Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

Devon Island (Aug 07/00) - If an aircraft were to fly over Devon Island at low altitude, the passengers might think the plane had taken a wrong turn somewhere past planet Earth.

Between the enormous crater, the almost total lack of vegetation and the small spacecraft-shaped shelter parked on the island, people could be convinced that they'd found Mars.

It was the resemblance of Devon Island's terrain to the red planet that so intrigued NASA (National Aeronautics Space Administration) officials and inspired them to set up shop four years ago.

"We realized it was an exceptional place on planet earth, one of the most unique places we'd ever seen," said Dr.Pascal Lee, a NASA scientist.

Lee is the project lead for both the NASA Haughton-Mars project and chief scientist for the Mars Society Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station project and essentially headed up the research on site.

The Mars Society is a private international society made up of individuals interested in and supportive of the human exploration of the planet, while the NASA Haughton-Mars project aims to study the Haughton Crater to learn more of the similarity to Mars.

It is hoped that the research, which officially began in 1997, will eventually provide scientists with the information they need to learn more about the possibility of life on that planet. It may also help make a journey to Mars possible.

To that end, teams of scientists have been at work on the island studying the life that inhabits the area. Several local residents have also been hired to participate.

"We hire local residents and involve them in the activity, in the research and in the public outreach," said Lee, by satellite phone from Devon Island. "As the project grows, we've been trying to hire as many people as we can from the local communities."

While four of the employees hail from nearby Resolute Bay, Grise Fiord has refused so far to send workers to the island.

The hamlet has concerns about exactly what is taking place. Marty Kulugutuq said before the community could lend their support to the project, they wanted to know about the potential for environmental damage. He said they also wanted to know if the research was disturbing wildlife in the area.

A public meeting was organized with 11 NASA officials and people presented their concerns.

"With the caribou, muskox and fish in mind, the community thought they would not be able to support the project at this time," said Kulugutuq. "We don't know the area well enough to grant the support at this time."

"We just don't know the impact it will have," he said.

While the meeting was good-natured, Grise Fiord's decision to not support the research resulted in Lee yanking NASA's application to conduct research on the Inuit-owned land. Lee said ethically speaking, he had no other choice but to do so.

But, Lee was adamant that the scientists were careful not to cause any damage.

"We told Grise Fiord that if we were damaging the environment and if they wanted us to leave, we would," said Lee.

Further, Lee said they kept strict logs on wildlife sightings and submitted them in their final annual reports, documents that were reviewed by the various licensing bodies in Nunavut before research permits were issued for each of the last four years.

Rebecca Mike of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board said if Grise Fiord knows of any interference with wildlife, they should report it to the wildlife management boards.

"I'd like to know more about how Grise Fiord feels they're interfering with the wildlife. If they are, Grise Fiord should be reporting NASA to the wildlife management boards," said Mike, the NWMB's assistant director of wildlife management.

Mike also said she was confident that the scientists were not harming the environment or the animals in the area.