Season 1
Episode 7
Confluence | Goat Haunt
Transcript
INTERNATIONAL PEACE PARK INTRODUCTION
Michael:
All right, Andrew, my first season working for Glacier, I was a receptionist at Park Headquarters.
Andrew:
Okay.
Michael:
Lowest paid position in the park, mind you, answering questions people had via phone, email and letter.
Andrew:
Gotcha.
Michael:
Occasionally we had people in person come to the front desk with a question. And one of the most challenging questions we ever got was: "where is your World Heritage Site plaque?"
Andrew:
[laughs] Our what?
Michael:
We are a world heritage site—recognized by the United Nations for protecting natural and cultural resources that are important to the whole world. And every world heritage site gets a plaque to commemorate this designation.
Andrew:
Okay. I don't think I've ever noticed this before. Where was it?
Michael:
Well, that's the thing. Nobody knew. I told them I'd never heard of it and neither had my coworker. So they described to us a two foot by three foot bronze plaque. And we started asking around. We asked our boss who coordinates exhibits around the park, he didn't know. We asked facilities management, they didn't know. We asked the superintendent... Nope. We asked everyone in headquarters, and started calling all over the park to see if anyone had any idea where it might be. And then—it turned out it was in Canada.
Andrew:
Oh, that explains it.
Michael:
Glacier national parks in Northern boundary is the 49th parallel. Also known as our border with Canada and right across the border in Alberta is Waterton Lakes National Park. And the World Heritage Site plaque was displayed at a pavilion in Waterton. So I wanted to call up somebody who works there.
Natalie:
No, that's a great question. And I don't know that I fully know the answer to that. Um, we've recently redone the pavilion in Waterton. So I don't know if the plaque is actually still visible there or not. That's something I'll have to go and look for now.
Michael:
The mystery continues!
Natalie:
Exactly.
Michael:
That's Natalie Hodge.
Natalie:
My name is Natalie
Michael:
Who works for parks, Canada, the Canadian counterpart to the NPS.
Natalie:
I am the interpretation coordinator in Waterton Lakes National Park
Michael:
Waterton, a literal stone's throw away has been Glacier's neighbor since the very beginning.
Natalie:
Yeah. Waterton was actually created in 1895 and it was originally entitled the forest park reserve
Michael:
Two years before glacier was established as a forest preserve in 1897.
Andrew:
Wow. That's really early.
Michael:
Not to mention that Parks Canada—the Canadian counterpart to the NPS—also beat us to the punch
Natalie:
Parks Canada was actually founded in 1911, and it actually became the world's first national park service.
Andrew:
Predating the National Park Service by five years!
Michael:
The two parks administered separately and their respective nations oversee a contiguous landscape that doesn't recognize the political boundary that separates them.
Natalie:
There's many jokes about animals, not needing a passport in order to go back and forth between the two nations. We see blackberries go back and forth across the border with no issue. Um...
Andrew:
[Laughs].
Michael:
[Laughs]
Natalie:
Sometimes same with moose as well.
Michael:
Now that elusive plaque that I mentioned...
Andrew:
yeah?
Michael:
If you managed to find it, wherever it is, it wouldn't say Glacier National Park on it.
Michael:
So we refer to our park, each of our parks is kind of abbreviated names: Glacier National Park, Waterton Lakes National Park... But what is the full name of our parks together?
Natalie:
The full name of our parks together would be Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
Michael:
Our two parks share more than an international border Waterton and Glacier National Parks agreed that this incredible landscape deserves our cooperation. Setting aside political divisions to cooperate in the management of everything from invasive or endangered species to wildland fires.
Natalie:
For example, if there's a fire in Waterton Lakes National Park, often fire crews from Glacier will come down and help, and then vice versa.
Andrew:
And while there are over a hundred international or transboundary parks and protected areas today, back in 1932, we were the first ever international peace park,
Michael:
Which on top of signaling management cooperation was a symbol of goodwill between nations. A statement of unity that—in 1932 in between two world wars—must've been refreshing. With a passport, Waterton is just a few hours away from most places in glacier. And there are a lot of ways to experience it.
Andrew:
Yeah, there are some remarkable hiking opportunities in Waterton that range from short trips to all day outings.
Michael:
And a personal favorite of mine is to visit some of the phenomenal restaurants in Waterton Townsite.
Andrew:
Yeah, we don't have quite the same variety down here,
Michael:
But Natalie leads, what I think is the coolest way to see the place, a way to really experience the international part of our title: the International Peace Park Hike.
Natalie:
I have definitely been fortunate over the years and have been able to lead that Peace Park Hike. And it's probably one of the coolest elements of my job working for Parks Canada. The hike is unique really in the sense that participants start out hiking in Canada, get to cross an international border by foot, and finish the hike in the United States. And our audience members are generally quite excited about the opportunity to be able to hike in two countries in one day.
Michael:
It's so cool. They even hold a little hands across the border ceremony.
Natalie:
And this is where our participants line up on either side of the international border, and they shake hands as a sign of peace and Goodwill with those across from them. And this is a long-standing tradition of the hike, and it's been ongoing since the creation of the hike in 1978.
Michael:
The International Peace Park hike or IPP is 14 kilometers long, or just over eight and a half miles. You essentially walk the length of Upper Waterton Lake to wind up back in Glacier, where you'll finally catch a ride on The International, a 200 passenger boat that's ferried people across Waterton lake since 1928.
Andrew:
Yeah. And from having taken that ride myself, it really stands out as one of the most unique experiences anywhere in either park.
Michael:
Yeah. I agree.
Andrew:
Even just looking into the other country, let alone getting to hike or boat into it is... Powerful.
Michael:
Now again, you do need a passport to visit and you need a reservation to ride the international or to join the IPP. But no matter what you do on your visit, seeing both sides of the border will only enrich your experience. So the next time you come to visit, make sure you visit our sister park, keep that spirit of goodwill alive. And maybe if you're lucky, you could even find that plaque.
