Grizzly greetings……. Welcome to Wilderness

Posted by Florian – July 13, 2009

Grizzly on the coastal planes in the Alaskan Arctic

Hey everybody…….

I know I have been promising to write about my arctic aerial expedition. To tell you the truth, I am in kind of restless state where my thoughts are all over the place right now. The experience that I had in the arctic was so incredible. Some of the impressions were so profound, that I feel I cannot express it in a blog that I just write in a few minutes. I need to find a little more space first.

To get an idea of the vast arctic landscape touched me deeply. To see caribous by the hundred thousands was a long life dream of mine, that became reality in wonders that I hardly dared to imagine. I am aware that I see the last truly wild and wide ranging animals on this continent. I saw not caribou – I saw a larger organism: The herd as a whole.

I have some very difficult issues to go through right now and it is interesting how the landscape and the ancient rhythm of nature gave me not only a sense of place of being at home in nature and on this planet, but it also seemed to balance out some of the different realities we are living in. Nature is something very grounded, something pure and real. It gave me perspective. Maybe these are my spiritual moments. A friend just said to me: “When you are out there in wilderness – your are at church, Florian!” So much on this planet is full of wonder. I am fascinated to observe the interconnectedness of the natural world and to document some of the special moments I witness. It is a deep passion that seems to guide my life.

In our modern lives we are immersed in a very changed environment. Our realities change from city to city,work place,  friends, peer groups and family. It is our sense of perception and those influences. If one spends more time in nature it seems one can find more to one`s self.

Up in the arctic I immersed myself into a world apart. When this grizzly wondered down towards the riverbed he stood tall catching his balance, I felt welcome to wilderness.

So be patient with me. I will write about this incredible adventure of witnessing the caribou, seals on the ice and the polar bear…… hopefully soon!

Lonely

Posted by Florian – July 7, 2009

It is been a while since you have heard from me. After waiting for weeks for the weather to improve it suddenly all came together. We headed out on the arctic aerial expedition for the freedom to roam project. I am still in the middle of the whole adventure and just landed at Point Lonely. So how in the world would I have internet access? Point Lonely is a former Airforce Radar site. We had seen the landing strip as we had flown the coastline a few days before and took the opportunity at this point to “sit” the plane down and wait for the weather  and especially light to improve.We had no idea about what to expect or if even anyone was around. But quickly s.o. emerged from the bright red tower building and we were greated by a very nice foreman who turned out to be a bird biologist.  The entire camp is being disassembled and a lot of contaminated soil removed by a special crew.  We sat down in camp and learnt lots of interesting stories about birds and especially polar bears wondering along the coast. 

Anyway, this is the long story behind the reason why I have a few minutes of internet in the middle of nowhere – at Point Lonely. And it is the same story of just having a few moments. Over night the fog rolled in. Now I have to be on “standby” to be ready to jump into the plane any moment the fog will give us the chance to take off. If we cannot, I might have the chance to write for the coming hours (or days) about my experiences.

What I want to share with you in short: I have seen a Arctic landscape come alive with hundreds of thousands of caribou, watched wolves chase across the tundra, thousands of seals on the ice-sheet and a lonely polar bear wonder the pack ice. As we were buzzing along with the plane it sometimes was hard to absorb and process all the impressions right that very second. I am so glad to have the images to come back to, where a single moment is frozen in time. It will give me a chance to understand what ALL I have seen. My expedition is coming to an end in a few days and after a quick edit, I will share with you some of the incredible moments I have witnessed. For now I better step outside and see what the fog does ……..

Finally up in the air!

Posted by Florian – July 2, 2009

Finally,

the weather has changed. I only have seconds to write it between fuel stops. We are out on the extended aerial expedition. Come back to check and I hope to share with you images of thousands of caribou, grizzlies, seals on the ice and maybe a polar bear. It is going to be an adventure!

Prudhoe Bay – Largest Oilfield in North America

Posted by Florian – June 23, 2009

Prudhoe Bay Oil Fields

 Strong winds and dense fog did not allow us to set up a base-camp at Teshekpuk Lake. I had hoped to cover the area around the lake because of plans to open up vast parts of the lake to oil drilling. In 2006 the Department of the Interior  sold leases to 500 000 acres in and around Teshekpuk Lake. 

It already is late in the afternoon and the fog sealing is slowly lowering.  We decide to fly out towards Prodhoe Bay. Because of the strong wind we fly extremely low over the ground to where we gain a few miles an hour in speed. It does not take long and we see the first man-made structure: a test well. This is only the beginning. For the next 60 miles we see one industrial structure after  another. 

People often only envision a small developed spot in the arctic landscape around the Prudhoe Bay area. The truth is, that the Prodhoe Bay Oilfield is the biggest oilfield in North America. The main operating companies are PB, Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil.

Most of the activity happens in the midst of winter while it is easier to move equipment across the frozen tundra. While the industry is using special tires to keep down the damages, I see long tracks in “vergin” landscapes made by the heavy machinery. Those tracks are encrouching on the Teshekpuk Lake area, one of the most important arctic bird habitat in the world.

I will try to cover more of the habitat and wildlife at Teshekpuk Lake over the next weeks as the weather gives us a break. Teshekpuk Lake is such an important ecological gem, that oil development simply must not go forward. Stay tuned!

Over the Arctic Plains

Posted by Florian – June 23, 2009

Our support plane above the migrating Caribou

After flying hours below the layer of fog we see a silver lining at the horizon. We need to put the plane down on a gravel bar and set up camp for the night. My pilot Ken wants to look for a spot where we can get out of the wind. We are fighting a stiff breeze of 20 – 30 nots on the nose of the plane.

As we are flying further inland, the sun finally breaks through the layers of fog. In the far distance I see the brooks range. Dark clouds are hugging the mountains and create a dramatic backdrop for photographs. We follow a river drainage south as I see a group of caribou in the riverbed heading to climb a steep snowbank  to join their group up on the extended plains, where food is plentiful.

We swing around with the plane while I keep an eye on the group running up the step snowbank seemingly without effort. I am trying to caputre the images struggling to keep the horizon straight in the viewfinder while the pilot goes into  a steep bank and balances out the gusts of wind. After hours of flying through bad weather, there it is: A few seconds of action in wonderful golden arctic light.