Native fish – our very own aquatic ‘canaries in a coal mine’

(Editor's Note: Why is your clean, clear, drinking water threatened? And how does it depend on fish? OWC's Planning Manager, Connie Simmons, explains exactly what's "fishy" in the headwaters. Your comments are, as always, most welcome.) 

The Headwaters Action Plan (HAP) is a key outcome of the Oldman Integrated Watershed Management Plan, and was developed with the input of key stakeholders and the public throughout 2013-14. The HAP developed targets, actions and recommendations for three indicators of headwaters health to focus efforts to effectively protect and maintain source waters and headwaters values.   

One of these three indicators provided direction for action related to fish - and not just any fish, but a focus on two native species that are now listed as ‘threatened’ by the Government of Alberta:  westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout.   

With the ‘threatened’ listing, come Recovery Plans and a legislated requirement to safeguard the species from further population decreases, and to protect and restore critical habitats to support and ensure their continued persistence and recovery.  Westslope Cutthroat Trout have an approved Recovery Plan, and a Recovery Plan for bull trout is currently being developed.   (See: http://esrd.alberta.ca/fish-wildliditfe/species-at-risk/   )

 Why focus on fish? 

Native fish need healthy source waters and headwaters to thrive,  and source water and headwaters integrity directly link to sustainability of healthy streams and rivers that provide us with high water quality and sufficient water quantity – a critical foundation for sustainable human communities and economic stability. 

The looming crisis with these two native trout species tells us that all is not well in the Oldman headwaters, or Alberta. 

Development and recreation pressures, habitat degradation, fragmentation and loss, invasive species incursion (i.e. competitive or hybridizing species such as rainbow trout), climate change, and angling pressure have created a perfect storm of issues that threaten the continued existence of these key native fish species in Alberta.   

This is our wake-up call – these native trout are truly our aquatic ‘canaries in a coal mine’ – telling us that all is not well, and that we need to pay attention, prioritize what to do, and then act with responsibility and solid scientific direction to ensure the continued persistence and flourishing of native trout in the strongholds of cold, clear mountain streams and lakes. 

 Our native trout – wild aquatic beauty in peril

 Westslope Cutthroat trout

Westslope cutthroat trout are listed as threatened by both the Government of Alberta and the Government of Canada.   In Canada, westslope cutthroat trout are native only to the Bow and Oldman River systems.  

Historically in the Oldman watershed, their populations extended from the high mountain creeks, rivers and lakes to as far as Lethbridge.  But - that was then, this is now.  WSCT have declined so precipitously in the last 50 years that they now are at around 5% of their former population numbers, and these remnant populations have retracted to the small and scattered streams in the highest reaches of the Rocky Mountain tributaries of the Oldman River.  

Human activities were and continue to be the greatest threat to the persistence of WSCT remnant populations in Alberta.  These activities include the historical introduction of invasive species (ie: stocking of rainbow trout hybridize with WSCT and reduce or exterminate pure strain populations); development/industrial pressures that adversely impact or destroy habitat; and consumption (angling).

This alarming trend is further exacerbated by the looming issue of climate change, when projected mean temperatures in summer of many streams, especially in lower elevation streams and lakes, will rise to a point that WSCT cannot continue to exist.   High mountain streams with intact forests and riparian areas provide the foundation for the clear, cold, connected and complex aquatic systems that support WSCT.  

If we want to have WSCT in the future, there is an immediate need to take greater care of these important remnant habitats – to protect, rehabilitate and restore, and to manage adverse and cumulative impacts in these mountain headwaters areas.

 Bull trout

Bull trout were listed as a threatened by the Government of Alberta in 2012.   The status of bull trout is also currently under review by the Government of Canada.  A Recovery Plan for bull trout is now being prepared to guide the recovery of bull trout in Alberta.   

Bull trout occur in all of the major watersheds of the eastern slopes in Alberta, but have experienced significant reductions in both range and numbers, including the loss of some populations. Historically, bull trout were estimated to live in approximately 24,000 stream kilometres in Alberta, but are now down to an estimated 16,000 kms.   This is a 33% reduction in the extent of their historical range.

Bull trout in southern Alberta watersheds have had the greatest losses, including the Oldman, Bow and Red Deer rivers.  Bull trout populations in the Oldman watershed have been decreasing due to increasing cumulative impacts of industrial and recreation activities in their historic range, including logging, gas exploration and extraction, off-highway vehicles use, livestock grazing and random access camping.