Michael:
Welcome to Headwaters - a Glacier National Park Podcast. Brought to you by the Glacier National Park Conservancy, and produced on the traditional lands of many native American tribes, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai, Selis and Qlispe people.
Andrew:
We’re calling this season: The Confluence, as we look at the ways that nature, culture, the present and the past all come together here.
Michael:
I’m Michael.
Andrew:
I’m Andrew.
Michael:
And we’re both rangers here. Now, we've mentioned so far that Glacier has a lot of titles.
Andrew:
National park world heritage site...
Michael:
But today we're going to focus on just one of them: International Peace Park. An agreement between the NPS and Parks Canada to cooperatively manage our shared resources.
Andrew:
And no place better represents the International Peace Park than Goat Haunt, one of the most remote and least visited regions of Glacier.
Michael:
Okay, real quick. What's with the name? Goat haunt?
Andrew:
Yeah. It's kind of an archaic term, but a haunt is a place where someone or something hangs out. So essentially Goat Haunt is a place where the mountain goats like to hang.
Michael:
I see. Well, odds are, even if you've been to Glacier before you probably haven't made it to Goat Haunt. And for good reason!
Andrew:
Yeah, there are no roads leading to it. And the shortest hike to get there is 22 miles
Michael:
Shortest hike from the U S that is.. So you can either backpack for a few days South of the border, or you can drive to Canada.
Andrew:
Yeah. Goat Haunt sits at the Southern tip of upper Waterton Lake. One of the largest lakes in either part, which stretches across the border into both Canada and the U S
Michael:
Meaning Goat Haunt is just about three miles from the Canadian border.
Andrew:
Yeah. So people overwhelmingly access Goat Haunt from Waterton lakes National Park.
Michael:
Oh, now I understand where the name comes from. Waterton Lake, Waterton Lakes N--. Okay, whatever.
Andrew:
[laughing] Yeah. So some people get there on foot, uh, like on the International Peace Park Hike, but most people arrive to Goat Haunt by boat,
Michael:
including even the Rangers that work there.
Andrew:
Talk about a commute.
Michael:
In this episode, we'll be looking at what it means to be an International Peace Park; how it happened in the first place and how it has affected those that live and work here.
BACKCOUNTRY
Michael:
All right, Andrew, where is our border with Canada?
Michael:
I think it's about 20, 30 miles north of here, as the crow flies?
Michael:
Yeah. Well, could you be even more specific? Where is the border?
Michael:
It lies on the 49th parallel.
Michael:
Yeah, exactly. The 49th parallel was first proposed as a border by the Hudson's Bay trading company in 1714, which is a story for another day, but it was ultimately adopted by the U.S. and British governments, because at the time, Canada was still under British rule. Now, British and American teams surveyed the border in the 1860s, with brief interruptions for the Civil War and monuments were erected that cemented a border nearly 4,000 miles long.
Michael:
But did you know that that survey was actually wrong?
Michael:
Wait, really?
Michael:
Yeah. The border was first surveyed when we still thought the earth was a sphere, but it's actually an oblate spheroid.
Michael:
What??
Michael:
Essentially it's a sphere that bulges at the equator due to rotation. All that to say, the original line doesn't perfectly follow the 49th parallel.
Michael:
Really!
Michael:
No, it's close, but it's not exact.
Michael:
Spheroid and all, it does transect present-day Waterton Lakes and Glacier National Parks.
Michael:
And visiting the border between the parks today, you'll notice the only thing separating the two countries is a swath of cleared trees - a 20-foot-wide unvegetated line, continuing into the horizon.
Michael:
And as far as this area is concerned, the most meaningful discussions of that symbolic boundary occurred not in the halls of Congress or Parliament, but on the trail and around the fire.
Michael:
Two of the earliest proponents of a jointly managed park were John "Kootenay" Brown and Albert "Death on the Trail" Reynolds.
Michael:
Big fans of nicknames.
Michael:
Yeah. Brown was the first superintendent of Waterton Lakes National Park.
Michael:
Reynolds was the first ranger stationed in the present day Goat Haunt area.
Michael:
Yeah, and it was these two that hatched the idea that two parks in two countries could be managed together.
Michael:
And the story of their friendship is an origin story of the Peace Park itself.
Michael:
We actually know an awful lot about John "Kootenay" Brown. He was raised by his grandmother in Ireland during the great famine and led a colorful life. After leaving home, he joined the Royal Militia in 1858, but never saw combat. In search of excitement, he chased a fortune in the gold fields of British Columbia, working as a prospector, constable, trapper, guide, mail carrier, swamper.
Michael:
Swamper, what the heck is that?
Michael:
Someone who steers canal boats. 50 years later, he had garnered a reputation for knowing the region as well as anyone, which led to his appointment in 1910 as the first supervisory forest ranger of Kootenai Lakes Forest Reserve, which is now our northern neighbor, Waterton Lakes National Park, at age 70. He earned $75 a month to manage the whole area.
Michael:
Wait, only $75? That's like the highest ranking position in the whole park.
Michael:
Yeah. It's $2,000 in today's money.
Michael:
All right. Now much less is known about Albert "Death on the Trail Reynolds." Born in Wisconsin in 1847, he and his wife moved to Montana's Flathead Valley in 1871 so he could work at a lumber mill. And to escape the nervous strain of work, 30 years later, he retired from being the supervisor at the lumber mill to become a ranger at the then-Flathead Forest Preserve. When that preserve was converted to Glacier National Park in 1910, he was stationed on the Southern end of upper Waterton Lake. And while there have been biographies written of Brown, most of what we know about Reynolds, we learned from his diary. Take this entry from 1912, where he's looking for poachers.
Bob Adams:
Found where some hunters had camped and hauled down a sheep or deer from the mountains. But it was in Canada about six miles from the boundary line.
Michael:
Which had been brought to life here by the voice talent of ranger Bob Adams. Reynolds lived in one of the most undeveloped and least visited areas of the park, often with only wildlife as his company.
