ARTICLES
CANADIAN GEOGRAPHIC
For years, TJ Watt has returned to the same locations on Vancouver Island to photograph ancient forests before and after logging. His stark before-and-after images reveal the scale of change that can happen in a matter of days.
Before and after photos show devastating effects of intensive logging on B.C.’s old-growth forests
TJ WATT
Big tree hunters: Saving the last
untouched areas of the planet
TJ WATT
Some of British Columbia’s largest remaining trees are still undocumented. TJ Watt ventures into remote forests in search of
ancient giants, using photography to document what remains and
what could be lost.
We Had All Kinds of Water
SARA HYLTON
For nearly 30 years, Neskantaga First Nation has lived under a boil-water advisory. Photographs by Sara Hylton accompany Brandi Morin’s reporting from the community, documenting the consequences of a water crisis that has shaped daily life for a generation.
Fort Chipewyan was built around water. Sara Hylton’s photographs and interviews document how a changing climate, industrial development and a declining watershed are affecting the northern Alberta community and its relationship with Lake Athabasca.
Lifeblood: Fort Chipewyan’s Relationship to Water
SARA HYLTON
The magic in the mud:
Sandpipers’ migration superfood
ISABELLE GROC
Each spring, western sandpipers stop at Roberts Bank to refuel on something almost invisible. Isabelle Groc reveals how nutrient-rich biofilm in the mud helps power their extraordinary migration, and why the habitat that produces it is so difficult to replace.
Filmmaker Nick Hawkins’ fight to save
wild Atlantic salmon, one frame at a time
NICK HAWKINS
Wild Atlantic salmon have disappeared from many rivers where they once thrived. Nick Hawkins is documenting their entire life cycle, building a visual archive that can make the species, its remarkable migration and the pressures it faces visible.
The history of Arctic exploration has often left women’s voices out of the record. Jessica Houston travelled through Tallurutik with an all-female expedition team, listening to Inuit women whose knowledge and stories offer a different perspective on the region’s past and present.
Beyond Her Horizons: Listening
to the women of Tallurutik
JESSICA HOUSTON
Documentary filmmakers find
1895 steamship wreck in Lake Huron
YVONNE DREBERT
While filming the effects of invasive quagga mussels, Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick made an unexpected discovery 85 metres beneath Lake Huron: the remarkably intact wreck of the Africa, a steamship that disappeared in 1895.
All Too Clear: Beneath the surface
of the upcoming feature film
YVONNE DREBERT
Invasive quagga mussels have transformed the Great Lakes from the bottom up. Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick take Canadian Geographic behind the scenes of All Too Clear, using underwater ROVs to reveal ecological changes that are largely hidden from view.
Muskox populations on Banks and Victoria islands were falling sharply, and researchers were trying to understand why. Susan Kutz’s work points to a complex mix of disease, parasites and a rapidly warming Arctic as possible drivers of the decline.
Arctic muskox populations dropping
SUSAN KUTZ
Last Bastion of Ice
ANNA CRAWFORD
In 2020, the Milne Ice Shelf lost 40% of its area almost overnight. Glaciologist Anna Crawford joined researchers at Milne Fiord to understand what the collapse means for one of the Arctic’s last remaining ice shelves and the ecosystem it once enclosed.
Sleeping giant: Inside the Mount Meager volcano
CHRISTIAN STENNER
Deep inside Mount Meager, caves carved by volcanic heat and glacial ice offer a rare window into one of Canada’s most unusual environments. Christian Stenner joins scientists exploring this hidden system and the clues it may hold about the active volcano beneath them.
Nunavut’s hunt for healthy food
PATRICK KANE
In Nunavut, access to healthy food is tied closely to the land. Patrick Kane’s photographs document how hunting, fishing and gathering remain central to food security and Inuit culture, while showing the complex realities that can make those traditions increasingly difficult to sustain.
Maia Wikler on memory, resistance
and the hidden scourge of “fast furniture”
MAIA WIKLER
Much of today’s inexpensive furniture is designed to be replaced, not repaired. Maia Wikler traces its environmental cost from discarded household objects to the forests that supply the wood, connecting our consumption habits to the landscapes where their impacts begin.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
For generations, Indigenous communities have used fire to care for landscapes and reduce wildfire risk. Kira Hoffman is helping bring cultural burning back to British Columbia's forests, combining Indigenous knowledge with fire ecology to restore a practice suppressed for more than a century.
