Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/456199
28 G O I N G P L A C E S | S P R I N G 2 0 1 5 collections canada day – sudden but refreshing after the journey. Located northeast of Clear Lake near what is now appropriately named Beaver Lake, it was outfitted for both human and beaver. Visitors can go inside to see the animal doorways and read letters between Grey Owl and the park's superintendent. ere's simplicity in this stark, wooden structure that we no longer seem to appreciate in today's "more is better" world. It's enough to make this city girl want to slow down and breathe. Back outside, I do just that. Taking a seat on the small shaded porch, we relax over our packed lunch. I ponder Grey Owl's time at this very spot, my thoughts interrupted only by the wind rustling the trees. Just here for six months in 1931, Grey Owl still managed to successfully launch the park's first beaver conservation project and help establish the abundant beaver population that still resides here today. As Fedoruk told me earlier, though, Grey Owl then became disenchanted with the park. It seems the conditions, caused by a drought that turned Beaver Lake into a slough, did not support his work. This prompted him to write in one of his let- ters: "It was an ideal beaver pond and they were well established; if there had only been sufficient water for their migrations and to satisfy my bull-headed ideas about a canoe." T ransferred to Ajawaan Lake in Saskatchewan's Prince Albert National Park, Grey Owl embraced his public image, becoming known as "Protector of the Beaver People." Subsequently, his advocacy work took off, fuelling the nation's focus on conservation and wildlife protection. He would spend the rest of his days writing (including bestsellers Pilgrims of the Wild and Tales of an Empty Cabin) and Grey Owl maintained his aboriginal persona to the end.