When Tara Stephens, Calgary Zoo Conservation Population Ecologist, offered me a pair of snake guards – leg protection from rattlesnake bites – and explained precautions needed to avoid the plague – yes, that plague – I wondered if I shouldn’t be writing about spas instead of nature tours in Saskatchewan’s Grasslands National Park. But each summer Parks Canada and the Calgary Zoological Society offer a few intrepid travellers the chance to be a prairie dog researcher and I wanted to see if I had the chops to be a squirrel scientist, even temporarily.
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How can you become a squirrel scientist on your vacation?
Have you ever wondered what it would like to be a scientist?
Parks Canada offers people educational tourism opportunities. It’s not for everyone but if you can carry a backpack, don’t mind strong winds, bugs or the possibility of seeing snakes, you will have a front-row seat on conservation science.
Have you ever seen a prairie dog? Do you know what behaviours these charming creatures have in common with people? Learn more in my video
Me either! I only realized how important Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs are when I met John Laux of Nebraska Game and Parks Commission while on a media trip. These little creatures build towns of linked tunnels – the largest town ever found covered 65,000 square kilometers! Early explorer Capt. Lewis described them as “barking squirrels”, while Clark called them a “ground rat”. They caught and ate one of the prairie sentinels, but it never became a diet staple. When Lewis and Clark ordered their men to flush out more rodents with water, the men hauled water all day and succeeded in catching only one prairie dog – it was put in a cage and made a pet!
When I was young you had to suffer to camp. Canvas tents leaked if you touched them when wet, air mattresses deflated overnight, and supper was whatever you could cook over a smoky fire in the rain. Things improved with the invention of Gore-Tex and affordable recreational vehicles (RVs), but it can be a hassle to pull a RV and wrestle it into a camping site. A creative-thinking entrepreneur, Darci Schepansky, has reinvented the camping experience by delivering rental RVs to any campground in the Waskesiu region of northern Saskatchewan.
picnic table, and flowers by the door before you arrive. You don’t need to buy an RV, own a large vehicle or worry about parking. Explaining her motivation for starting Retro RV, Darci says, “I wanted a business that would let me spend time with my kids.” Her kids enjoy visiting provincial parks while Mom makes money. As the name implies, some of the rental units are vintage, but there is nothing old-fashioned about this recreational reinvention! To learn more go to