The Reindeer Botanist: Alf Erling Porsild, 1901-1977

by Wendy Dathan

Overview

The Reindeer Botanist is the first biography of one of Canada's most remarkable botanists. Alf Erling Porsild grew up on the Arctic Station in West Greenland and later served as curator of botany at the National Museum of Canada. He collected thousands of specimens, greatly enlarging the National Herbarium and making it a superb research centre.

For nearly twenty years, Porsild studied reindeer activities in Alaska and the Northwest Territories as part of the Reindeer Project designed to encourage grazing animal husbandry among aboriginal peoples. He published extensively, and his meticulous research and observations have particular relevance today with the growing concern over global warming in the Arctic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781552385869
Publisher:	University of Calgary Press
Publication date:	11/14/2012
Series:	Northern Lights , #14
Edition description:	1
Pages:	748
Product dimensions:	0.24(w) x 0.35(h) x 1.65(d)

About the Author

Wendy Dathan studied botany at McGill University and eventually worked as Assistant/Acting Curator at the McGill Herbarium and thereafter began her research on Porsild for her masters thesis on his Canadian Reindeer Project years.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations vii

Foreword Irwin M. Brodo ix

Preface xiii

Introduction xix

Part 1 Reindeer Survey / Exploration, 1901-1928

1 Greenland Beginnings 3

2 Malte and the National Herbarium 15

3 Call of the Northwest 25

4 In Search of Reindeer 33

5 Little Diomede to Kotzebue Sound 45

6 Coastal Alaska by Dogsled 57

7 Travelling Alone: An Accident and its Consequences 69

8 Mail Time in Aklavik 83

9 Schooner Travel on the Arctic Coast 95

10 Return to Aklavik 109

11 Completing the 1927 Reconnaissance 119

12 Looking Back and Forward 131

13 Winter Trail to Great Bear Lake 139

14 Dease Arm and the Northeast Barrens 151

15 Changing Tides and Seasons 163

16 Of Ice and "Files" and Miserable Dogs 173

17 McTavish Arm and Conjuror Bay 187

18 End of the Investigation 199

Part 2 Canada's Reindeer Herd, 1929-1935

19 Results of the Survey 217

20 "The Best Laid Plans" 227

21 Field Reports, 1930 239

22 Sad News and Summer in Scandinavia 253

23 Destination Reindeer Station 265

24 The Drive Continues 279

25 The End of the Project 291

Part 3 The National Herbarium in Peace and War, 1936-1977

26 The National Herbarium 309

27 "Publish or Perish" 327

28 Rumbles on the Horizon 349

29 The Problem of Greenland 367

30 Consular Greenland 385

31 Herbarium Interlude 405

32 Greenland's War of Nerves 421

33 Uncertainties in Wartime Ottawa 439

34 Acting Consuls Dunbar and Porsild 457

35 Last Consular Year 473

36 Road to the Yukon 489

37 The Year the War Ended 511

38 Postwar Settlement 529

39 The "Old Man" of the Herbarium 551

40 Storm Over the Arctic 569

41 Study Year in Europe 595

42 Rocky Mountains and Hudson Bay Lowlands 613

43 Ninth International Botanical Congress 627

44 The Last Years 643

Epilogue: Closing the Circle 657

Notes 663

Sources and Acknowledgments 689

Selected References 695

Index 705

Editorial Reviews

A thoroughly researched, clearly executed portrait of a man whose life, in the words of one of his colleagues, “was a saga of unique experiences and accomplishments—an inspiration to all those who have faith in the capacities of an individual human mind”

—Bathsheba Demuth, H-Environment

Dathan’s book is a truly monumental effort, and a great service to the botanical community of Canada.

—Tyler William Smith, The Canadian Field-Naturalist

From the Publisher