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

Spring is the time of year to look at the water forecast for the coming year. Find updates on our watershed’s drought stage, water sharing agreements, reservoir levels, and snowpack accumulation.
Looking for a fun, low-stakes way to get outside this spring? Get to know your local plants and animals using iNaturalist! Additionally, bumble bees will be back soon, and you can view and learn about local sightings in our ‘bumble bees of the Oldman watershed’ project!
Just how much is Natural Infrastructure worth? Find out in our latest blog!
What’s cute, fuzzy, and sleeps through winter? Bumble bees! Find out where they hunker down in winter, and what cues tell them it’s time to emerge and forage in spring.
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(Editor's note: OWC's Planning Manager, Connie Simmons, weighs in about a little understood aspect of watershed management and health. As always, we welcome your comments and your submissions as guest bloggers!)
What do linear features – that is all roads, seismic lines, powerlines, pipelines, railroads, cut lines, and recreation trails - have to do with a healthy watershed?
Well, in a nutshell, too many of these
linear features
(LF) - where they are placed, and how are they are used - can be a
risk to watershed health. And a risk to watershed health is a risk to our water quality, quantity and continued health of ecosystems that support us all.
All that water coming out of the sky in the form of rain or snow eventually runs over the watershed lands, along ditches, through culverts, on and through clear-cuts, quad trails, roads and power-line right of ways – and flows into the Oldman River system. Depending on how and where they are developed and the way they are used, LF proliferation is shown to have adverse impacts on water hydrology - affecting ground water re-charge and surface run-off, erosion and sedimentation in streams, impacts on aquatic ecosystem health (fish and benthic invertebrates (water bugs) and extra cost to public water utilities to address water quality needs for our growing communities.
Necessity
We Albertans have been very busy with building communities, and infrastructure that supports the people who live, work and play in this region of Alberta. All of this development has depended on the building and maintaining of linear features.
For every need to develop these LF, we have constructed and used these features without too much thought on how all of this cumulatively impacts the foundation of a healthy functioning watershed. While this development was accepted as a necessity for economic, social and cultural well-being, scientific assessments and the concerns of the local communities have flagged the proliferation of LF and intensity/type of their use as a problem.
This has raised the need to do something about this growing concern for watershed health, particularly in the
headwaters
area of the Oldman River system.
Risk
The headwaters of the Oldman watershed provide approximately 90% of the water for the Oldman River – it is a critical water tower for southwestern Alberta.
Linear feature proliferation has been evaluated in the headwaters region, and 77% of the sub-watersheds in the headwaters are at moderate to high risk and pressure from this kind of development.
See the Headwaters Indicator Report.
Oldman headwaters area with all linear features (ESRD 2012 data)
The OWC completed the Headwaters Action Plan 2013-14 (HAP) in early 2014. The HAP was developed by the multi-stakeholder Partnership Advisory Network, and revised and completed after a thorough public review process.
The plan addresses the need to properly manage the increase and use of LF, and rollback and reclaim LF where there is moderate to high risk to water and watershed health.
The HAP is a good start, but it is only a plan. We need to
ACT
on it.
(For more information see the ‘What We Heard’ public review of the HAP at:
http://oldmanbasin.org/files/1613/9757/4313/Headwaters_What_we_Heard_Report_web.pdf
The
Headwaters Action Plan Summary Report
will soon on the website. If you would like a PDF of the report, please email
The OWC’s Headwaters Action Plan provided recommendations and advice to the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP), and to an important sub-initiative of the SSRP - the Linear Footprint Management Plan (LFMP).
Currently, the LFMP is integrating multiple data and information sources to analyze, plan and eventually implement actions that address LF proliferation in the Oldman headwaters and elsewhere in the SSRP region.
The OWC’s
Headwaters Action Team
is keen to understand, and where possible assist with this important work as it is a key priority of the Headwaters Action Plan – and we have made progress with this endeavor by recent completion of the
‘Linear Features Classification’ project
in the
Dutch Creek sub-watershed in the Oldman headwaters.
Historically, Dutch Creek has been mined, logged, grazed and has multiple LF to attest to this history. The majority of LF continue to be used for other purposes than their original use, and the intensity and type of this use needs to be managed to safeguard key water/watershed values.
Dutch Creek Watershed Linear Features Classification Project – December 2014
Risk to watershed health by linear feature proliferation in the Dutch Creek sub-watershed is indicative of what is going on most of the Oldman headwaters.
It is a sobering thought. The risk to water and watershed health that supports all who live and work downstream needs careful attention, and that includes education and social willingness to address the issues that go along with the proliferation and intensity of use of linear features.
