RealClearDefense links to a New York Times article that is not behind their paywall. It concerns renewed interest in the town of Churchill in northern Manitoba.
Sometimes known as "the polar bear capital of the world," it is also the northern terminus of the only rail line to the Far North, and a roughly 2.5 hour flight north-northeast of Winnipeg.
When Soviet bombers were a major worry, it was a major DEW line radar outpost and a military airfield. It was also a major grain shipping port on the west coast of Hudson Bay. In recent years both port and air base have been 'neglected' in a climate where things need upkeep.
With climatic warming the Northwest Passage is becoming less mythical. Interest in defending the polar north has grown and there is talk of reopening the military base and maybe upgrading the rail line and port. It is a good article with no political spin.
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The DrsC took the train to Churchill some 30+ years ago, because we like exotic train trips. We boarded in northeastern Saskatchewan, leaving our RV parked there. It was then, and perhaps still is, a slow train. The track is laid over permafrost which is subject to "frost heaves" and subsidence so the train gently rocks and rolls. We were told it derails occasionally but that normally doing so isn't a calamity.
Taking it you will see mile after mile of lichen taiga - vast numbers of stunted, overwatered conifers. In summer the surface melts but a few inches or feet down is still frozen so roots can't get through the ice so they sit in soupy mud part of the year and ice the rest of the time.
We were still working and went when the university was on summer break. We did not see polar bears as they hibernate on land in summer. Winter is their hunting season and their diet is primarily seals caught out on the Arctic Ocean ice cap. The time to see the bears is autumn when they wake up and prowl the coast waiting for Hudson Bay to freeze over.
