Kejimkujik National Park
Kejimkujik was declared a national park in 1969 and almost immediately became a centre for wildlife and nature research.
Today, hundreds of researchers, professionals and volunteers, collect data on everything from wildlife population growth and movement to water and air quality. This data is used by other researchers and scientists.
"The amount of data [we] collect and the amount of data that we transfer back and forth is huge. In pencil and paper type language you're talking books and books and books," says Stephen Hopper, Asset Officer with the park.
The park's high-speed Internet connection, or broadband, lets researchers share the findings almost immediately.
"Broadband makes it easy, makes it quick, and makes it so that you're doing it real time. You're not waiting for the mail or the pony express to take your book from here to Halifax," says Hopper.
One of the researchers who rely on high speed is Heather Reed. She coordinates hundreds of volunteers who track the movements and nesting habits of the endangered Blanding's Turtle.
Several times a year, volunteers use radio-tracking equipment to monitor turtle movement.
"They'll monitor nesting movements in the spring. They'll monitor nests again in the fall and track … little hatchling turtles as they emerge from the nests," Reed explains.
"All of that data gets collected in a really specified data kit. We have a 20-year data base now for the Blanding's Turtle and that information helps the Blanding's Turtle Recovery Team to make decisions that help them to recover, eventually, the species."
"High speed Internet is really important. It allows us to communicate with our volunteers and it allows the information to be sent to various different universities," Reed explains, adding that the data is used by students at both Acadia and Dalhousie universities.
Daniel Pouliot, a resource conservation specialist at the park, also does research and shares information online.
"Sometimes you have some specialized people who are working far away but you want to have their point of view and discuss issues with them, so it's always great to have instant access to people who are working on the same kind of job," says Pouliot as he works on his laptop by the fire in the wood stove of his cabin.
There are no wires or cables in the park. Instead the high-speed connection is sent through a series of radio towers.
"Rather than digging everything up and running cables, if you notice coming through the park you don't see power lines. You don't see phone lines. They just don't exist," says Hopper.
Yet everyone in the park is able to stay connected and park officials are working on improving that connection through a partnership with students in the Nova Scotia Community College's technology programs. Even that partnership is taking place through high speed.
"They're actually helping us to design and develop new technologies that we can use so being able to communicate with them and share information is really really important," says Reed.
