You're Invited: Waterton Grizzly Film Premier May 8th

(Editor's Note: We love teddy bears and shoot grizzlies. Yet the world reveres Canada for its majestic, natural landscapes and wildlife. Our farmers and ranchers who steward this landscape are telling another side to the story. Waterton Biosphere is releasing a new film this Friday  - what happens when increasing population, expanding agriculture, loss of habitat, and teddy bear/killer bear legends collide?) 

Sharing the Range:  a film about ranch families living with grizzly bears in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve to be released May 8^th, 2015.

Pincher Creek, AB – April 29, 2015 – The Waterton Biosphere Reserve is proud to announce the upcoming release of a short film, Sharing the Range, on May 8, 2015. The film tells the story about the challenges of living with large carnivores and how people in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve (WBR) are meeting those challenges.

The southwestern corner of Alberta, Canada, where the Waterton Biosphere Reserve is located, is home to a large number of people involved with agriculture; it is also home to a high population density of bears. With so many people and carnivores sharing the same habitat, there are bound to be conflicts.

 "We have bears in all this country; lots of sows with little cubs. They've denned near here – so it's not just in the mountains and not just on public lands that we are seeing a lot of grizzly bears. It's on private lands all over the place." Jeff Bectell, rancher, Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association Chair and Coordinator of the WBR Carnivore Working Group

As the Waterton Biosphere Reserve has worked with the local community and wildlife managers to address the issues of living with large carnivores, the need has arisen to share the story of the farmers and ranchers who directly face the many challenges of living with large carnivores; challenges that impact both their livelihood and the safety of their families.   Despite these challenges, southwestern Alberta families are working hard to solve the problems that arise when animals like bears and wolves share the landscape with people and agriculture. It is important for people who care about large carnivores, and people who care about the landscapes of southwestern Alberta, to recognize the effort spent and costs incurred by farmers and ranchers stewarding these lands.   

And so it is that Sharing the Range was produced, offering a glimpse into the lives of farm and ranch families and their struggle to share the land with large carnivores. The farmers and ranchers of the Waterton Biosphere Reserve appreciate the unique landscape in which they live, knowing that their land is prime habitat for wildlife. However, making a living in this environment is not without challenges and wildlife can pose significant concerns for rural families in terms of safety and economics; along with the stress that comes from both worries.

Sharing the Range tells their story:  real people, with real families who work hard to produce healthy food in a sustainable way that allows room for large carnivores to roam.

 "I wish we had a better way of communicating with the general public about who we are. Often I think people misunderstand farmers' and ranchers' feelings about wildlife.  What I would like people to know is that we enjoy seeing a grizzly bear or big bull elk as much as anyone, but when our livelihood and our families are threatened by wildlife over which we have little control, it can be very upsetting to us. My hope is that Sharing the Range will allow people a glimpse into our lives, and a better understanding of the situation which we are living in here in southwestern Alberta." – Tony Bruder, rancher and Area Coordinator for the WBRA Carnivore Working Group

Filmed by award winning filmmaker Leanne Allison, with footage contributed by Jeff Turner, famous cinematographer and wildlife filmmaker; Sharing the Range not only tells an important story of the people in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve, but offers stunning imagery of southwestern Alberta and the grizzlies who call this area home.

The full documentary will premiere May 8^th, 2015 at 7pm in the Remington Carriage House Museum Theatre, Cardston, AB.  Everyone is welcome, and we hope you will join us.

View the Sharing the Range trailer and learn more about the film:  www.sharingtherange.com

Contact the WBRA:

Jennifer Jenkins

Communications Coordinator

Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association

jjenkins@watertonbiosphere.com

403 627 9598

Website: www.watertonbiosphere.com

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WatertonBiosphereReserve

Beyond Seeing Red

(Editor's Note: Those transmission towers sure have got people talking! Here's another guest blog from an artist who is "seeing red" on this issue. What are your thoughts? We welcome all points of view: managing the watershed means all voices must be heard. This article poses many questions - lots of food for thought. For more information, please see: http://www.altalink.ca/projects/other/c-e.cfm ). 

Beyond Seeing Red - Barbara Amos Art Projects

Do hydroelectric transmission towers bring out the worst in your area? Do you see red at the thought of them? There are alternatives. The next few paragraphs are going to outline ideas and forward-thinking questions that hopefully engage a process that moves us all beyond seeing red.

Cumulative linear development is one of the major concerns on our landscapes and watersheds. Transmission towers are a big part of those concerns. In a time when many places are exploring alternatives to the electrical grid, Alberta seems determined to go forward with technology from days gone by. 

The  transmission line routes add linear disturbances that negatively impact watersheds. The social fabric of communities  are distressed by the route selection process. The issue in front of the local community has been a yes/no and here/there strategy. The route selections pit communities against each other as new route seems worse than the last proposal.  It divides our communities.  

