Problems such as these illustrate the need for the high level of protection afforded by national parks. “That’s why we have such a strong commitment for one in the South Okanagan Similkameen, where so many endangered species live. Birds like kingfishers are getting to be rare here. We used to see them all the time, but now when we go to the oxbows we only see them occasionally. We’ve got a host of environmental problems here in the Okanagan. Canadian Wildlife Service  scientists abandoned the idea of introducing prairie falcons when they found that the smaller birds falcons prey on were loaded with pesticides.”

But the national park debate has drawn a dividing line between various groups who would be stakeholders.

To combat the rhetoric surrounding the park, a science forum to inform the public about the benefits to the different species and ecosystems of the Valley was held in 2007, but rumours continue to fly.

John’s reading of the situation is that there is a degree of misinformation being spread by lobby groups to encourage their points of view. Among these is one inaccuracy that claims land will be expropriated from the area’s ranchers to create the park.

“If everyone (all levels of government, lobby groups and area residents) goes for the national park, it will be developed on land the ranchers want to sell out. The government can’t just come in and expropriate the land. They’ll have to negotiate in good faith so it’s a chance for a lot of ranchers to sell out and make their retirement money.”

If the ranchers aren’t ready to retire yet, they can keep the property until they’re ready to go.

Hope still shines through in John and Mary’s conversation. They are not drumbeaters, but consummate explainers.

“A national park would not only increase the chances of survival for endangered species, but begin to deal with the other land use and environmental problems in the Okanagan.

John and Mary believe these problems can be combated by education. They have spent 40 years taking their message to the public and maybe it’s taking hold.

“You have to have some hope that something’s going to change,” says John. “As ecologists we have an obligation to play whatever role we can in helping human society to form a sustainable relationship with the biosphere.”

Looking south they point to the advantages accrued from Yellowstone National Park where wolves and other endangered wildlife are making a comeback. “It’s successful. People line the roads to see wolves and bears in the wild and the annual input from that to the regional economy is somewhere around US$24 million.”

The Ptarmigan’s Dilemma reflects on all of this. It isn’t a light read that you can pick up and put down as you drift in and out of sleep on a warm summer afternoon. It takes some thinking on the part of the reader. That’s not to say the book requires a major science degree to get through it. It just can’t be skimmed the way you’d zip through a romance or action novel.

Part scientific reporting and part philosophy the work has been called a Third Age book—meaning the grand retirement project that comes after the study and working years—but it really isn’t. This book is the thoughtful culmination of a lifetime of asking questions.

Since writing it, says Mary, “We have developed a lot more texture to our lives. Our lives have become a far greater tapestry because we expanded into those different areas.”

John has his own thoughts. “We’re better ecologists now, after writing the book, than after all those years of teaching.”

This project has also helped to focus external attention on the issues they espouse and the work they do. The Ptarmigan’s Dilemma has been recognized with the Lane Anderson Prize for scientific writing and it was nominated for a Writer’s Trust Award (non-fiction).

These honours follow on previous achievements. In 1993, Equinox magazine proclaimed John and Mary Theberge Environmentalist of the Year and in 1998 they were presented with the Harkin Award (for environmental contributions) by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

John and Mary’s other books include Wolf Country: Eleven Years Tracking The Algonquin Wolves and Kluane: Pinnacle of the Yukon, which John edited and to which they both contributed.

Despite all the words they’ve written and the emotional hurricane that ecology and the environment provoke, John sums everything up in one elegant statement of belief. “Science is the rational springboard for a greater emotional connection with nature.” ~Bruce Kemp

Photo by Bruce Kemp