  Recovery of bull trout will require conservation of healthy aquatic ecosystems, restoration and protection of degraded habitats, and the adoption of disturbance thresholds that will not be exceeded.

 What do we need to do for native trout?

As a first step, Albertans need to be aware that the populations of native trout are in trouble and that action is needed to ensure healthy headwaters and source water native fish habitat.  As a sharp lesson about the nature of cumulative effects that degrade native fish habitat and population persistence, Lorne Fitch put it most succinctly:

"Farmers, miners, off highway vehicle users, roughnecks, homeowners, politicians and a cast of thousands have devastated Alberta’s fish populations without ever catching or frying a single fish. Instead, large numbers of fish, populations of fish, and watersheds of fish were killed through habitat alterations, loss of critical habitats, water withdrawals, and pollution. It has been a death by a thousand cuts, not a thousand hooks. Individually there was no malice, spite or even intention – only the ignorance of fish ecology and cumulative effects."

Lorne Fitch (excerpt from essay ‘Two Fish, One Fish, No Fish: Alberta’s Fish Crisis’)

If we are able to secure healthy, productive headwaters and source water habitat for native fish, we are also helping to secure healthy and productive headwaters and source waters for all who need water in the Oldman watershed.   

In addition to raising public awareness, a concerted effort to effectively manage cumulative development/use impacts, provide excellent conservation information to public and stakeholders, and work to address threats to the continued persistence of native trout is greatly needed in the Oldman headwaters.  

The OWC Headwaters Action Team and partners are starting to address some of these concerns this summer (more on the Team and partnerships is coming in a future Blog!).    Recreation user engagement programs in Dutch Creek will share information about critical habitat for westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout, and engage recreationists to seek solutions that will would help ensure continued native trout persistence.  

Trout Unlimited (Oldman chapter) has taken the initiative to begin to work on riparian restoration and sedimentation issues in Hidden Creek – a sub-watershed just north of Dutch Creek and home to bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout.   The Alberta Conservation Association is working on a more complete inventory of westslope cutthroat trout in the upper Oldman headwaters area, and will be doing population assessments in Dutch Creek, Hidden Creek and White Creek in 2015.   Cows and Fish are working with the OWC to inventory riparian areas and flag areas that need focused restoration work in the form of restoration, and engagement of users to mitigate further impacts.  South Saskatchewan Regional Plan sub-regional initiatives are underway with the Linear Footprint Management Plan and Recreation Management Plan for the Livingston and Porcupine Hills areas.   

All of these initiatives are greatly needed, but we need a focused approach to preserving and extending critical habitat for native trout as an important iconic species, and a marker of healthy, productive headwaters and source waters in the Oldman watershed and beyond.   

Bull trout - at home in cold, clear, complex and connected high mountain streams and lakes

Connie Simmons

Planning Manager

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.

--

AMOS ART PROJECTS

www.BarbaraAmos.com

OWC February 2015 E-Newsletter

To view February's E-Newsletter, click here

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

Important OWC Membership Renewal Notice

Renew/Start your OWC Membership and Choose the information you wish to receive from the OWC Renew Your 2015 Membership online today! Individual form Organization form Municipality form Irrigation District form The information marked with an asterisk is a requirement by Alberta Corporate Registry that we need to have on file.  For general information on OWC membership or to print a pdf copy to submit to us, click here.  Why be a member of the OWC? Receive discounts on OWC activities and events Run as a member-at-large on the OWC Board of Directors Vote for the members-at-large who will serve on the OWC Board Be a part of the OWC community by choosing to be involved in a project or by volunteering.  Contact us if you're interested or want more information.    There is no membership fee but voluntary donations make a big difference! Click here to make a donation to the OWC or to set up a monthly donation through PayPal or CanadaHelps.org; a charitable receipt will be issued.  If you are unable to complete the renewal form online, please phone Bev (403-381-5145) or by email and I'll register you manually. Your membership is important to us - thanks for renewing it.  If you are not a member but would like to be, please register online or if you have questions, please call or email us.    Update your Profile The OWC monthly E-Newsletter gives you updates on many topics and activities, such as: Membership Headwaters education project #oldmangoestohollywood film project Watershed Legacy Program Events Volunteer opportunities and Information for sponsors/donors. However, we realize that you might want additional information on specific subjects when they become available in between newsletter releases.  If so, please click on this Update Profile/Email Address link to check off the boxes you wish to receive additional information on.   Thanks for updating your profile and renewing your membership!

