Former Parks Canada warden George Mercer built a long and storied career from coast to coast, and decided to make good use of his stories by putting pen to paper to create a new fictionalized book series.
Mercer will be at Canmore’s Café Books on July 19 for a book signing for the first release in his series entitled, Dyed In The Green.
“The first book, Dyed in the Green, was written quite a few years ago when I was in Jasper, but it’s based on our experiences and fictionalized and based on our experiences in Cape Breton Highlands National Park,” Mercer said. “The series starts in Cape Breton, but the series is going to follow my characters across the country, with each novel set in a different national park.”
The new author started his park life in Newfoundland’s Terra Nova National Park, then started his way across the country, first to Cape Breton’s Highland National Park, and then on to Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park.
“Wood Buffalo is actually going to be the setting for the second book, and then the Rockies are going to be the setting for the third book,” Mercer said of the series. “I was in Jasper for 10 years as a wildlife specialist there, then moved on to Gulf Islands National Park here on the coast, and it’s sort of a pan-Canadian series, so I’m planning to bring it full circle and end up back in Newfoundland with the last book.”
Mercer also plans on using real life experiences to add an international plotline to the series. “One book in there will be in Africa, in Tanzania, and have an exchange ranger from Africa come into one of my books and set into one of the Canadian national parks, and then my main character goes to Africa for a stint dealing with rhino and elephant poaching,” Mercer said.
Working with Parks, Mercer saw a number of international exchange rangers who worked in Canada over the years, with Parks Canada and Australia’s Parks Victoria initiating an exchange program in 2004.
“I think it’s still ongoing with Australia, so for our last little bit here in the Gulf Islands we actually had two Australian rangers come to Gulf Islands National Park and one of our guys went down there, but when we were in Wood Buffalo we actually had a South African ranger there for a little while,” Mercer said.
“He wasn’t necessarily there that long, and in fact he was doing more of a stint in a number of different parks – getting a sense of issues that Canadian parks were dealing with.”
Part of Mercer’s plan is to include a plot angle that will incorporate rhino and elephant poaching. “They’re currently huge issues, and have been for quite awhile, but it’s getting a lot of media attention now. That book won’t be out for a couple of years, but my plan is to certainly work in more of an international perspective on the impacts of poaching and also talking about the job rangers do internationally.”
Part of his reasoning on writing the series is to pay tribute to his career and the careers of wardens and rangers around the world who strive daily to protect wildlife and habitat.
“I dedicate the first book to the protectors of wild places and wildlife, and the gist of my series is to basically to promote the people that work as wardens to protect national parks and the wildlife that’s in them,” Mercer said.
Dyed In The Green is currently available at Café Books, and at www.amazon.ca in e-book format.
