Next week is the Geography 331 field trip to the far north of Quebec.
Today I'll discuss your trip and your tasks.
As you know, you will be close to the Arctic Circle.
You're going to travel up the James Bay Road through a region that is very remote and uninhabited, yet very beautiful.
The highway is 620 kilometers long, but it's fully paved for the entire length.
Where the highway begins, there is a roadside office where you must stop.
The road is remote, so your registration is very important in case of an emergency.
The office is staffed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
You have to sign in to go up the road and sign out upon your return.
For additional safety, at different places along the highway, telephones have been installed which connect with staff in the office.
Remember, there is no mobile service in this remote area.
The first work of your field trip is at the end of the James Bay Road in Radisson, a small town of only 300 inhabitants.
You will stay at Radisson Research Centre, which works with various universities and Hydro-Québec to carry out studies into the ecology of the region.
Because the research centre and the road exist as a result of the development of hydroelectricity complexes in northern Québec, Hydro-Québec is responsible for all emergency assistance and security of all visitors.
Your first few days at the centre will be spent attending lectures about their past research.
You will hear that they have paid particular attention to any disturbance to the land caused by insects.
After that, you will visit the various outpost stations.
There are three of them, and when you visit them, you will be able to observe how data on the varying patterns of the climate is collected and published for scientific research.
The second part of your field trip is back down the James Bay Road to the Trans-Taga Road, which is the northernmost continuous unpaved road in eastern North America.
In fact, it's very uneven gravel, so drivers have to be very careful.
Hydro-Québec cautions that driving over rocks on the rough road may cause severe damage to the car.
Any breakdown is serious, as repairs are costly.
Along the way, you will be stopping at two hydroelectric generating stations, each on a different river.
There, you will meet with engineers who will explain and demonstrate how rainfall has an impact on producing electric energy.
Your last two days of the trip will be spent camping out in the taiga on the Canadian Shield.
Taiga is the Russian term for a type of forest.
You will find the region is relatively poor in the number of plant species, yet there is a great variety of wildlife that can be seen.
You'll go to an area that once had forest fires, and you'll see how the landscape has naturally small rocky hills which confine the lower wetlands.
These low-lying areas are called muskeg, which is made up of slowly decomposing plants.
It is not safe to walk on it, as it has pools that are not easily seen, so keep to the rocks.
The muskeg is home to many small birds and waterfowl.
In fact, there are at least 60 varieties, so keep your waterproof digital cameras handy so you can take plenty of pictures.
Then we will have documentation of the existing waterfowl, as some are becoming extinct.
Water is a problem in this area, so you'll also be collecting test tubes of water to bring back to our research lab for analysis.
It needs to be monitored for pollution that may be caused by rainfall coming from the south.
