley, zero people makes paradise for other predators.
• Flathead: Next National Park? The Tyee, Jan. 3, 2008. ~ A pristine valley that’s vital for grizzlies and ripe for development.

People and Culture

• Angel of the Cassiar. British Columbia Magazine, Winter 2014. ~ Nellie Cashman was an unlikely but determined miner with a thirst for fortune surpassed only by her charitable nature.
• The Guardian of English Bay. British Columbia Magazine, Spring 2011. ~ Joe Fortes, Vancouver’s first official lifeguard, ensured safety in the water and civility on land.
• The Retailer of the Lost Electronics Ark. IEEE Spectrum, Nov. 2007. ~ From used oscilloscopes to rare vacuum tubes, Walter Shawlee II has it all.

Travel

• Salish Stories. Canadian Geographic Travel, Spring 2015. ~ Exploring British Columbia’s Gulf Islands aboard an intimate schooner.
• Braving the Nakimu Caves. British Columbia Magazine, Winter 2011. ~ Spelunking in a spectacular subterranean landscape, where the spirits grumble and galleries of moonmilk, solution scallops, soda straws and ice sculptures entrance.
• Italy in the Fiery Footsteps of a Medieval Countess. Georgia Straight, Nov. 1, 2007. ~ If you want to go walking in the Apennines, you won’t find a more intriguing guide than Matilde of Canossa.

Essays

• Here: Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, Nebraska. The New Territory, Issue 03. ~ Even after all these years of digging, the truth about the Devil’s Corkscrews remains half-buried.

radio

• Rethinking the Beaver on CBC Ideas. ~ The challenges and benefits of learning to get along with our fellow control freak.