The reindeer botanist : Alf Erling Porsild, 1901-1977 / Wendy Dathan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dathan, Patricia Wendy, 1934-

Contributor:

Arctic Institute of North America.

Series:

Northern lights series, 1701-0004 ; 14.

Northern lights, 1701-0004 ; 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Porsild, A. E., 1901-1977.

Porsild, A. E.

Canadian Reindeer Project--History.

Canadian Reindeer Project.

National Herbarium of Canada--History.

National Herbarium of Canada.

Botanists--Canada--Biography.

Botanists.

Scientists--Canada--Biography.

Scientists.

Botany--Canada, Northern.

Botany.

Reindeer farming--Canada, Northern.

Reindeer farming.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (754 p.)

Place of Publication:

Calgary [Alta.] : University of Calgary Press, c2012 (Beaconsfield, Quebec :

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Reindeer Botanist: Alf Erling Porsild, 1901-1977 is the first biography of one of Canada's most remarkable botanists. Alf Erling Porsild (1901-1977) 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.

Contents:

PART ONE Reindeer Survey/Exploration, 1901-1928. Greenland Beginnings

Malte and the National Herbarium

Call of the Northwest

In Search of Reindeer

Little Diomede to Kotzebue Sound

Coastal Alaska by Dogsled

Travelling Alone: An Accident and its Consequences

Mail Time in Aklavik

Schooner Travel on the Arctic Coast

Return to Aklavik

Completing the 1927 Reconnaissance

Looking Back and Forward

Winter Trail to Great Bear Lake

Dease Arm and the Northeast Barrens

Changing Tides and Seasons

Of Ice and "Flies" and Miserable Dogs

McTavish Arm and Conjuror Bay

End of the Investigation

PART TWO Canada's Reindeer Herd, 1929-1935. Results of the Survey

"The Best Laid Plans"

Field Reports, 1930

Sad News and Summer in Scandinavia

Destination Reindeer Station

The Drive Continues

The End of the Project

PART THREE The National Herbarium in Peace and War, 1936-1977. The National Herbarium

"Publish or Perish"

Rumbles on the Horizon

The Problem of Greenland

Consular Greenland

Herbarium Interlude

Greenland's War of Nerves

Uncertainties in Wartime Ottawa

Acting Consuls Dunbar and Porsild

Last Consular Year

Road to the Yukon

The Year the War Ended

Postwar Settlement

The "Old Man" of the Herbarium

Storm Over the Arctic

Study Year in Europe

Rocky Mountains and Hudson Bay Lowlands

Ninth International Botanical Congress

The Last Years

Epilogue: Closing the Circle.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 695-703) and index.

Co-published by: Arctic Institute of North America.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

1-55238-588-4

1-299-14155-2

OCLC:

808199885