Yellowknife (Oct 02/06) - Picture this: somewhere south of the Nunavut border in Manitoba, a man is sitting in a cage, being circled by a hungry polar bear.

Now imagine the man is a journalist, this was his idea, and he has a camera.

Ed Struzik

This was just one of the images that journalist, author and photographer Ed Struzik shared this week during "This Hour has Fifty Million Years", a photo safari chronicling his many trips to the North over the past three decades.

A former naturalist in the Yukon and a bureau reporter for the Edmonton Journal in Yellowknife, Struzik has paddled more than 40 rivers in the North, from the Nahanni River in the Dehcho to the Taggart River on Ellesmere Island.

He chronicled some of these journeys in his book, Ten Rivers, which he released earlier this year.

"I call it stupid human tricks," he said of the polar bear idea.

He was covering a research station north of Churchill, Man. in the mid-80s. Scientists there were examining ways to detect and deter polar bears in new developments.

He said one of the biologists involved was outgoing Inuvik mayor Peter Clarkson.

"What I didn't figure out was that polar bears are really strong."

He said the bear managed to knock a couple of bars off the cage before it became tired and wandered off for a nap. Don't do this trick, I don't recommend it," he said with a laugh.

The photo safari was part of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society NWT's 10th anniversary and annual general meeting. In his closing prayer, Fort Simpson's Jared Antoine laid out the group's aims.

"In order to preserve the good things, we have to act now," he said.

Despite the conservationist aims of the event, Struzik was unwilling to point the finger at climate change for the changing face of the North, or to make any calls to political action. "The Arctic is such a dynamic force, it never stands still," he said.

To demonstrate, he showed pictures from archaeological digs above the arctic circle that had uncovered evidence of boreal forests in Nunavut.

There was also evidence of beavers north of Inuvik, as well as the long history of disappearing (and reappearing) herds of muskox in unlikely locales.

"The more I explore the North, the less I know," he said with feigned exasperation.

After, Struzik explained the reasoning behind his presentation's tone.

"I can share my experiences, and that can reinforce people's opinions," he said.

"It's not my place to tell people what to do in their own backyards," he said.