Trade-offs
It is hard for Albertans to seriously consider trade-offs when it comes to protecting and/or using resource rich areas. The iconic wild west has been a place of opportunity, and we have taken advantage of resource richness for over a century.
However, as we reach limits to how much can be done on the landscape without compromising future opportunities and losing or negatively impacting important headwaters values (water quality; water quantity, species at risk for instance) we need greater wisdom and community understanding of how we work and play in this unique and special place. Is water and watershed health important?
The OWC has heard a resounding “YES” to this question. It is kind of a no-brainer.
However, the hard work isn’t done through just talking and planning, it is done by carefully assessing and then
putting into action
what we need to do to sustain our human and non-human communities within ecological limits. That is increasingly difficult with rising resource demands from increasing human populations, but we can do it if we tackle the tough questions now – not later.
What to do about Linear Features?
The OWC’s Headwaters Action Team has completed the Dutch Creek Linear Features Classification Project, and provided this information to GOA planners who are working on the Linear Footprint Management Plan.
This information will also be considered in the SSRP’s
Recreation Management Plan
– a process by which the Government of Alberta will be able to provide solid recreation options for Albertans, but also address the need for safeguarding ecological values and functions in the headwaters.
The Recreation Management Plan will address the need for designated trail systems and camping areas, and will need to have public and user buy-In and understanding to be implemented properly.
That is why the OWC’s Headwaters Action Team is now working towards bringing the science and social need (we all live downstream!) for water and watershed health to Dutch Creek this summer
.
Our first step will be to work on awareness and education programs with stakeholders and user groups around the need to reclaim some problematic linear features, and to encourage greater awareness of impacts of use on water and watershed values.
With greater understanding, we expect some measure of behavior change will be a result –
that people will voluntarily stick to designated trails and camping areas, avoid wet areas and riparian zones, use bridges over streams, and that this change in behavior will become the norm.
Some have told us we are dreamin’, that this is a big ask, but we have to start somewhere!
So what can
you
do?
If you are recreationist or other user of the headwaters area – for whatever purpose, the big ask is to understand why better linear feature management is needed, and to support and adhere to designated trail and access management outcomes of the SSRP.
It would also help if reclamation and restoration work on linear features is respected and supported by not undoing this good work through carelessness or worse, willful destruction.
Both of these attitude or behavior problems are counter-productive for sustainable water/watershed values that we need now and into the future.
We all think it is the
other
s who are responsible for these issues, but reality is – we are
all responsible
and we
all need
to take action!
Avoid the muck! Help stop erosion and loss of ecologically important wet areas!
Through the Dutch Creek Pilot Project, the Headwaters Action Team hopes to have a success story that can be used as inspiration and a guide for community and watershed stewardship groups and stakeholders to address linear feature impacts in other problematic sub-watersheds in the Oldman Headwaters, and indeed, in the Eastern Slopes region of Alberta.
We have a lot to do, but the idea is timely and needed, people and stakeholders are committed to this challenge, and partnerships are working towards achieving this worthwhile outcome.
If you feel this effort is worth supporting,
please donate to the OWC for this important work for the headwaters!
(OWC is a registered charitable organization - all donations are provided a tax receipt).
Please visit: www.oldmanbasin.org to make your donation go to work for the watershed!
Connie Simmons
Planning Manager
100, 5401 – 1
st
Avenue South
Lethbridge, AB. T1J 4V6
Work: 403-627-1736
Cell: 780-816-0654
Web:
Blog:
http://oldmanwatershed.blogspot.ca/
Twitter:
(Editor's Note: Canfor has shut down road and bridge building crews until they get clarification from the Government of Alberta. The Crowsnest Pass Herald article has more details:
http://passherald.ca/archives/150121/index4.htm).
The view looks south into the headwaters of Giardi Creek, and toward the flanks of the Flathead Range.
Here are a couple of links to the latest controversy in the Oldman Watershed — the logging operation currently being conducted this winter in the Star Creek watershed. The actual logging area is small (see below) but it takes place in an important and endangered fish habitat area.
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/controversial-logging-project-near-crowsnest-goes-ahead
http://lethbridgeherald.com/news/local-news/2015/01/14/logging-project-raises-concerns/
AERSD has assured the public that all the requirements applying to timber harvesting are and will be respected and all the safeguards to protect fish and wildlife under the Species at Risk Act will be observed.
A breach in the Star Creek haul road's meager berm allows muddy water to flow down into Giardi Creek, about 20 meters distant.
However, the Lethbridge Herald article refers to reports that some transgressions have already occurred. Can anybody with first-hand knowledge of what is actually going on?