Bob Adams:
Friday, October 25, 1912. When I arrived at camp, a bear had been there last night and he raised hell all aroound camp he went, looking into all three windows, took a bath in the wash tub and stood in front of the looking glass and combed his hair with a scrubbing brush.
Michael:
His nickname "Death on the Trail" was self-described, and his disdain for horses led him to walk everywhere. He regularly walked 17 miles south to get his mail.
Michael:
I walk just about one mile to get my mail. And I thought that was rough. But Reynolds would also walk north to visit Waterton, where he befriended Brown.
Michael:
Yeah. He walked the full 12 mile length of upper Waterton Lake, which starts in Montana at Goat Haunt, and ends in Waterton townsite in Alberta, walking that whole way to visit his friend Kootenay Brown, unless he could catch a boat ride.
Bob Adams:
Sunday, October 20, 1912. Left the camp 7:00 AM in one of Mr. Hazzard's boats. Went as far as Weeks' Landing, where I walked to the post office, got some mail, then went to Mr. Browns.
Michael:
His duties as a backcountry, ranger included looking out for poachers, forest fires and other "threats to the park."
Michael:
Okay. So what constituted a threat to the park?
Michael:
Well, in the early years, the Park Service was guided by a fundamentally different understanding of ecology than it is today. And Reynolds' writing illustrates this really well. Early park managers were especially eager to protect ungulates like deer. He would actually follow deer in order to chase them towards better foraging habitat.
Bob Adams:
Left camp. As soon as I could. Went up the trail that the deer took up the mountains, I located them up on a high bench, almost at the top of that mountain. I managed to get above them. There were about 40 of them. I got above them after a hard struggle, snow was deep.
Michael:
He thought he could get them to go somewhere where they'd be happier and safer, if he could only jump out and surprise them.
Bob Adams:
Some went one way, others took my trail and went down. Last of them that I saw was about two miles and still going. They're safe.
Michael:
I think if I did that in a uniform today, people would think I was totally crazy.
Michael:
On top of chasing deer around, he would actively hunt and kill anything that could harm them. To kill coyotes, he even enlisted the help of his friend, Brown, the superintendent of Waterton.
Bob Adams:
I went to one of Mr. Brown's baits for coyotes, and I found that the coyote had been here this morning and had taken a meal out of it. I followed his tracks for nearly two miles and he did not show any signs of the poison. So I left. Canadian poison is no good.
Michael:
In the years since, we've come to understand that predators like coyotes, wolves, and mountain lions play essential roles in the ecosystem, and the practice of poisoning them has long since been abandoned.
Tracy Weisse:
It's not part of our job anymore, no. It's, it's nice that, uh, attitudes have changed in that respect and decided that all animals have a right to be here, not just the ungulates.
Michael:
That's Tracy Weisse.
Tracy Weisse:
Yeah. My name is Tracy Weisse. I've been working here at Belly River for the last 16 summers,
Michael:
The Belly River Ranger Station where she works is one of the northernmost in the park. In fact, to hike in to meet her, I parked at the Canadian border, spitting distance from the customs office. And while Tracy and her husband Bruce work here in the summer, Reynolds worked and lived near Goat Haunt yearround, with only a wood-burning stove for warmth.
Bob Adams:
It was 12 below freezing this morning and now 6:30, it's 10 below.
Michael:
Even on holidays.
Bob Adams:
I made a bread pudding for dinner and took a cup of cold water. That was my Christmas.
Tracy Weisse:
I honestly cannot imagine the rangers that spent winters out here in that kind of cold and that kind of wind. It must have just been phenomenal.
Michael:
But rain or shine, Reynolds would travel north to visit Brown.
Bob Adams:
December 27, 1912. The snow was deep and soft. The wind was awful. It took till 4:00 PM to make Mr. Browns.
Andrew:
From what we can tell, the two were fast friends, even though Brown, who wrote poetry and spiritual musings, never seemed to write much about Reynolds.
Michael:
Yeah. And, Reynolds, you know, in the journals of his that we have, he doesn't write about his friendship with Brown either. His journals are really utilitarian. A simple summary of what he did that day, often signing off with the number of miles he had traveled, but even still, Reynolds wrote often about his trips to visit Brown.
Bob Adams:
Wednesday, December 4, 1912, left camp 9:15 AM with Mr. Brown. He went as far as Weeks' Landing with me to see if I got safe over the river, I had to break ice about a hundred feet before I got into the main stream, but I made it okay.
Michael:
They collaborated for work. They shared notes. They sought one another's advice and they socialized. And as you know, Andrew, the winters here can be pretty drab.
Andrew:
Yeah. Cold, gray skies, socked in.
Michael:
Which, by all accounts gave them plenty of time to discuss the philosophical facets of their jobs. Like the artificiality of the line separating the two parks they were sworn to protect. One person who met Brown and Reynolds was Samuel Middleton, an Anglican reverend in Canada. And after meeting the two rangers, he wrote about their discussions of the boundary.
Andrew:
Emblematic of the trouble with dividing the two parks was Upper Waterton Lake, which lay partially in the United States and partially in Canada.
Michael:
Reynolds suggested that geology recognized no boundaries. And that as Waterton Lake lay in its glacial cirque, no man-made boundary could cleave its waters apart. It'd be better, then, to accept nature's creation by removing the boundary line and acknowledging one park, one lake, in its own territory.
Andrew:
And Brown agreed. He said that since the lake could not be physically divided, it was senseless to divide its management.
Michael:
This was a powerful idea at the time.
Andrew:
A subtle suggestion, through the lens of a landscape, that a political boundary could not divide us.
Michael:
This idea of theirs to jointly manage the two parks could not come to fruition in their lifetimes.
Bob Adams:
All the days I ever saw, today has put the cap sheath on them all. Talk about wind, it has been a corker. I had to face it every step of the way, 18 miles. 9:00 PM. Beautiful storm raging. Don't know where from, and can't open the door to look out. Snowdrifts all through the house.
Michael:
Reynolds was clearly an incredibly tough person with a fortitude that's hard to fathom today.
