Saturday night, we attended the screening of ‘In the Quiet and the Dark, Saving the Eastern Hemlock’ at Kings Theatre in Annapolis Royal,
“ The documentary by local film maker (Tupperville), Nance Ackerman follows the passionate people to save Eastern Hemlock from an invasive tree-dwelling insect (Hemlock Woolly Adelgid) in hopes of preventing ecological catastrophe. Film-goers were also treated to a screening of Tim Wilson’s short documentary Old Growth, before the main feature and to a Panel Discussion featuring Nance Ackerman, Donna Crossland, Sally Steele, Lorne Julien and Nina Newington. “
Both documentaries were beautiful works of art, featuring local concerned , environmental citizens. The screening raised a number of questions.
As a Geographer, I had questions on the distribution of Eastern Hemlock in Nova Scotia and beyond. I wanted to see maps of existing stands, the distribution of both healthy and damaged stands. What is the forest matrix within which the Hemlock stands exist? I recognize that this information on the forest matrix raises many additional concerns.
It was an excellent artistic, community event. With high attendance, and many salient questions from the audience.
Before the showing, we had decided to take a road trip to Peterborough, Ontario to visit family. Hence, on early Sunday morning, it was time to ‘get out of Dodge’. We spent a good twelve hours on the highway. And made it to Levis, PQ, just east of Quebec City. Our objectives were simple:
a) can we still make long-distance drives across the country?
b) how will the ‘new-to-us’ Honda HRV perform ?
The answers: Yes and Well.
The next day, we arrived in Peterborough. The weather and the forest colours were stunning. As usual, we were shocked by the road traffic on Highway 20 West and Highway 401. Montreal proved challenging, even on Monday morning.
Acknowledgements
John Wightman joined us for the Kings Theatre screening. We were thankful for the welcome in Peterborough from Patrick, Emily, Fraser and Logan. We plan to return home, next weekend.
Reference
SOOF Newsletter, Sunday, October 15, 2023 (see post SOOF presentation)
Ernest Blair Experiment 