FALL

 It may be getting too warm for our polar bears. An article in the Sept. 99 edition of the scientific journal Arctic said that since the early 80s, there has been a significant decline in the condition of adult polar bears.
 They found that earlier ice breakup, where they hunt on the bay, meant bears returned to the land lighter and in worse shape. The success of the spring hunt seems to determine the success of female polar bears in surviving, reproducing and nursing.
 One factor in this change may be the increased fresh water run-off due to hydroelectric development on the Quebec coast. Rising spring air temperatures over the past 40 years are also thought to cause ice breakup at progressively earlier dates. An increase in temperature of only one full degree can result in ice breaking up one week earlier along the western Hudson Bay, and two weeks earlier in eastern Hudson Bay.
 
 Devon Island, in the Arctic Archipelago, is bleak; just rocks, frozen rubble, canyons, dry stream beds and steep ledges, but for space researchers, the scenery is nearly perfect because it reminds them of Mars.
 NASA scientists learned there's an ancient meteorite crater on Devon Island, the Haughton Crater, that's remarkably similar to those found on Mars. Since 1997, the NASA-led Mars project has done three trips to the crater. They said their study may tell more about how a planet can withstand such a major collision with an asteroid or meteorite. It resembles Mars at its warmest and provides an idea of what kind of climate and conditions existed on Mars. Increasingly, they're looking at this crater as a test site for the future exploration of Mars by robots and humans.
 
 The RCMP plans to re-create an historic voyage through the Northwest Passage. Next year, a small three-man RCMP patrol vessel called the Nadon will re-create the famous two year journey of the St. Roch through the Northwest Passage in 1940-42.
 The St. Roch was the first ship to successfully navigate the Northwest passage in both directions and the first ship to circumnavigate North America. It served in the Arctic from 1928-1944, enforcing Canadian game laws, preventing incursions by American, Russian and Scandinavian hunters and whalers and performing census duties and personnel transfers. It's first journey through the Northwest Passage took 27 months. The new one is thought to take 87 days.
 The mission was to help secure bauxite and cryolite mines in western Greenland. Cryolite and bauxite were crucial to war-time aluminum production. The St. Roch was to surreptitiously slip through the Northwest Passage, meet the military on the north coast of Labrador and proceed to Greenland secure the mines. It never completed the mission. Instead, the RCMP officers on board the St. Roch performed other duties. They became part of the north, carrying dog teams on board and making thousand-mile sled patrols. They learned the language, they learned the people, they learned their ways, and they had a tremendous amount of respect for the Inuit living there.
 
 The Hamlet of Kugluktuk (nee Coppermine) has been forced to drill a water hole at the mouth of the Coppermine River because a water line that linked the municipality's water plant with a location further up the river has frozen up.
 Local Nunavut public works officials would not comment on why the pipeline, which has been serving the community for the past 31 years, has frozen, The line appeared to be frozen along its entire 1500 yard length and may not get fixed until February. The hamlet is looking at using a temporary shelter to cover the newly-drilled hole. The water is perfectly safe to drink, but does have some sand in it.
 
 Closer ties between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Qikiqtaaluk Wildlife Board (QWB) will help both groups tear down stereotypes, say leaders from both groups. The WWF can help Inuit hunters re-build their image in Canada and give them access to research on the wildlife they depend on, says the executive director of the QWB, Joanassie Akumalik.
  The anti-sealing campaign in the south hurt the economy and social life of Inuit in the North, Akumilik said. He said the QWB was at first very hesitant about having a relationship with the WWF, but a visit from WWF President Monte Hummel changed the minds of QWB board members. "We've had a perennial problem in the North," says Hummel. "They hear you're in Toronto or they hear you're connected to an international network and right away they think seal hunt, trapping, these guys are bad guys."
 Northerners say animal rights groups such as Greenpeace did a great deal of damage to conservation groups such as the WWF with their anti-sealing campaign and their ignorance of the Inuit way of life.