Whatever routes  are  selected,  these towers compromise property values, heritage landscapes and ecological integrity and the social favor  of the community. They are costly to build will add to your monthly utilities statement.  

Does this make you see red?  

Could we reject these divisive tactics and work together to consider new possibilities?  Let's ask what else would work; what else can we consider?  It's a worthy discussion. 

passherald.ca

How much power is transported annually?  There must be averages.  How much power does each community require?  This should be information that can be accessed.  Is it to the benefit of our land and people to consider a local approach?   There are economic inefficiencies, as 11-14% of the electricity is lost in transmission.  Maybe we shouldn't be transmitting it out of our area.  There might be money saved in not having to move it along transmission towers. Perhaps we would not need transmission towers if the power stayed close to where it was made. 

Medicine Hat has just completed a solar thermal power generator in November 2014. Thermal energy from a parabolic trough collector field generates steam. The solar steam is combined with the steam produced in the heat recovery steam generator, and the combined steam flow is directed to one, or both, of the existing steam turbine generators.  This should be celebrated and set forward as a possibility for other municipalities. It has local considerations that are novel, since the traditional way of calculating profit does not help offset the damage to local communities, ecologies and economies. 

If we want to explore other models that place the land ie our watersheds and our communities  as the top priority, we need to consider new decision making models which are currently coming into effect.

Triple bottom line (abbreviated as TBL or 3BL) is an accounting framework with three parts: social, environmental (or ecological) and financial. These three divisions are also called the three Ps: people, planet and profit, or the "three pillars of sustainability".   The City of Calgary has adopted this model of decision making, and other municipalities are also governing their decisions within this framework.

Perhaps some questions from the people in our province might open the doors to a provincial TBL framework.  How do we want to see the electrical grid in Southern Alberta  progress?  Are we building infrastructure that will last for 50 years yet it may be obsolete in 10 years?  

albertaviews.ca

We already know that the windmills are not as effective as hoped.  There have been very few applications in front  town councils for the past 2-3 years.  Already the question is in the air…what will become of them?  Whose responsibility is it to take them down when they are out of commission?   Will we be asking the same questions of the transmission towers in 15 years? Can we begin to think of the full cycle instead of just the profit cycle?  This is called "cradle to cradle" planning and is a responsible way to go forward.  

We need time to enter serious conversations about how to change for the better. Let's propose and explore alternatives, share the research and fact finding. As a community of people, lets inform ourselves and make good decisions for a changing economy and a healthier watershed.

Submitted by Barbara Amos,  photo Red Alert, Seeing Red.

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AMOS ART PROJECTS

www.BarbaraAmos.com

OWC's Planning Manager Connie Simmons on ... PLANS ... & ACTION!!!

(Editor's note: Thanks to John Stoesser of the Pincher Creek Echo for this article - and for championing a healthy watershed).

Around 75 conservationists, ranchers and people interested in the area's watersheds crowded into the Twin Butte Community Hall for the Nature Conservancy of Canada's 10th annual Eat and Greet evening recently.

Early in the evening jokes were made that the huge turnout was thanks to the delicious catering from Jeny and Phil Akitt of the Twin Butte Mexican Restaurant, but once dinner was over attention was focused on riveting presentations by members of the Oldman Watershed Council, the Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association and Cows and Fish.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada's 10th annual Eat and Greet at the Twin Butte Community Hall was chock full of information about the area's watersheds on Friday, Feb. 6, 2015. Representatives from the Oldman Watershed Council, Cows and Fish and the Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association spoke to the crowd. From left to right: Jenel Bode, Anne Stevick, Connie Simmons, Jen Jenkins, Tony Bruder, Wonnita Andrus, Kristi Stebanuk and Lorne Fitch. John Stoesser photo/QMI Agency.

The theme of the evening was protecting the headwaters and OWC planning manager Connie Simmons dove right into an update on the organization's Headwaters Action Plan and Dutch Creek Pilot Project.

"It's the doing that's so important," Simmons said. "We're going to be talking about collaborative partnerships and that's really where we have to get going."

The Oldman Watershed Council is a registered charity and one of 11 watershed planning and advisory councils in the province. They work under Alberta's Water for Life strategy.

"This is the way folks can actually be part of watershed management and planning and doing," Simmons said, noting that while the group receives some funding from the government they also raise exterior money.

The OWC studies water quality, water quantity and, most important to them, the health of aquatic ecosystems while also creating watershed health assessments and providing recommendations to any levels of government that makes decisions.

"We hope that they listen and take that information into consideration," Simmons said. "But most important we enable, and hope to enable change. Change is basically, education, engagement, encouragement in this great watershed community of the whole Oldman basin."