Bob Adams:
Wednesday, January 15, 1913, went up to the lake, had to use my snowshoes. It snowed hard all day. It was so soft, I sunk in above my knees on snowshoes. I reached home camp, found six feet of snow on the roof. I had to go up and shovel it away from the stove pipe before I could build a fire. It took over three hours. Did not get it nearly all off. Will finish in the morning. It was 10 below zero all day and snowing hard. Distance, six miles. And one frozen toe.
Michael:
But, as tough as Reynolds was, the winter of 1913 began to catch up to him, and he caught a cold he couldn't shake. In one last journey, he ventured north to visit Brown, who mentioned Reynolds in his own journal for the first and final time.
Andrew:
4 February, 1913. Mr. Reynolds here. 32 below zero. Rode and snowshoed west side of park to pass. Miles: 20. Reynolds very sick. Up all night with him.
Michael:
Four days later, Reynolds died.
Andrew:
And three years after that, Brown passed away as well.
Michael:
Over the course of the next 20 years the parks remained under separate management. A new Waterton superintendent was appointed to replace Brown, as was a backcountry ranger to replace Reynolds. Visitors came, people enjoyed the parks and life continued, but Reynolds and Browns' idea of an international park lived on. Because in July of 1931, the local Canadian Rotary Club called a get-together of Montana and Alberta Rotarians to discuss for the first time the creation of an international peace park.
Andrew:
And while Reynolds and Brown had entertained the notion, it had never before gained traction. In fact, this would be the first International Peace Park in the whole world.
Michael:
Yeah. And this new idea was drafted in a resolution by the newly inaugurated president of the local rotary club, Samuel H. Middleton.
Andrew:
Who just so happens to be the same guy we quoted earlier, who had interviewed Reynolds and Brown about their thoughts on the border.
Michael:
The very same. Now, it's worth noting that Middleton first came to Waterton in search of a summer camp for St. Paul's Indian school, of which he was the principal, one of many schools of its kind that sought to suppress native culture, taking kids from reservations away from their families to boarding schools, where they were taught more or less how to be white.
Andrew:
This policy was called at the time, kill the Indian, save the man.
Michael:
Yeah. But, acknowledging his racist efforts towards indigenous people, he was an important advocate for the establishment of the peace park.
Andrew:
A bill establishing the peace park passed the U.S. Congress in December. And it was echoed by the Canadian government the following year.
Michael:
The details of this new designation were not clear cut, leaving park managers to decide how they would jointly oversee the two parks, parks that have evolved a great deal in the years since. In his day as a backcountry ranger, Reynolds hardly ever saw anyone, but Tracy, the modern backcountry ranger working along the border, says her main job is to work with people.
Tracy Weisse:
Well, I really see the main part of our job as educating people in the backcountry.
Michael:
Today, more people visit Waterton-Glacier on an average summer day than the parks used to see in a whole year during Brown and Reynolds' time, but that doesn't change why they're protected or why they're important.
Tracy Weisse:
People that do come here, and there are more all the time, they're looking for something real - to go backpacking, to reconnect with nature. That's what these parks are all about. And I think every day that goes by, they're more important than than in the past.
Andrew:
Throughout the last century, with all the changes it's brought, the two parks have strived to work together.
Michael:
So, whenever our two parks share wildland firefighting resources, whenever we lead cross-boundary hikes, boat trips, you know who to thank. A couple of tough old curmudgeons with an idea.
Bob Adams:
Sunday, December 29, 1912, Oh, heavens, how it does snow and blow. A person can't see 200 feet and it is coming harder and harder. I wish I was back in Helena.
DUCKS
Andrew:
So Michael, we've been talking about the international peace park today. What is Waterton glacier international peace park mean to you?
Michael:
Selfishly it makes for a pretty awesome place to work. You know, I got to hang out with a lot more Canadians than I ever did. And the coolest visitor center around here is the Alberta visitor center. I feel like, uh, like Wilson from home improvement, like peering over the fence at my neighbors. Cause from a lot of trails in the park, you could actually see Canada. So I think it's, it's pretty unique to be part of that symbol of cooperation, uh, as an employee and as a visitor.
Andrew:
I totally agree. It's it's pretty cool. When you think about, you know, the ecosystem here, the plants, the animals, you know, even the rivers and lakes, they don't know where the border is. They don't care where the border is. They're just interacting with each other in the way they always have. And to think that we can overcome the challenges of the border to manage this place jointly, to take care of this ecosystem as a whole, instead of as two separate parts that are divided, you know, just by a line on a map is a pretty special thing. I think.
Michael:
Yeah. Two countries, two parks kind of choosing to work around or to work through a political boundary for the joint management of a, of a place like this. This is neat.
Andrew:
Yeah. And on that note, I think we should move into our next story about how scientists from two different countries came together across the border to study some important animals that spend time on both sides of the international boundary.
Lisa:
Always look back in there. Yeah. And you're good at recognizing ducks.
Andrew:
It's 7:00 AM and Lisa bait is thinking about ducks.
Lisa:
I would every year, the weather channelizes things differently, but usually this is really deep on me, like that, to like go through,
Michael:
Are they talking about walking through that water?
Andrew:
Yeah. Duck science, as it turns out, involves a lot of water.
Lisa:
So I don't think you're going to be able to do that for safety reasons. So then you just exit and come out
Andrew:
Today, we're doing a brood survey where we'll review the river to see if any of the female harlequin ducks there, have new chicks with them.
Lisa:
Since you're going to have to wait for awhile. What you could do is just walk up the boardwalk and look for ducks on Avalanche Creek. And then when you're finished, come back down.
Andrew:
Lisa Bate is a wildlife biologist here in Glacier National Park. And one of her projects is to study the parks, Harlequin ducks, observing these birds takes a lot of eyes. So Lisa enlists a ton of volunteers to help her collect that data. It's a pretty fun project to be involved with. And as it so happened, all of us in the podcast, somewhat independently got involved with it this year. Michael and I and producers, Daniel and Alex have all gone out with Lisa to study the ducks. Michael even ended up pretty wet from his experience.
