I was in my fourth season as a fire tower lookout in northwestern Alberta, where I was tasked with spotting smoke from a hundred-foot-high tower and alerting firefighting crews to potential burns. However, while surveying the land, my eyes were often drawn to an abundance of wildlife: migratory birds, moose and their gangly legged calves, mysterious lynx, and groundhogs that emerged from their dens, standing on guard like foot soldiers. The cabin beneath the tower, my base camp, gave me an on-the-ground perspective. If I wasn’t watching for fire from the tower, I was watching for wildlife from my cabin windows.