Toward the end of the year TCM (Turner Classic Movies) used to show a collection of clips of actors and movie personnel who had died that year while a melancholy melody played in the background. I always found the tribute very touching. Today I am remembering a dedicated environmentalist and friend who we lost on November of this year, and I wish I could play some melancholy song as I remember him.
I don’t remember exactly when Karsten and his wife Leanne Allison moved to Robson Valley, they floated around in the area for a while, then bought a home in Dunster. They were both very passionate and serious environmentalists who had made a name for themselves by completing a backpacking trek to publicize “Y to Y” (Yellowstone to Yukon) a proposal to preserve land along the wildlife corridor connecting the two locations. Karsten, a wildlife biologist had written the book, “Walking the Big Wild” about their ordeals on the trip.
They lived in the Robson Valley a couple of years, but then when President Bush wanted to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil extraction, threatening the huge Porcupine Caribou Herd calving grounds, Karsten and Leanne mounted another backpacking trip to follow and document the herd as it migrated. It was the first time anyone had done that and they experience horrific attacks of mosquitoes and multiple encounters with Grizzly Bears.
Once their trek was completed, Karsten wrote the book “Being Caribou” and Leanne, who filmed their trip won awards for her movie of the same name.
Her films can be viewed for free at https://vimeo.com/leanneallison
The two also made other trips, documenting their adventures in book and film.
The pair moved from the Robson Valley when Karsten was given the job as head of the project attempting to introduce a herd of Bison back into Banff National Park. He headed the successful project for a decade or so.
Last summer, Karsten went our bow hunting, and climbed a tree. He fell from his high perch, landing on his back onto the ground. He was terribly injured, but at first, the medical opinion was that he would slowly recover. However, unexpectedly his organs and body systems very slowly began to shut down, and there was nothing medically that could be done to prevent his body from complete deterioration and death. After being told of his fate, Karsten decided that when Fall came, he would have a medically assisted death.
On November 5th, Karsten’s family and friends met one last time with Karsten in the shed where he had done his writing, to say their goodbyes, and be with Karsten when his a tragic and untimely end. He was someone who had done so much to preserve Nature on a planet that certainly needs all the help it can get. Karsten’s death was a great loss.
You can read an article about Karsten’s Bison project at:
https://thetyee.ca/News/2024/12/23/What-Buffalo-Know/
No comments:
Post a Comment