Michael:
Yeah. If you want to hear that story, you got to go to the Many Glacier episode.
Andrew:
Before we get into the study. I did that morning. There's a few things you need to know about Harlequin ducks.
Michael:
First, the name 'harlequin ducks' are named for the males' breeding plumage, which resembles the makeup of a harlequin, a jester-like character popular in early modern European theater.
Andrew:
And harlequin ducks are migratory birds, but unlike most migratory birds...
Lisa:
They don't migrate North-South when their the breeding season arrives instead because they're sea ducks, they actually migrate East-West.
Andrew:
But just because these birds migrate East-West doesn't mean they're not international.
Michael:
How so? I know a bird that migrates North-South, like a robin will spend time in Canada, the U.S. And Mexico. But if you migrate straight West of here, you'll just hit ocean. Not Canada.
Andrew:
Yeah. It turns out the migration path isn't quite straight West, but check out this map of one duck Lisa tracked.
Michael:
Oh wow! It spent part of the year in Washington part in British Columbia part in glacier and part in Waterton Lakes National Park. The next thing you need to know is that these birds love whitewater. They feel right at home in crashing surf and fast running creeks. And that's part of the reason why they're so hard to study.
Andrew:
And the last thing you need to know is that harlequin ducks are very loyal.
Lisa:
Extremely loyal. Um, as far as we know, the females only nest on the streams where they were born, their natal streams though, we've banded nearly 300 harlequins in Montana thus far, we have yet to document a breeding female dispersing to a stream other than her natal stream to reproduce.
Michael:
Well, what if something happens to the natal stream?
Andrew:
Yeah. That's kind of what makes them such a sensitive species. They seem to not be able to just find a new home.
Lisa:
I think this is one of the leading reasons that harlequins are a species of concern. Their range has shrunk. We used to have Harlequins in Colorado, many streams in Idaho and Montana and we no longer have for a variety of reasons. And right now I think it's highly unlikely that those streams would ever be repopulated. Unless we can document that females will disperse to other streams.
Andrew:
It's not just streams that they are loyal to. I asked Lisa if the ducks are loyal to a particular mate as well.
Lisa:
If you asked me that question at the beginning of this study, I would say very loyal. Um, we, the first three years of this study, we just saw incredible, I think a hundred percent mate fidelity since then we have seen some so-called divorces, but I'm working on a paper with some Canadian biologists and they just documented a female, um, with a certain mate one year, the next two years with a different mate. And then in the fourth year, she returned to that original mate. So we know that sometimes things happen. We don't know why.
Andrew:
And if a duck's mate dies...
Lisa:
Documented times when the female died and the males have already migrated back to the coast, but the following those single males will come back here looking for those females. And we've seen three, possibly four males return looking for their females. I assume that's what they're doing. And we have one male who I know now has returned three years in a row, always single, never with another female and never with the original female. And we just assume that that female has died.
Michael:
I can picture the Hallmark movie now, lonely duck wintering on the coast and spending the summer searching the Rocky Mountains for his missing mate, looking for a love he'll never find.
Andrew:
And Lisa told me that there's about 33% more males than females on the wintering grounds. So he's single males are pretty unlikely to find a new mate.
Michael:
At the beginning of her research. Lisa didn't really know how many ducks there were here.
Lisa:
When I first started this project, I thought maybe there were 40 pairs of harlequins throughout the whole park. Because you can't tell because they look identical. It wasn't until we started putting colored bands on them that we realized that we had more ducks just on upper McDonald Creek drainage alone, than we realized.
Michael:
So to tell individuals apart, you've got to catch them and put a unique band on their leg.
Andrew:
Biologists have developed lots of ways to safely catch birds, but none of them could really account for the challenges of dealing with a bird whose preferred habitat is whitewater.
Michael:
In the spring when both males and females are in glacier, the water on the creeks here is dangerously high and fast. Wading out into a raging creek to try to catch a duck was potentially deadly. So for a long time, we knew very little about these birds.
Andrew:
But it's not just raging waters that Lisa has to deal with.
Lisa:
There are some years that we're walking over like 40 foot deep avalanche drifts still.
Michael:
So there were lots of challenges, but there was a lot of pressure to understand these birds better because they seemed to be disappearing.
Lisa:
Biologists throughout the western half of their range have all documented a decline or a shift in distribution.
Andrew:
But today when I joined with Lisa, we weren't catching any ducks. We were just counting them. We broke into teams to come every foot of the Creek and observe if any of the hens had chicks. If we found any chicks, then later in the summer, they could be caught and get a band before they migrated back West. But this wasn't just walking down a trail... To stay along the stream was a lot of bushwhacking.
Lisa:
Yeah., and it gets really bushwhacky when the water's high... That and at some point we're going to just start walking in the creek because there'll be a lot easier than bushwhacking because the bushwhack is like through Hawthorne and real fun stuff like that.
Andrew:
And eventually we just went right into the water. We walked in the creek through water that was above my knees.
Michael:
Well, did you find any ducks?
Andrew:
We did! Lisa and I saw seven harlequin ducks that day. And we were able to collect data on other birds as well. We saw some American dippers and spotted sandpipers. The sandpipers had just had little babies and they were about the size of a piece of popcorn. They were so tiny and fuzzy–.
Michael:
Popped popcorn? Yeah?
Andrew:
Popped popcorn, Yeah. So we actually ended up seeing a lot more pipers and dippers than harlequins.
Background:
[A bird singing and water rushing.]
Speaker 2:
A dipper is just flew downstream, singing. Hear it? Yeah. That sound. Yeah, it is unusual to hear them this time of year, there are more like February, March and April when they're really singing up a storm. Flying and singing. Andrew just saw a spotted sandpiper.
Andrew:
As far as Harlequin ducks, we had seen five single females so far. Is that a lot?
Lisa:
I don't know. Sort of depends on what they get down low. Yeah. Like I said, like a high count norm would be 12, so we still have a long ways to go.
Michael:
So how did this research get started in the first place?
Andrew:
At first, Lisa just wanted to figure out if the ducks were even successfully breeding here.