How Forester Kira Hoffman is
harnessing the healing power of fire
KIRA HOFFMAN
There’s a frozen labyrinth atop Mount Rainier.
What secrets does it hold?
CHRISTIAN STENNER
Beneath Mount Rainier’s summit lies a shifting network of caves formed where volcanic heat meets glacial ice. Christian Stenner helped map this frozen labyrinth, where scientists study an extreme environment constantly being reshaped from within.
Stolen Slumber
RYAN TIDMAN
Vancouver Island black bears have an unusual solution to the region’s cold, wet winters: sheltering inside massive hollow old-growth trees. Over three years, Ryan Tidman documented these hidden dens and what their disappearance could mean as old-growth forests are logged.
COMING SOON →
OTHER COVERAGE
TJ WATT
Ancient forests and old-growth conservation
6 ARTICLES
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE INDEPENDENT
“Rare tree hunter in Canada finds ‘freak of nature’ 1,000-year-old cedar”
CBC NEWS
“BC big tree hunter documents grandest old-growth tree he’s ever seen”
THE GUARDIAN
“Canada: images of felled ancient tree a ‘gut-punch’, old-growth experts say”
CTV NEWS
“Clear-cut of Vancouver Island's ancient trees shows faults in B.C.’s deferral system”
MY COMOX VALLEY NOW
“Old-growth cedars harvested because of database errors, says environmental group”
CHRISTIAN STENNER
Glaciovolcanic caves and exploration
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
SHELLY ELVERUM
Inuit identity, whaling history and community research
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
KEHKASHAN BASU
Youth environmental education and stewardship
2 ARTICLES
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
JESSICA KOLOPENUK
Indigenous science, technology and research governance
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
ZENON CZENZE
Bats, heat waves and thermal stress
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
ANNA CRAWFORD
Arctic ice loss and the Milne Ice Shelf
2 ARTICLES
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
RYAN TIDMAN
Vancouver Island wildlife conservation
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
YVONNE DREBERT
Quagga mussels and Great Lakes ecosystem change
1 ARTICLE
+
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
JESSICA HOUSTON
Women, Inuit knowledge and Arctic exploration
2 ARTICLES
+
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
KATERI MONTICONE
Ecological corridors and habitat connectivity
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
BRIAN TIMMER
Kelp forests and Salish Sea restoration
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
MALKOLM BOOTHROYD
Caribou conservation and northern landscapes
2 ARTICLES
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
VICTORIA ARBOUR
Dinosaur discoveries in British Columbia
3 ARTICLES
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
KIRA HOFFMAN
Cultural burning and wildfire resilience
6 ARTICLES
+
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE INDEPENDENT
“Rare tree hunter in Canada finds ‘freak of nature’ 1,000-year-old cedar”
CBC NEWS
“BC big tree hunter documents grandest old-growth tree he’s ever seen”
THE GUARDIAN
“Canada: images of felled ancient tree a ‘gut-punch’, old-growth experts say”
CTV NEWS
“Clear-cut of Vancouver Island's ancient trees shows faults in B.C.’s deferral system”
MY COMOX VALLEY NOW
“Old-growth cedars harvested because of database errors, says environmental group”
ANDREW BUDZIAK
Ice, algae and northern science
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
ALEXANDER DUNGATE
AI and sustainable fisheries monitoring
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
ELLEN WHITMAN
Wildfire-driven forest change
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
SCOTT PARENT
Great Lakes plastic pollution and bird habitat
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
ISABELLE GROC
Shorebirds, mudflats and the Fraser estuary
3 ARTICLES
+
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
DALAL HANNA
Freshwater biodiversity and forestry impacts
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
MELISSA RENWICK
Tofino, community and place
3 ARTICLES
+
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
ROBERT MASAKI HECHLER
Aquatic heat stress and salmon healt
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
NICOLE HOLMAN
Deep-sea biodiversity and conservation
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
MAIA WIKLER
Ancient forests, logging and forest consumption
3 ARTICLES
+
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
READ STORY →
VALERIA VERGARA
Whale communication and underwater noise
1 ARTICLE
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THE WASHINGTON POST
“‘Freak of nature’ tree is the find of a lifetime for forest explorer”
READ STORY →