In Dawson

I've been in Dawson for two days now. Dirt roads, stray dogs, 15 degree weather and 22 hour sunlight. So almost like home.

The place I'm staying in with my co-resident, Joan, is a historical site and is owned by Parks Canada. My studio is roomy and has a sun deck (!). She's going to be using materials from the dump as well, so we went around to the CKA (Conservation Klondike Association), which runs the recycling in town and some of the day-to-day operations at the dump. Not only had my previous contact there quit (and not told me), but this is what we saw:


"No Funds to Operate"

I had a tour of the dumps - both the one in operation now and older ones (they used to dump trash on the ice in the winter and the old horse shoes and broken bottles are all along the shore north of town), and lack of funds is the name of the game. Dawson City is not a sustainable settlement. They will never make more money than they need to run. This is also true of the dump. Even with a recycling program, they've never broken even. They have almost no heavy equipment. The only electricity is a photo-voltaic that runs an electric fence that annoys bears as they break in. There are no lights for the one attendant, Francis, who works there, and in the winter there's 24 hour darkness during winter solstice. There was a heavy rain before I came and the hazardous waste area was flooded. And spilled. Luckily, its the only area at the dump with a liner.



They can't afford to cap the domestic waste (the smelly, mixed garbage) very often, so there's food for wildlife - huuuuge ravens, even for ravens, and a family of eagles. And the bears. Luckily, I'm the least interesting thing at the dump for them.

Tomorrow I'm going back to record the ravens on borrowed sound equipment and shift through the domestic waste with the summer student there to tally up what ends up in the domestic waste pile. Apparently only 25% of what gets tossed out is non-recoverable (non-recycable, un-burnable, un-reusable). But almost 100% nasty.

I have less idea of what my installation will look like than before I left. But I intend to make a sound tour of the dump and take tourists on tours while I'm here (pending vehicles). I also have a youth group to go out there with in two weeks. I'd better figure out what I'm doing before then!