Guest post: The difference 20 years can make

Background by Amanda: Let me not overstate its reach, but I have this blog and Val has noticed that it has some readers. Hence, her request a few days ago to have a guest post. She has really gotten into it now, so she has penned a second guest post. Her writing is as clear as her position on matters of nature and cycles and climate change. Rarely a fun or light topic, but always an important one. Through Val’s eyes, over the years, I have come to see and appreciate the wonders of the natural world in which we live — the flowers I have always seen, but the birds, the trees, the tiny little lichens — for all those, I have gained both appreciation and delight thanks to Val’s gentle and persistent modelling of how to be one with nature. And how to observe, to take note, and to name what is happening. Even when it is distressing. 

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Guest post by Val Paape

Amanda and I have owned a cottage in Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Winnipeg for 22 years. We have been at our current cottage for 12 years and over that time, we have noticed changes that are consistent with climate change.

These changes are not subtle. They can be seen by anyone paying attention. 

When we first moved to our second cottage in the fall of 2009, we were baffled by the presence of two cast iron fire pit rings set into the ground at the back of the cottage. One is about 2 feet from the northeast corner of the cottage and one is the same distance from the cottage but set further in from the corner. I also wondered about what looked like a very small gravel pit halfway down the east side of the cottage and about 4 feet away from it. The owner of the cottage was a bit of a “cowboy” so we briefly contemplated him having fires in the fire pits in the nice sheltered area at the back of the cottage. This was not serious, of course. Even “cowboys” are not that stupid…

The next spring, we discovered that the previous owner was not stupid after all. As the spring melt occurred, water slowly moved down the slight slope from the road and the boreal forest beyond, and collected in the fire pits. It then seeped underneath them and the walking area around the cottage became a little stream that flowed around the back corner pad and post of the cottage. Well, mostly around but also over the pad to a height of an inch or two up the post. And, surprise, surprise, we saw that the post was rotting. All of the signs pointed to the fact that this was an annual event.

Apparently, the previous owner had used the gravel pit at the side of the cottage to collect the spring melt and then used a jet pump to move it away from the cottage and into the lake. Hmmmm. What to do?

Well, said a friend, you dig out the path along the back and side of the cottage and install a long weeping tile to collect the water and direct it away from the cottage into this pit. Then you cover it with lots of gravel. He said he would install a larger pad and put in a new and bigger post. Bingo, bango, no more problem. It worked. We still have a feeling of satisfaction whenever we walk around that corner of the cottage. 

But since then, our efforts have been needed less and less. For the last several years, once the snow has melted, there has not been any standing water in the fire pits at all. Nothing grows in them (although “weeds” once did) and they are simply collecting places for dead fir needles and small branches. Near them is the grassy area immediately behind the cottage. Once incredibly lush and requiring mowing once per week, the grass is sparse and so slow growing, that if I mow it 3 times per season, it’s a miracle. Now I usually just use the trimmer to, well, trim…The moss that used to grow along the edges of the pads is dead. Yarrow grows sparsely. So do other “weeds”. It is hardly recognizable compared to when we first acquired the cottage. 

While the “back yard” is one thing, the sunny, cleared side of the cottage is another. From my perspective, the change here is not simply more visible, but more dramatic. Starting from the limestone “cliff” on the lakeshore and working towards the back of the lot towards the road, there are interesting micro-ecological zones. Or, at least there were. Because the soil is shallow closest to the lakeshore and underlain by porous limestone, it does not hold soil moisture very well. So the ground cover was initially a thick cushion of moss that gradually contained more grass and other plants as one moved back from the edge of the limestone “cliff”.  About halfway back to the road, a slight depression in the topography contained a thick mass of grass and flowering plants. At some point early in our time of owning this cottage, I decided to cease mowing this area to create a natural area for birds and small mammals. And, it still exists but not nearly as lushly as a decade ago.

I loved the mossy region closer to the cliff edge. It also had a cover of lichens in drier areas which contrasted beautifully with the moss. And, it has a stand of firs that shades and protects so that the moss cover has been very lush and deep. As it was along the southern boundary of the lot beyond which is boreal forest. 

Ovenbird

As rain and snowfall have decreased over the years, these “zones” have all dried out considerably. The moss is no longer lush and the lichens crush like ashes when you walk over them. The grass and other flowering native plants are all but gone except in low, shady and sheltered areas and have been replaced by yarrow and other “weeds”. It no longer looks green. Or, whatever green exists, is separated by regions of various shades of brown and grey.

Down and across the road about 200 yards away, there used to be a small stream along which was a beautiful wet meadow bordered by willows. I would walk down there in the spring and listen to and watch Yellow warblers, Nashville warblers, Common Yellowthroats (also a warbler), Wilson’s warbler, Palm warblers and I could hear, though rarely see, Veerys, Hermit Thrushes and Ovenbirds. That meadow barely exists and it is dry because the water has all dried up. The birds are gone.

People talk about climate change as if it is something that, “sure, I guess it is happening, but it is slow and I don’t think it will be a big deal. We’ll figure it out”. But “people” don’t look. Even worse, they seem not to see, even when they look. Generally, they are not very observant except when it comes to things that they are really interested in, say football games on TV, for example... On our street at home in Winnipeg, a Pileated Woodpecker could roar over their heads on his or her way to our suet feeder and they would never notice a thing. Pileateds are not small and they are pretty noisy. It amazes me how oblivious “people” can be. And, the observational skills of the average cottage owner? Don’t get me started…

So, here we are. The signs of climate change are all around us. The severity of the current drought in the mid-west of North America will no doubt, wake some people up. But others will just water their lawns and/or cottage lots, ride their ATV’s (with or without spark arresters), watch TV and never even notice the world drying up around them. They won’t notice the absence of bird song or think outside the box about the decreased water levels of Lake Winnipeg (“Oh, that’s just Hydro controlling the lake levels”). And, maybe they will be really pleased that they don’t have to mow their cottage lots anymore. Or, some will continue to mow their lawns once a week regardless. It is time to say, “Look around you, people! Climate change is real and it IS VISIBLE”.  Anyone can see and observe if they really want to. It just takes a little effort. And, who knows where that will take us in this effort to deal with climate change?

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Land acknowledgement: We respectfully recognize that we live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photo credits: 

"Moss 01" by Enygmatic-Halycon is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

"Yarrow" by irgendwiejuna is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

"Ovenbird" by K.P. McFarland is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 

Meadow by Lisa Yount on Unsplash