Solastalgia: Documenting disaster through interactive documentary

Evacuation 2025

This is the first fire evacuation notice I received this year, April 18, at 8:25 pm. It is close to my city, but not close enough to be of concern. It is in an area that is home to Elk Island National Park- home to numerous types of wildlife, including Canada's largest bison herd, The Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, home of irreplaceable artifacts, original buildings and records of Ukrainian immigration and settlement in Alberta. The village also harbours a large garter snake hibernacula. How do I know? My kids and I have seen it, we have watched with wonder, awe and a not a little bit of anxiousness as hundreds-- possibly thousands-- of garter snakes emerged during an annual visit to the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in May, when the ground is finally warm enough for them to wake up, there is enough sun for them to seek heat during the day, and usually the ground is damp from snow melt. It is a wondrous thing to witness, the hundreds upon hundreds of slithery bodies, hungry, cold, maybe sleepy and a bit disoriented, wary about the world they are emerging into after a long sleep below the frost line. They will now disperse and some will travel long distances until the fall and they return to the communal safety of the nest.  It is an area which has wetland sanctuaries. You see, that area is mostly swamp, which makes it the perfect area for tundra swans, snow geese, moose, bison, deer, beaver, and hundreds of other birds and reptiles such as salamanders. When the bogs are so dry that wildfire becomes an issue, we should be alarmed. Swamps shouldn't burn. 

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