• Home
  • About Carol
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Products
  • Contact

Carol Patterson

INSPIRING EVERYDAY EXPLORERS Through wildlife tales and trails

Carol Patterson

  • Canada
    • Alberta
    • British Columbia
    • Manitoba
    • Maritimes
    • Ontario
    • Quebec
    • Saskatchewan
    • Yukon
  • U.S.
    • California
    • Nebraska
    • Texas
    • Other States
  • International
    • Antarctica
    • Bhutan
    • Borneo
    • Costa Rica
    • Ireland
    • Mexico
    • Norway
    • Peru
  • Interesting People
    • Reflections
  • Events

The Wardens sing about buffalo and life on the range

May 2, 2017 by CarolPatterson Leave a Comment

When I was young I dreamed of being a forest ranger. Mom would take me to Banff National Park evening interpretive programs on family vacations. The nights were cold and there would be mosquitoes to slap. In those pre-Internet days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, picture shows were done with slide projectors and wispy audio. One night a cat walked back-and-forth in front of the projector obscuring part of the show. 

I am not sure mom was as interested as I (maybe the campfire talks stopped the sibling squabbling for a couple of hours bracket) but those outings left me with a love of wildlife and national parks that’s never dimmed. 

My forest ranger aspirations started at a young age

Wonder what life is like as a forest ranger? The Wardens can tell you Click to Tweet  

Fast forward a few decades and I’m an accountant-turned-travel writer who never became a forest ranger with the nifty wide-brimmed hat. With the wisdom of hindsight I realize I would have hated long days in the saddle. But I recently discovered The Wardens, a musical group that showed me what my life might have been like if I had followed my childhood yearnings. 

The Wardens vocalists/guitarists Scott Ward and Bradley Bischoff were park wardens for many years

The hobby has become much more as The Wardens perform a multimedia presentation across western Canada that include songs written by the trio, slides from their many years in Canada’s first national park, and stories about what it’s like on the other side of the badge.

 

Canada’s Rocky Mountains inspire the music of Scott Ward, Ray Schmidt and Bradley Bischoff

The Wardens have released a new album, Sleeping Buffalo, to commemorate the recent return of bison (also called buffalo) to Banff National Park. The return of bison after almost 140 years is a big deal for first Nations communities who call the buffalo a brother and for park managers who are filling a hole in the ecosystem.

The Warden’s album Sleeping Buffalo celebrates the return of bison to Banff National Park

This album shares the emotion The Wardens feel for this momentous occasion at the park they dedicated their lives to protecting. If you’ve ever dreamt of being a forest ranger or are curious about Sleeping Buffalo check out performance dates and album info at http://www.banffwardens.com

Filed Under: Alberta Tagged With: alberta, bison, music

What does your mother know about bison?

February 14, 2017 by CarolPatterson 1 Comment

Nothing, if your family is like mine. But in the open grasslands of southwestern Saskatchewan, Don Gillespie’s mother Norah mastered low-stress animal handling techniques. She never worked bison, her ranch had cows and horses but the skill she developed helps today with bison conservation.

Don Gillespie took lessons he learned from Norah into his work with bison at Grasslands National Park.

Bison roam free in Grasslands National Park

How do you get bison to walk 9 miles with nothing but your mother's wisdom? Click to Tweet Find out in my recent story in Earth Island Journal This Land Was Built for Bison

I didn’t get the chance to see Don Gillespie work with bison but seeing the care used to design the bison handling facility, it was obvious he knows the big animals well.

Don Gillespie explains how facility design reduces bison stress
Stringing them out…..taking advantage of their instinct to follow one another and remain in a herd. Photo: Don Gillespie
Telling everyone how tough he is. Photo:Don Gillespie
The female leader of a family group is getting ready to move. Photo: Don Gillespie

If you would like to see the bison at Grasslands National Park, book your stay in advance as campsites book up quickly and there are few hotels. A visit here is worth the effort. The prairies are an understated environment if you are used to mountain vistas or ocean swells, but it has a beauty that charms if you slow down to listen.Check out details here.

What did you learn from your mother? I’d love to hear.

Filed Under: Saskatchewan Tagged With: bison, grasslands national park, Saskatchewan

How to find a bison stampede

February 26, 2016 by CarolPatterson Leave a Comment

When I learned to fly, my flight instructor told me flying was boredom 95% of the time and the other 5% delivered sphincter-narrowing excitement. That phrase ran through my head as I searched unsuccessfully for bison in Elk Island National park. With over 460 plains bison in a relatively small park, you might think they would be hard to miss. You would be wrong.
After two hours of driving back and forth on the 18 kilometer road that dissects the park I spotted nary a bison. Or a bird. Or anything moving. It was frustrating because I could tell by the poop scattered everywhere and the tracks in the snow there were bison around. “The best time to sDSC05682ee them is at dawn and dusk,” suggested the Parks Canada visitor center employee. Unfortunately it was mid-morning and I would be long gone by dark.

Daydreaming to take my mind off my lack of photos I crested a small hill and saw several vehicles stopped on the road. “Wildlife!” I thought. I didn’t care if it was a squirrel, by now I was happy to look at anything with fur or feathers to break my wildlife-viewing drought. I coasted to a stop and spotted dozens of brown shaggy behemoths jogging across the frozen grasslands. Bison! They were several hundred meters away – too far to photograph – so I grabbed my video camera to capture the movement.

In the viewfinder I noticed the lead animals turning towards me. At the same time I thought, “they are coming this way” a stampede erupted behind my vehicle. Tons of plain bison thundered across the road, youngsters following moms and spunky teenagers kicking their heels in the air as they went. The snow flew up as they pounded across the plains, steam circling their dark heads. In seconds the reached a large stand of aspen and the forest gobbled them up as if they had never been. My racing heart told me otherwise. I love that 5%!

Watch the action on this video.

Filed Under: Alberta Tagged With: bison, canada, elk island, national parks

Follow Me

Books

Sustainable Tourism
Business Ecotourism

Tags

adventure adventure travel alberta banff bears best practices birding birds Birdwatching bird watching bison british columbia calgary canada costa rica cultural tourism culture ecotourism ethics events grasslands national park Haida Gwaii hiking Manitoba national parks nature nature deficit disorder nature scapes nature tourism Nebraska new year resolutions oregon parks canada puerto vallarta quebec reinventure Saskatchewan sustainability sustainable tourism think like an explorer travel whales whale watching wildlife wildlife viewing

Copyright © 2022 Carol Patterson · All Rights Reserved

T: 403-512-0574 Email: carol@kalahari-online.com
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Copyright © 2022 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in