Lisa:
I was like, okay, well, to do that, we need to find the nest and monitor them. And so we started like looking for nests and we never found one, I think in 20 or 30 years of surveys here in the park, only one had accidentally been found when someone almost stepped on one, they were walking along the shoreline. So I'm like, well, how are you going to monitor nests? If you can't find them?
Andrew:
Luckily for all of us, we're not just in Glacier National Park. We're in Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.
Lisa:
Waterton Lakes National Park and Glacier National Park: Every year we have a "Science and History Day..."
Andrew:
...A full day science conference, where experts from both sides of the border present, what they've been working on.
Lisa:
...In my first year as a biologist here, I met Cindy Smith. She is the retired conservation biologist in Waterton Lakes. And I knew that she had done research on harlequin ducks in Banff National Park. So I was lucky enough to meet her and introduce myself. And I was like, Hey, I'm thinking of doing some research on Harlequin ducks and trying to find their nests. I said, we just aren't having any luck. I was like, how did you do it? And she's like, telemetry, you have to put radios on them! And she was totally right, because when we first started trying to find their nest, even with radios on, I mean, I think it'd be a one in a billion chance trying to find those nests because they're so cryptic, they're so hidden. And some of them literally were like 2.5 miles up off of another drainage and on a cliff and a burn habitat. I mean...
Andrew:
But to put radios on them first, you have to catch them. So Lisa and Cindy, an American and a Canadian biologist, working together developed a mist net method of capturing harlequin ducks.
Michael:
That must've been what I saw.
Andrew:
Yeah. Do you remember how it works?
Michael:
Well, Gerard Byrd, who joined us on the Grinnell Glacier hike in the Many Glacier episode, and a friend of his paddled, an inflatable kayak full of a couple people and a pole across the creek. The pole had a rope attached. Uh, so there was the near end and the far end one that stayed on shore and the one that went across the creek in the boat. And when the crew on the far side of the creek got out, they pulled the net taut.
Andrew:
Oh, that makes sense. So no one had to be in the water.
Michael:
No, that you floated across, but you stood on either side and pull it tight. And because harlequin ducks, unlike mallards, that fly way up in the air, harlequin ducks fly down low, right over the water. So they go straight into the net.
Andrew:
Okay. So what would you do if you caught one in the net?
Michael:
So the net is suspended on a cable that runs from one end to the other. And if they catch a duck in the net, the crew on the far side will twist their pole to close it disconnected from their side. And then the near side crew will pull the net all the way along the cable until the duck is in their hands.
Andrew:
And then they can handle it on shore without having to get into the water.
Michael:
Yeah. Precisely.
Andrew:
So what was your job then?
Michael:
Oh, I had a really critical, a very important duck catching job.
Andrew:
Yeah. What was that?
Michael:
I, uh, was I sat, uh, probably a half mile up the road, just looking at the creek with binoculars to see if ducks were coming.
Andrew:
Okay. That sounds pretty important. How many ducks did you see?
Michael:
None. Well, okay. No, I saw mallards and I saw some mergansers. I saw mergansers. But no, no harlequins. They didn't, they didn't come down the creek that day.
Andrew:
Well, hopefully you still felt useful.
Michael:
I did for, you know, for all the lofty ambitions I had of catching a duck that day, uh, Lisa valued, you know, all the effort we put in.
Andrew:
Lisa reminded me that even if you don't find any ducks, knowing that they're not there is useful data for her too.
Lisa:
Yeah, people get disappointed when we don't see many debts or zero ducks. And I always remind people that zero is a real number too. It's a sad number, but it's an important number.
Andrew:
And even though you didn't see any ducks that day, this method has been incredibly successful here.
Lisa:
We have not had any serious injuries to any people. And we have non had any injuries or mortalities than any of the birds. And we have probably captured 250 birds now.
Michael:
Do Lisa and Cindy still work together?
Andrew:
Yeah, they do. In fact, Lisa spoke really glowingly of their collaboration.
Lisa:
Cindy Smith has been a mentor of mine for years. She's amazing. Even though she's retired, as she told me, she's retired from bureaucracy, not biology. So she's, I've worked with her on a number of publications and she still mentors me on several projects.
Michael:
That's a real Peace Park success story.
Andrew:
And the success isn't just with the science they've done.
Lisa:
We're not just colleagues. She's become a very close friend.
Andrew:
A friendship that's been able to thrive across the international border.
GLACIER NATIONAL PARK CONSERVANCY AD
Andrew:
Each episode, we seem to cover at least one thing that like this podcast wouldn't be possible without the support of the Glacier National Park Conservancy.
Doug Mitchell:
With the help of some friends over there, we got the number of executive director, Doug Mitchell, and decided to call him up out of the blue to ask about these projects.
Andrew:
For this episode, we wanted to ask him about a very special bird.
Doug Mitchell:
Glacier Conservancy, Doug Mitchell speaking.
Doug Mitchell:
Hey Doug, it's Michael and Andrew.
Doug Mitchell:
Hey fellas. How are we doing today?
Michael:
We're doing great, but we have a question for you. Are you much of a birder?
Doug Mitchell:
Uh, I am not much of a birder, but I am anxious to learn.
Michael:
We've got a great little bit of audio trivia for you. We're going to play a bird call and want to see if you can guess who that call might belong to.
Doug Mitchell:
Okay. I'm up for I'm ready.
Michael:
All right, here we go.
Andrew:
Does that ring any bells for you?
Doug Mitchell:
I'm going to default to one of my very favorite projects in the park, and I'm going to say Harlequin duck.
Andrew:
You got it.
Michael:
You nailed it. How do you know about Harlequin ducks?
Doug Mitchell:
You know I, I have come to know Harlequin ducks, to be honest through my work here at the Conservancy.
Andrew:
We actually got to see a few of them with Lisa Bate.
Doug Mitchell:
Count me jealous. I have not to my knowledge seen one, my wife has watched a mom Harlequin duck kind of teach her young to navigate the rapids there on McDonald Creek. It was, she said, a really neat experience. Yeah, they're a very, very special, beautiful animal.