After creating a vision, state of the watershed report, a "10,000 foot" watershed view, risk assessment and priorities, the OWC will focus on studying water quality and emerging contaminants throughout the entire basin.

"It's daunting, it's very daunting," Simmons said. "So we're definitely going to need a lot of help from communities and community members."

Approximately up 90 per cent or more of the water that leaves the Oldman River originates in the headwaters region, which are located west of Highway 22 and extend south from Chain Lakes down into Glacier Park in Montana.

"I know it's an iconic landscape, very important to all of us and we care about it deeply," Simmons said. "It is so important... we have to take care of this. It's really an important region."

The OWC has combined science such as cumulative impact mapping and local input to create a plan for protecting the headwaters. "We didn't just do science," Simmons said. "We also did a lot of work with local knowledge. That's listening to you and the communities and it's absolutely important. So it wasn't just (science) it was a marriage between the two."

Some of the priorities that came out of the public meetings were fish populations, invasive species and linear features. "We want to explore options for recreation user fees, to fund enforcement, education and stewardship projects," said Simmons. "I can't underscore enough how every single community we talked to, when talking about impacts on the watershed, said, 'What are we going to do about the recreational pressures. We have to something but we have no enforcement for that." "The headwaters is fair game... they shoved everything down to this corner of the world and now we've got, oh my goodness, a bit of a management problem," she added.

Simmons showed a map of the Dutch Creek area where unregulated stream crossings are interspersed with bull trout habitat. The area is part of OWC's new Adopt A Watershed program."It's beautiful in there but it has pretty much every cumulative effect you can imagine. So that's why we chose it," said Simmons. This coming summer their plan is to make a difference on the ground in Dutch Creek and also turn that into a story and a guide for others interested in protecting their watersheds. "What can we start to do... to still provide good recreational experiences for folks while also looking after watershed health. It's a tall order but we have to start somewhere," Simmons said. "The recovery plans seem to be dead in the water, pardon the pun. So maybe they need a little kick-start," she said in terms of protecting bull and cutthroat trout.

Next up was Kristi Stebanuk, the new riparian resource analyst for Cows and Fish. She presented three digital stories, narrated slideshows, to the audience.

Jen Jenkins, a local rancher and communications coordinator for the WBRA gave an update on the group's new website and upcoming projects. 

Tony Bruder, with the WBRA's carnivore working group, briefed the room on preventing livestock predation including the dead stock program.

Award-winning biologist Lorne Fitch finished off the evening with his presentation, Grandfather's Trout - Grandkid's Memories, a slideshow and accompanying stories of what fishing was like in southwest Alberta at the turn of the 20th Century. "We often look into that fog called tomorrow and we often don't turn our heads over our shoulders and look back onto the path called yesterday," Fitch said. "So I thought I would take you on a little retrospective journey throughout the watersheds."

According to archived records, NWMP in the Calgary and Pincher Creek areas noticed a difference in fish populations from 1876 to 1890. Fitch showed photos of anglers hauling over 40 pounds over cutthroat and bull trout from areas where they do not exist today.

"We need to be reminded of where we were in the past and what the potential is for the future," he said. "Because wildlife, including native fish, are part of our myths, they're part of our history, they're part of our lives, they are part of our landscapes. But they're also a measuring stick of the health of our landscape."

"When you have cutthroat and bull trout in your watersheds, it is the litmus test, it is the gold seal of water quality," Fitch, a founder of Cows and Fish, said. "Unfortunately these critters can slip to become only part of our memory and even worse, even worse, we may forget them altogether. That's why we need to keep these landscape albums alive. To remind us where we were and where we could be and where we need to be."

john.stoesser@sunmedia.ca

Kelsey - A Young Voice for the Oldman: What about the Winter Watershed?

Hello everyone,

I hope everybody is having an awesome Family Day weekend and are enjoying the great temperatures. I was thinking about how much people are looking forward to Spring - and I thought I would share with you some of the reasons why I also like getting outside in winter.

Today's blog is going to be 'Things to do in the Winter Watershed'. It's not difficult to find fun outdoor activities in the winter. These are some of the things that I do in the winter with my family.

 

Cross country ski trail at the Chinook Recreation area.

 

Snowshoeing in Waterton on a guided tour to Crandell lake. 

https://blu184.mail.live.com/mail/ViewOfficePreview.aspx?messageid=mghYjia9mk5BGPYQAhWtez7A2&folderid=flinbox&attindex=0&cp=-1&attdepth=0&n=88183902

 

Going for hikes in the beautiful coulees in Lethbridge.

Hope you are having a fun and active winter, After all, it's still 20 hours, 12 minutes, and 8 seconds. until spring. But hey - who's counting?!

Kelsey

OWC January 2015 E-Newsletter

To view January's E-Newsletter, click here