Grey Owl - Work With Dominion Parks Branch

Work With Dominion Parks Branch

Grey Owl’s relationship with Parks Canada, known in the 1930s as Dominion Parks Branch, began when he published stories through the Canadian Forestry Association. His publications in Canadian Forest and Outdoors brought him into contact with Gordon Dallyn, the then editor of Canadian Forest and Outdoors, who then introduced him to James Harkin, the Parks Branch Commissioner. Sharing similar concerns over wilderness conservation as Grey Owl, Parks Branch agreed to make a film with Grey Owl and Jelly Roll (his pet beaver) with the goal of “provid a living argument for conservation.” W. J. Oliver who at the time was under contract with the Parks Branch was the prominent cameraman of the Grey Owl movies commissioned by Parks Branch, along with filming of Grey Owl, Oliver also took many pictures of him looking “consciously Indian.” These photographs would be used as illustrations in both Grey Owl’s books such as The Men of the Last Frontier, and as publicity for his lecturing tours. The film received good reception from the Forestry Association. Thinking it would bring increased tourism to the national park which Grey Owl would be working at, along with serving as a platform where Grey Owl could promote his conservation work, James Harkin offered Grey Owl a job at the Riding Mountain National Park in early 1931.

In 1931, Grey Owl and Anahareo moved briefly (with their beavers) to a cabin in Riding Mountain National Park to find a sanctuary for them. Riding Mountain National Park was found to be an unsuitable habitat for the beavers, as a summer drought resulted in the lake water level sinking, and becoming stagnant. Both the beavers and Grey Owl were unhappy with the situation at Riding Mountain National Park, causing Grey Owl to search, with the support of the Dominion Parks Branch, for better living conditions. The Parks Branch suggested Prince Albert National Park, situated 450 miles north-west of Riding Mountain National Park. Grey Owl and Anahareo found the Park suitable for their needs as it was isolated, teaming with wildlife, heavily wooded, and Grey Owl had a favorable impression of the Superintendent of the Park, Major J.A. Wood. The greater sized waterway of Prince Albert National Park was found to be a more suitable beaver habitat, as the lake at Riding National Park had a risk of freezing to the bottom during winter. Living together at Prince Albert National Park, Grey Owl and Anahareo had a daughter together, Shirley Dawn, who was born August 23, 1932. Prince Albert National Park would be home for Grey Owl, up until his death in 1938.

Belaney told his publisher and future biographer, Lovat Dickson, the following story about his origins:

He was the son of a Scottish father and Apache mother. He claimed his father was a man named George MacNeil, who had been a scout during the 1870s Indian Wars in the southwestern United States. Grey Owl said his mother was Katherine Cochise of the Apache, Jicarilla band. He further said that both parents had been part of the Wild Bill Hickok Western show that toured England. Grey Owl claimed to have been born in 1888 in Hermosillo, Mexico, while his parents were performing there.

Little of this account was factual.

In his articles, books, and films, Grey Owl promoted the ideas of environmentalism and nature conservation. In the 1930s, he wrote many articles for the Canadian Forestry Association (CFA) publication Forests and Outdoors, including the following:

• "King of the Beaver People", January 1931
• "A Day in a Hidden Town", April 1931
• "A Mess of Pottage", May 1931
• "The Perils of Woods Travel", September 1931
• "Indian Legends and Lore", October 1931
• "A Philosophy of the Wild", December 1931

His article, "A Description of the Fall Activities of Beaver, with some remarks on Conservation", was collected in Harper Cory's book Grey Owl and the Beaver (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1935).

In 1935-36 and 1937–38, Grey Owl toured Canada and England (including Hastings) to promote his books and lecture about conservation. His popularity attracted large, interested audiences, as Pilgrims in the Wild at one point was selling 5,000 copies a month. Grey Owl appeared in traditional Ojibwa clothing as part of his First Nations identity. Although his aunts recognized him at his 1935 appearance in Hastings, they did not talk about his British origins until 1937. In his later tour, Grey Owl was invited to the court, where he made a presentation to King George VI of the United Kingdom and princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

During a publication tour of Canada, Grey Owl met Yvonne Perrier, a French Canadian woman. In November 1936 they married.