Michael:
So are you involved with Lisa's research at all?
Doug Mitchell:
We've, we've been very fortunate here at the Conservancy to be able to support Lisa's research in a number of areas, including with these Harlequin duck studies and also trying to do some work, repairing some of the trails. There are some social trails that can be disruptive on the McDonald Creek area. So we've been very, very fortunate to be able to be part of that process as it's been ongoing.
Andrew:
That's pretty cool. It's a, it sounds like it might allow some more people to have an experience like your wife did when they visit the park.
Doug Mitchell:
Yeah, I think that would be, that would be great. Right. That's what we're all about at the Conservancy--preserving the park for future generations to enjoy and to be able to think about being able to protect this species and have people later on be able to enjoy that is really, really a special thing to be able to think about. Right. That's work worth doing.
Michael:
Absolutely. Awesome. Well thank you for taking some time out of your day, Doug. We'll talk to you later.
Doug Mitchell:
All right. Thanks guys. Take care.
ROMANCE
Michael:
So Andrew, neither of us grew up in Montana, right?
Andrew:
That's correct. I actually grew up in Washington state.
Michael:
Yeah. And I grew up in Ohio. So, the fact that we not only met, but became friends, is something that just flat out never would have happened if it weren't for Glacier.
Andrew:
Absolutely. Over the course of a year, this place serves as an intersection of people from all over the world. A couple of years ago, I was working as a ranger up at Logan Pass. And a guy asked me if I was the same Andrew who had refereed his kids’ soccer game like six years ago. And I was.
Michael:
No way! So, the Peace Park provides a unique opportunity to meet other people and experience cultures on both sides of the U.S.- Canada border.
Andrew:
Just by virtue of having the Alberta Visitor Center near the West entrance here, we've had the chance to meet and befriend a lot of Canadians over the years
Michael:
From the little things like celebrating Canada day on July 1st, to having them go out of their way to get me Canadian candy, ketchup chips, or Frutopia that you can't find down here. The International Peace Park is like a confluence of two countries coming together into one unique thing. I mean, it's a lot of fun.
Andrew:
And just in this episode, we've heard a few examples of employees befriending their counterparts from across the border.
Michael:
But I want to close us out today by meeting some folks that took the whole cross-border friendship thing to the next level.
Justin McKeown:
You know, I would say we got the full story, from the Peace Park perspective.
Michael:
Meet Justin and Kim.
Justin McKeown:
Yeah. I'm Justin McKeown.
Kim McKeown:
And I'm Kim McKeown.
Justin McKeown:
We're currently at our home in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Andrew:
Some Canadians?
Michael:
Well, yes and no.
Kim McKeown:
I'm from Ohio.
Justin McKeown:
And I grew up in the prairies of Canada in Saskatchewan.
Andrew:
Oh, I see where this is going.
Michael:
Justin and Kim both worked in Waterton-Glacier in the early 2000s. Justin, how did you wind up working here?
Justin McKeown:
My uncle was Park Superintendent down in Waterton Lakes, National Park. So I had some exposure of going out there and visiting him and my aunt. It was a job and lifestyle that appealed to me at sort of a younger age.
Michael:
Then, around the time he went to college, or university, as they call it up there, he got a job with Parks Canada.
Justin McKeown:
Started at Elk Island National Park, and then moved down to Waterton Lake
Andrew:
What did he do at Waterton?
Michael:
He was an interpretive ranger, just like we were, leading guided hikes and campground programs.
Justin McKeown:
You know, I can probably look back on it and say, it was like the best job I ever had.
Michael:
Kim, how did you wind up working here?
Kim McKeown:
Um, so my dad decided to come out and play park ranger from Ohio. I missed him and I came out to work for the boat company in 2003, the year before Justin and I met.
Michael:
What was the name of the boat that you captained?
Kim McKeown:
What was the name of the boat...Morning Eagle was on Lake Josephine, and on Swiftcurrent was Chief Two Guns.
Andrew:
Oh, so she worked at Many Glacier.
Michael:
What is memorable specifically about the job of being a boat captain?
Kim McKeown:
If I think back now, like it seems it should have been a more difficult job than it was. It didn't feel difficult to drive these boats. And I really enjoy like giving the talk on the boat and I liked making people laugh. You're getting sometimes to show people bears for the first time and the hotel there employed a lot of young people. And so you're just around a lot of other, basically university-aged people. It's like summer camp for adults.
Justin McKeown:
I think they call it college down in the United States, dear.
Kim McKeown:
[Laughs] I’m Canadianized.
Michael:
And they actually met at work.
Kim McKeown:
We actually met on the boat dock at Many Glacier. It was one of the other boat captains that was like, he's cute. You should go for a hike.
Michael:
Justin, a Park Canada interpreter, was milling about in Many Glacier in the first place for his job.
Justin McKeown:
Yeah, so this would be part of a longstanding exchange within the Peace Park, whereby a Parks Canada interpreter would go down to Glacier National Park and deliver a program every Friday evening. And then a counterpart, an interpretive ranger from Glacier National Park, would come up to Waterton to the Falls Theatre, to provide exposure to each other's parks within the International Peace Park.
Michael:
But work wasn't the only reason he wanted to go to Glacier.
Kim McKeown:
Pretty soon after, I think I invited myself to come for a hike with Justin in Waterton and yeah, after that first hike, it was basically like, it was a thing. It was the start of a relationship.
Andrew:
Well, that's adorable. And not your typical workplace romance. The two parks brought them together, but they're from two different countries. Long distance is hard enough without a border in between you. How did that even work?
Michael:
Well, as you can imagine, it did make it tough, but they were able to find a way. [To the McKeowns]: So, how long did you do the distance thing?
Kim McKeown:
We dated cross border for seven years.
Michael:
Kim worked as a teacher on the Blackfeet reservation, living in East Glacier, and Justin could find year-round off-and-on work in Waterton.
Andrew:
Okay. That's only a few hours apart.