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

Linear Features in the Oldman Watershed – Risk and Necessity

(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

shannon@oldmanbasin.org

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:

www.oldmanbasin.org

Blog:

http://oldmanwatershed.blogspot.ca/

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/OldmanWatershed

“Like” us on Facebook to hear about the latest news & events

Star Creek

(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

---

What is a Watershed? ...or: Cutting up the Landcape

(Editor's note: Our first blog posting of the new year! What better way to start things off than to contemplate what, exactly, a watershed is. Not everyone knows the answer .... do you?)

OWC conducted a survey that asked the public some general knowledge questions about our shared watershed. What we found is that this knowledge isn’t general at all. 9 people out of 10 could neither define the term watershed nor understand its relationship to their environments.

I have spent a long time since wondering why that is, pondering everything from our education system to immigration to urbanization to economics and beyond. I was reminded of a class I taught at the University of Hamburg on Human Geography, about how we connect with and understand our physical world. What maps and which worldviews do we use? What of geographical, political, social, economic and emotional maps, for example. The earliest map I can recall is a freshly-Gestettnered copy of the political map of Canada, which we would colour, every year, in our Social Studies class from about Grade 5 through to Grade 10. Our provinces and (at the time) 2 territories, were carved out firmly in our minds.

Mentally we have strong maps of our communities. As a Calgarian, my mental map of Calgary extends beyond its municipal borders to include the outskirts and proximal outlying towns, including the Bow corridor and into K-country and Banff. Like many Albertans, I don’t have a mental map of the miles leading up to the territories nor an understanding of the mountains north of Jasper or south of Hinton. Until recently, I didn’t have a relationship to anything further south than Lethbridge, and little contact with the towns I passed through on the way there. Furthermore, as an urbanite, what I noticed and saw were human populations – I lacked a basic vocabulary for rural and wild spaces or even the ability to recognize or differentiate the nuances of the landscape I was looking at. You cannot value what you cannot name.

So, as a social scientist and new to southern Alberta, it was interesting for me to note that “community” here in this region seems to extend from about Pincher Creek up along Highway 2 to Claresholm and Nanton, then over to Vulcan and down to envelop all that farmland up to Taber. The mental map doesn’t stop at the border, it extends down into Montana to at least Grand Forks. There’s a trickle across the eastern border as well, crossing over Medicine Hat into Saskatchewan and including that ranching and farm land there, too. So there’s a kind of horizontal chunk within the southern part of the province that crosses political boundaries but has little connection to the western or easternmost flanks. Being agriculturally based, there seems to be a greater mental representation of farmland, but generally speaking, many people have an incomplete picture of other types of land use in Southern Alberta. 

How about mapping demographically? Southern Alberta is extremely diverse in this regard, as well. Just as a small –and by no means comprehensive - sample, we have American Mormons, Dutch Mennonites, Russian Dukabores, German Hutterites, Japanese Buddhists, fundamentalist Christians, new-Agers; native Blood, Blackfoot, Peigan, Kainaii, ….. more recently, Indian, Korean and Bhutanese. Each of these belief and cultural systems have their own maps and traditions for how we relate to one another, to our selves and to our natural world. Our mental maps of a region are vastly different than what a cartographer can describe.

Yet, no matter who we are or how we live in southern Alberta, we all turn on a tap to get water, and, magically, out it comes; crystal-clear and pure to drink. Hauling water for humans and livestock is a mere 100 years ago – one lifetime is all it takes to erase that toil from our minds – until the next flood comes and we are put on a water advisory, that is. Suddenly, whether we are old or young; new Canadian or aboriginal; farmer or urbanite; Catholic or atheist; suddenly, we all begin to worry about water quality; and, ironically, water quantity.

The number and frequency of floods is increasing as global warming takes an ever-stronger foothold. Just a few degrees’ increase in temperature means less snowfall. Less snowfall means there is no slow-release of water from the snowpack over the spring and summer. It means that it rains instead. And when it rains, it pours - our freshwater rushes through ancient floodplains and across farmland, carving new routes, finding old ones and uprooting vegetation before swiftly exiting our landscape. It means flood – and it means drought.