Furthermore, for the next full week, January 19 - January 23, 2015, the forecast is calling for above freezing temperatures in the Crowsnest. Timber harvesting regulations call for activities to be suspended if the ground is soft and vulnerable to damage from forestry equipment. Does anybody know if there are plans to halt logging operations this coming week?
Elspeth Nickle
Lethbridge
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(Editors note: Thank you to Kelly Hall for this guest blog...
We welcome submissions to our blog from throughout the watershed - get in touch - what's your perspective?)
I can hardly believe that the end of 2014 is fast approaching!
Kelly Hall posing with a "gem" of the foothills - Alberta's endangered Limber Pine (
Pinus flexilis
) as designated under Alberta's Wildlife Act
Two Thousand and Fourteen has been an amazing year for The Timber Ridge Conservation Site. A year of many firsts and certainly a great deal of hope for the future. It all started on January 1 with a beautiful winter wedding, pictures on the cabin steps with the snow covered ridge as the background. The deepest, longest, coldest winter in many years had us more than ready for spring vegetation!
Our free flowing thermal springs have continued to amaze us. For the first time in our history we have seen flow increase in the fall, specifically after the eighteen inches of heavy wet snow on September 8 and then again November 2. The trout in the pond are pink, tasty, and happy in the beautiful, cold, clear water! Our many visitors can attest to that, especially the ones that had to use a net to bring in their catch.
Some of the natural changes are becoming more apparent. The old growth aspens are coming down and new meadows are alive with diversity. We've seen more Parry Oat Grass , more grouse and the newly protected wetland has responded well! The wildlife sightings on the property continue to grow, including a first for us this year - Elk not far from the cabin deck.
Timber Ridge has acquired many new friends this past year - we've now collected hair on Bear Rub Trees, began the process of collecting any and all bugs, Botanists have identified even more species, students have planted Limber Pine seedlings and we continue to collect some amazing pictures thanks to the pin hole and trail cameras. A pair of chipmunks have now called the cabin deck home and the competition at the bird feeders is increasing and really quite entertaining.
Glen Hall, standing on a blast mat (recycled tires) which surround his motion-sensored, solar powered, off-stream watering system - a Beneficial Management Practice helped put in place by the OWC's Watershed Legacy Program
Timber Ridge is living proof that it does take a collaborative effort to manage our watershed. Our best day yet was Celebrating Collaboration on September 18, 2014. We have to say thank you to all of our partners for years of knowledge, assistance, financial support and for joining us on the tour! A special thank you goes to Leta Pezderic (OWC) and Brad Taylor (ACA) for all their help planning for the day. We were so pleased to be part of the OWC's film project and believe the message within is so very important.
Timber Ridge is a treasure that we will continue to learn about and want to share with others. The cabin continues to be a wonderful venue for inspiring conversation, renewing friendships and gathering allies as we strive to leave our legacy. We've now checked off an item on our "bucket list" - bringing our partners together at that special place. September 18 would have been my Mom's birthday - she was our first partner!
Kelly Hall,
Landowner, Timber Ridge Conservation Site
Indicator species: Westslope Cutthroat Trout - species at risk |
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(Editor's Note: An important letter to the editor from Elspeth Nickle. What are your views? We'd love to hear from you.)
October 17, 2014The Honourable Jim PrenticePremier of Alberta307 Legislature Bldg.10800 - 97 AvenueEdmonton, AB T5K 2B7Dear Premier Prentice:I am writing this letter to respectfully ask you to take action and close the trails to mechanized recreational traffic in the Hidden Creek area, one of the waterways in the upper Oldman watershed, in order to protect this valuable and vulnerable stream.I have been motivated to write this letter because of:1. The very marked deterioration of Hidden Creek and the area adjacent to it since my last visit only one and a half months ago.2. Your announcement, as you introduced your new cabinet, that Alberta was under new management which has given me hope that some action might be taken.3. An entry which appeared on the AESRD blog on Oct. 4, 2014 which similarly raised my hope that the Forestry Service in this region might be amenable to action.I am sending this letter by email directly to your office and copying it to a number of other individuals and organizations which I think will find it interesting; please see the cc. list at the bottom. I will follow up by sending it to you by registered mail. I am hopeful for a timely reply and especially action but, if there is a holdup in your office and I do not hear from you, I will make the extra effort to call and speak with your staff in the hopes that this matter can be expedited.The reason for my request of immediate actionTen days my husband and I hiked on foot up Hidden Creek but our happy outing was marred upon our discovery that the conditions around Hidden Creek had badly and visibly deteriorated in the last month and a half. The water quality in the stream was visibly murky, a marked contrast to the much better water quality on the same day in the upper Oldman, which we forded on foot in order to get into the Hidden Creek area.The extensive motorized recreational traffic on the trail, which runs in very close proximity to the stream, and recent rains have clearly contributed to this deterioration. The pictures I have enclosed are by no means isolated shots; the whole of the length of the trail we walked showed similar deterioration.