Michael:
So, relatively close, but they still crossed the border a lot, to the point where Customs and Border Patrol got to know them by name. [Speaking to the McKeowns]: I'm wondering, when you started seeing each other, how normal in your brain was the idea of dating somebody from another country?
Kim McKeown:
It became quite normal. I mean, it definitely took a while. Like, figuring out the differences between the two countries in the early stages of dating. I remember at one point making Justin a little paper dictionary, translating Canada speak into America speak, and then Justin made me his edition. So I think I had put things on there like it's a beanie, but you call it a tocque, for a winter hat.
Justin McKeown:
I don't remember that to be honest, but I know it was mentioned before.
Kim McKeown:
Oh. well, there were lots of things like that. And eventually it just kind of melded into like, this is normal. Like, my Ohio accent kind of became a Canadian accent. Although, in Canada for a long time, they still thought I talked like an American. But my American family would make fun of me when I came home because I was speaking like a Canadian.
Michael:
So, they made it work for years. But as time wore on, crossing the border to see one another grew more and more cumbersome.
Justin McKeown:
We sort of recognized the fact that we dealing with an international border.
Kim McKeown:
And it was really cramping our relationship style.
Michael:
And one way to remedy that would be to put a ring on it.
Justin McKeown:
And plans were afoot, you know. I realized I wanted to ask this girl to marry me. Somebody was kind of getting impatient at some point in time. They're not thinking it was actually going to happen. So we went out on a hike some evening, sort of on the shoulder of Galway mountain in Waterton. So it's up the Red Rock Road, and sort of found this little off shoot that had a great view of the valley. You know, asked Kim to marry me, and obviously, she said yes.
Michael:
So they found a local Justice of the Peace that liked hiking, and they hiked up Avian Ridge in Waterton with a few friends and got married.
Justin McKeown:
We have that date, that's our proper wedding anniversary. And we have that date stamped on the inside of our rings. And, um, yeah!
Michael:
The following year, they had a full-blown ceremony in Waterton with family coming from all over, although it was September in Alberta, so the weather was a bit of an adjustment for some.
Kim McKeown:
My grandmother actually came from Florida and the wedding was in the fall, and she moved to Florida because she does not like the cold and my, my uncle as well. So he kind of had brought her, and I know that he had to go to the drugstore in Pincher Creek that morning and buy her longjohns that she could wear under her dress clothes because she was too cold in Canada.
Justin McKeown:
It was like 50 or 60 degrees. It was a nice day, as far as we're concerned.
Michael:
And I, for one learned a thing or two about Canadian weddings.
Andrew:
Yeah? Like what?
Michael:
So, they ask a family member or close friend to preside over the event instead of a DJ or MC and they have something called midnight lunch, essentially, a full-blown late night snack. People eat at the reception, then they get up for dancing and drinks. And then a little while later, bam. Poutine.
Andrew:
Okay. That sounds really good.
Michael:
Yeah. But what Kim and Justin did the best, I think, was the dessert.
Kim McKeown:
We didn't have cake at our wedding. We had pie. We had like a variety of pies, but our wedding pie that we cut into was apple-Saskatoon-huckleberry. And it was apples to signify Ohio, and Saskatoon berries to signify Saskatchewan, and huckleberries to signify the Peace Park. And so that was the kind of pie that we cut into as like our ceremonial cake cutting.
Michael:
[Responding to Kim]: Aw, that’s something else. [Break, and music comes in] Today, 16 years after they met at the boat dock in Many Glacier, Kim and Justin are raising a family together in Calgary.
Andrew:
So, not too far away.
Michael:
Right. Close enough to visit. Now, we have spent a lot of time talking today about how the International Peace Park recognizes that the landscape we share knows no boundaries, but as this story shows, neither does love, friendship, or camaraderie. Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is an invitation to see ourselves in one another, a much-needed reminder to see not our differences, but the things that we share. Justin and Kim lived this firsthand in a way more dramatic than most of us ever will. [Speaking to Kim and Justin]: So, I was curious, what does the designation International Peace Park mean to both of you?
Justin McKeown:
I think, I think it is a place that you can sort of leave jurisdictions and politics behind to some degree or another and focus on this sort of contiguous landscape.
Kim McKeown:
To me it means family. You know, if it wasn't for the International Peace Park, we wouldn't be a family.
Michael:
To see what the International Peace Park means to you - well, you’ll just have to come find out.
CLOSING
Michael:
That’s our show—for more information on the International Peace Park, on Waterton or Harlequin Ducks, check out the links in our show notes.
Andrew:
Thanks for listening!
CREDITS
Renata:
Headwaters is a production of Glacier National Park with support from the Glacier National Park Conservancy. The show was written and recorded on traditional native lands. Andrew Smith and Michael Faist produced, edited and hosted the show. Ben Cosgrove wrote and performed our music. Alex Stillson provided tech support Quinn Feller designed our art Renata Harrison researched the show, Lacy Kowalski was always there for us, and Daniel Lombardi and Bill Hayden were the executive directors. Support for the show comes from the Glacier National Park Conservancy. The Conservancy works to preserve and protect the park for future generations. We couldn't do it without them, and they couldn't do it without support from thousands of generous donors. If you want to learn more about how to support this podcast, or other awesome Conservancy projects, please go to their website at glacier.org. Of course you can always help support the show by sharing it with everyone you know— your friends, your family, your dog... And also leave us a review online. Special thanks this episode to Natalie Hodge and our friends at Waterton Lakes National Park, Tracy Weisse, Bob Adams, Lisa Bate, Diane Sine and Kim and Justin McKeown.
You should always bring food, water, and plenty of layers when you go hiking in Glacier—but sometimes you might even need… a passport? In this episode, we’ll learn about the friendship that led to the world’s first International Peace Park. After that, two stories about how that designation has affected those that live and work here.
Featuring: Natalie Hodge, Tracey Wiese, Lisa Bate, and Justin and Kim McKeown. Voice acting from Bob Adams.
For more information, visit: go.nps.gov/headwaters