So the question: ‘What is a watershed?’ is going to become of increasing importance in the upcoming years. It will be a word heard more often; and, when spoken, with more urgency.

Our Oldman watershed, though smaller than some of the other 11 watersheds in Alberta is nonetheless still vast. It begins with the snowpack in the Rocky Mountains in the eastern slopes – an area seldom seen and sparsely inhabited. The birthplace and cradle of the water of life is a delicate nursery, one to be cherished and nurtured and protected. We must be more thoughtful and more deliberate about our activities there, since too often we don’t understand how we are affecting water quality downstream. These many tiny mountain tributaries and underground springs along the eastern slopes feed into stronger streams that flow up through and over a place, tellingly, called High River; they also flow south through Waterton and Lethbridge. They provide the drinking water for humans and animals, for industry and agriculture, merging and flowing downhill as they meander ever eastward. Many smaller rivers combine to make the South Saskatchewan- the common exit point. This river then bends north – and continues downhill – to cross the tip of Lake Winnipeg and finally exit into the Hudson’s Bay.

The watershed is a map which shows our dependence on one another as opposed to mere spatial relationships. It is the only map which will tell us that: “We are all downstream”. A watershed is an area of land from which all moisture flows to a common exit point. It includes how cities grow, how mountains crumble, where airports are built and how mines are dug. A watershed is the trees that keep the stream banks intact; it is the wildlife ecosystems that keep it healthy and functioning.  A watershed is the intuitive way to map both human and natural systems. Our watershed is what unites us.

Thank you - and happy holidays!





Dear Friends 2014 has been a busy year for the OWC. It has been challenging, rewarding, uplifting ... and encouraging. It sounds almost trite to say: "We couldn't do it without you", but the truth is - there is no "we" without "you". The Oldman watershed is a big place. We need eyes, ears and helping hands throughout our beautiful landscape to ensure it is a healthy, robust and profitable place to call home for generations to come. We are thankful for your countless volunteer hours and your gifts of both time and financial support. 2015 is going to be a great year - and together, we ARE making a difference. Thank you for all you do.  The OWC Staff out in the beautiful headwaters in December: Connie Simmons, Bev Bellamy, Leta Pezderic, Shannon Frank, Anna Garleff On behalf of the Staff and Board - a very merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday to you and your family!       

Top 5 Ways to Reduce Waste During the Holidays

(Editor's note: Thanks to Heather Gowland from the City of Lethbridge, Waste & Recycling Services for these unique ideas on how to reduce our waste this holiday season! The OWC encourages you to try some of these out and then tell us about it!) 

Top 5 Ways to Reduce Waste During the Holidays

Did you know that household waste generation increases by approximately 25% around the Christmas season? But don’t let that fact spoil your eggnog - you can be a waste-wise and still enjoy the traditions of the holiday season! Here are the top 5 ways to reduce waste during the holidays:

#1 The Trail of the Tree

Real vs. fake  – the debate is ongoing.  No matter which type of tree you use, there are still ways to make it greener. If you use a fake tree be sure to repair it when you can and reuse it as long as possible. If you love a real tree, recycle it by chipping it into mulch through a collection program or site. Or if you don’t mind going outside of tradition, dress up the houseplants.

How about trimming the tree? If you like to change the decorations you use often, consider these ideas to lessen your footprint: DIY decorations made from components of used or broken decorations, compostable decorations (ex. Popcorn strings). If you’re replacing your decorations because they’ve grown worn over the years, consider repairing them first.

Origami birds made out of old calendar prints and dehydrated orange slices are both beautiful and eco-friendly ornaments.

#2 Green Gifting

The best things in life are free! Visit www.lethbridge.ca/wrs to watch some videos with ideas on how to create memories, not garbage.

#3 Wrapping Wizardry

Most gift wrap, bows, ribbons, tissue and adornments are NOT RECYCLABLE – typically they are used once, viewed once, and then tossed. Do a quick internet search for “green gift wrap ideas” and you will find a plethora of ways in which to wrap a present with all the glam and none of the garbage. My favorite idea is to use fresh sprigs of berries or bushes to add a festive touch to the wrapping job - instead of tossing it in the garbage, it gets tossed right back into the yard!