Conditions on the trailAlthough we were there on a Wednesday (October 1, 2014), when we expected traffic to be nil to low, at least half a dozen ATVs past us. (We were the only ones on foot). This is an old trail, which is leftover from I think previous logging or seismic explorations, but it has not reverted to its natural state because, as you can see from the pictures, it is very extensively used. With the approaching high point of the hunting season, activity can only be expected to increase.I am sure you are aware that water quality is a prime indicator of the overall health and viability of the watershed; poor water quality can indicate excessive runoff, the inability of the watershed to hold back and store water, or increased difficulty for native fish populations to spawn successfully. Hidden Creek is one of the few remaining areas in the Crowsnest where native bull trout are still found in any appreciable numbers. It is worrisome to think what the future holds if current conditions prevail.
Note the fresh tire marks to the left. Hidden Creek is less than 5 metres to the left of those tracks!The AESRD blog entry, Oct 4, 2014.After this disheartening experience, I read with considerable hope the AERSRD blog entry of Oct. 4, 2014 which exhorted the public to learn "how to minimize the impacts of your activities on Alberta's plant and animal habitats" and provided links to Alberta's Species at Risk Guide.On page 16, I was pleased to find out that the bull trout is a species at risk, that it is Alberta's provincial fish, and that under Threats, AESRD recognized that "Populations remain low because of habitat loss and degradation (such as sediments in streams) from industrial activity, especially roads"Then, in a section entitled How Can You Help?, it suggests among other things:1) Keep off-highway vehicles out of creeks and streams and use bridges for stream crossings.2)Report hanging culverts and off-highway vehicles driving in streams to our nearest [A]ESRD office.It seems that AESRD has a very good handle on the direction needed to be taken. In this case, with the extremely close proximity of the trail to the creek in the Hidden Creek watershed, one could conclude that the road itself is so close, it might as well be in Hidden Creek! Also, any of the ATV;s we saw had most certainly forded the Oldman in the same place we had to get to the area, and that is most certainly not in keeping with the advice in the Species at Risk Guide.Further, in my dealings with conservation minded groups, which incidentally is also encouraged in the "How Can You Help?" section, I can attest that there is an acute frustration about reporting off-highway vehicle activity to the nearest AESRD office. It doesn't actually result in any substantive action being taken, or hasn't in the past. By writing this letter to you, and copying it to the nearest AESRD office, I am hoping for a different outcome.I am very much hoping that when you said that Alberta was under new management, you meant it. I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience.Yours very truly,Elspeth J. Nicklecc:Honourable Kyle Fawcett, Miinster of Environment, AERSDCraig Johnson, Fisheries, Blairmore, AERSDMatthew Coombs, Fisheries, Blairmore, AERSDTerry Clayton, Fisheries, Lethbridge, AERSDEmeric Janssens, Fisheries, Lethbridge, AERSDPaul Christensen, Fisheries, Calgary, AERSDSara Burnstead, Fisheries, Calgary, AERSDJennifer Earl, Fisheries, Cochrane, AERSDBev Yee, Assistant Deputy Minister, Integrated Resource Management Planning Division, Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, AERSDTim Juhl, Timber, Blairmore, AERSDRupert Hewison,Timber, Blairmore, AERSDCraig Harriott, Timber, Blairmore, AERSDMike Taje, Land Use, Blairmore, AERSDLeo Dube, Wildlife Management, Lethbridge, AERSDGreg Hale, Wildlife Management, Pincher Creek, AERSDBridget Pastoor, MLA, Lethbridge EastGreg Weadick, MLA, Lethbridge WestDanielle Smith, Wildrose Party LeaderMr. Joe Anglin, Wildrose Environment CriticMr. Pat Stier, MLA, Livingstone-MacleodRaj Sherman, Alberta Liberal Party LeaderLaurie Blakeman, Alberta Liberal Party Environment CriticBrian Mason, Alberta New Democratic Party LeaderShannon Frank, Oldman Watershed Council, Executive Director, Lethbridge.Katie Morrison, Conservation Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Southern AlbertaKarsten Heuer, President, Yellowstone-to-Yukon InitiativeLeanne Elias, Field Notes CollectiveLorne Fitch, Wildlife BiologistJustina C. Ray, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Executive Director and Senior Scientist
Volunteers transport fish to be measured on shore |
Photo kindly provided by Bill's daughter, Fiona |