Reusable fabric bags, newsprint and paper are all good options to alternative wrapping. Image from http://www.fashionthroughtravel.com/2012/12/december-magic-top-10-gift-wrapping.html

#4 Food Fixings

Food is fantastic and should never go to waste! From composting to soup cooking, there are things you can do to make sure more gets eaten. Here’s one idea: let people serve themselves (including kids). They will likely take only as much as they feel like eating. This way, less of it ends up as plate scrapings and more of it as yummy leftovers for later days. Also, freezing is a great way to deal with too many leftovers – if something is not suitable for re-heating nicely, consider if the de-thawed version would be a good addition to a soup. If you need motivation, check out this new film http://www.foodwastemovie.com/

Your cooking efforts are too good to waste.

#5 Quality Hosting

Many people dropping by, dinners and celebrations can be overwhelming when it comes to the little things like dishes and preparing snacks. But being a host can also mean making sure everyone is included and gets a little bit of quality time with someone else. Instead of using disposable dishes, how about disengaged dishwashers? Here’s what happened in my house growing up: All the teenagers were sent to the kitchen to wash the dishes – we got to know each other, kept busy and felt useful. Sometimes a group of people would gather around a cutting board, cut veggies for snacks and put them on a plate – instead of buying a pre-made plastic tray. Sound nostalgic? 

Have a holiday full of love, laughter and memories to come!

Be Safe. Be Merry. Be Green.

Heather Gowland, BSc.

Waste & Recycling Coordinator

City of Lethbridge, Waste & Recycling Services

403-320-4996

This holiday season, be a #greenangel and Create Memories, Not Garbage. Watch the vidoes that are full of 'green' gifting ideas by clicking here.

OWC November 2014 E-Newsletter

To view November's E-Newsletter, click here

Here's what I can't believe!

(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

Provincial Fisheries Regulations Revision- Stakeholder Consultation

(Editor's Note: This is an open invitation from the ESRD to everyone to contribute to the future of fisheries management in Alberta. Have your say! See: http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/banff/plan/aqua/hidden.aspx for more information on an example fish project. 

See also: http://esrd.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/species-at-risk/species-at-risk-publications-web-resources/fish/documents/SAR-WestslopeCutthroatTrout-RecoveryPlan-A-Mar2013.pdf)

You are invited to participate in a stakeholder consultation to seek input for consideration in the revision of the General Fisheries (Alberta) Regulation (1997) and the Fisheries (Ministerial) Regulation (1997). The fisheries regulations support the Fisheries (Alberta) Act in managing Alberta's fisheries. These regulations encompass a diverse array of subject areas, affecting many of our province's stakeholders. 

The current fisheries regulations expire on 31 October 2015. Your feedback is important in helping to amend the in-scope sections of these regulations and to help us balance the preferences of Albertan's with the future of our fisheries.

The Fish and Wildlife Policy Branch of Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development have contracted Stantec Consulting Ltd to conduct an online stakeholder engagement initiative. There are two opportunities to provide your feedback until 31 December 2014:

Indicator species: Westslope Cutthroat Trout - species at risk

Firstly, we invite you to complete our confidential public survey which is at the following URL (you may exit the survey and then return to where you left off by clicking this link each time):

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/fisheriesregs

Secondly, you are invited to participate in further discussion around certain regulatory topics at our MindMixer website which can be found at:

http://fisheries-regulation.mindmixer.com/

Please disseminate this invitation widely amongst your members and affiliates.

All sections of the fisheries regulations are in scope for review and consultation except for the following, which are out-of-scope:

• Sections specific to commercial fishing (Sections 20, 21, 53 and Schedule 1 for General Fisheries (Alberta) Regulation and Schedule 1 Items 2(a), (b) and (c) of the Fisheries (Ministerial) Regulation.
• Quotas, tolerances, zoning and gear restrictions for domestically and commercially fished waters.
• Routine changes to the Alberta Guide to Sportfishing Regulations which includes water specific catch limits, size restrictions, use of bait and season for sport fish species.

If you have any queries please send them to the address below.

Thank you for contributions to the future of fisheries management in Alberta.

Yours Sincerely

Brian Joubert, Ph.D., IAP2 (on behalf of the Fish and Wildlife Policy Branch, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development)

Stantec

10160-112St

Edmonton, AB

T5K 2L6

Email: reg.fisheries@stantec.com 

Tel: (780) 917-8161

Please come this Wednesday to the SAAG - we're filming live!

Please join us for lunch on November 12

Maybe you've already heard about the Oldman Watershed Council's Film Project ... maybe not ... but I don't think there's anyone who doesn't want to drink,  shower and swim in clean, clear water.  And there's so much to love about the Oldman River! Our watershed is truly the focal point of Southern Alberta. We are seeing more and more people  becoming interested in how to take action, but not knowing how/where to start. Clearly, education is key.  How can the OWC go to every classroom, every community event, every Council, every Board?  We make a film, and we do it together. We'd like to invite you and a guest for a light lunch at the SAAG in Lethbridge at 11 am on November 12th for the official launch of: "The Oldman Goes To Hollywood". It's the perfect place to meet the "Who's Who" of the OWC Family, hear first-hand from our Founding Partners, and meet our film crew. We are live on location with CKXU and very excited about welcoming you there!

Acute frustration ... and a plea for Hidden Creek

(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, 2014

The Honourable Jim Prentice

Premier of Alberta

307 Legislature Bldg.

10800 - 97 Avenue

Edmonton, AB  T5K 2B7

Dear 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 action

Ten 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 trail

Although 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.

​More conditions on the trail

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. Nickle

cc:

Honourable Kyle Fawcett, Miinster of Environment, AERSD

Craig Johnson, Fisheries, Blairmore, AERSD

Matthew Coombs, Fisheries, Blairmore, AERSD

Terry Clayton, Fisheries, Lethbridge, AERSD

Emeric Janssens, Fisheries, Lethbridge, AERSD

Paul Christensen, Fisheries, Calgary, AERSD

Sara Burnstead, Fisheries, Calgary, AERSD

Jennifer Earl, Fisheries, Cochrane, AERSD

Bev Yee,  Assistant Deputy Minister, Integrated Resource Management Planning Division, Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, AERSD

Tim Juhl, Timber, Blairmore, AERSD

Rupert Hewison,Timber, Blairmore, AERSD

Craig Harriott, Timber, Blairmore, AERSD

Mike Taje, Land Use, Blairmore, AERSD

Leo Dube, Wildlife Management, Lethbridge, AERSD

Greg Hale, Wildlife Management, Pincher Creek, AERSD

Bridget Pastoor, MLA, Lethbridge East

Greg Weadick, MLA, Lethbridge West

Danielle Smith, Wildrose Party Leader

Mr. Joe Anglin, Wildrose Environment Critic

Mr. Pat Stier, MLA, Livingstone-Macleod

Raj Sherman, Alberta Liberal Party Leader

Laurie Blakeman, Alberta Liberal Party Environment Critic

Brian Mason, Alberta New Democratic Party Leader

Shannon Frank, Oldman Watershed Council, Executive Director, Lethbridge.

Katie Morrison, Conservation Director, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Southern Alberta

Karsten Heuer, President, Yellowstone-to-Yukon Initiative

Leanne Elias, Field Notes Collective

Lorne Fitch, Wildlife Biologist

Justina C. Ray, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, Executive Director and Senior Scientist

OWC October 2014 E-Newsletter

To view October's E-Newsletter, click here

It's all about sustaining bull trout

By Richard Burke
I was a touch ambivalent about the walk I was about to take down the Upper Wigwam River in Southeastern B.C. It is a beautiful river, worth spending time on, and this trip had a particularly useful purpose – counting bull trout redds – not that simply being there and soaking it up isn’t useful.

The older I get, though, the harder it is on the feet and knees to walk and wade on river rocks. So, I reminded myself, this was about the bull trout, not me.

The trip overall was noteworthy, part of a three-day conference on bull tryout organized by Will Warnock and others for the Salvenlinus confluentus Curiosity Society. The conference, attended by mainly scientists from six states and five provinces to hear or present new information on bull trout, was held at Blue Lake Centre, a rustic cluster of cabins and a lodge mainly for educational meetings. It was a half hour west of Canal Flats, B.C. at the south end of Columbia Lake up dusty logging roads well into the Purcells.

The Upper Wigwam is more than 200 km southeast of that, accessible by more dusty logging roads within hailing distance of the Montana border. The Wigwam, in fact, has its source in Montana.
Four teams, a total of 12 participants, counted redds – spawning areas in the gravel river bed – over 20 km. My team was led by Will. The other team member was Kathryn Kuchapski. Both have much younger feet and knees. It was either by design or by fortunate chance I was with them. Both are graduates of the University of Lethbridge – Will's years there culminated in a PhD in Biosystems and Biodiversity in 2012. I had sat in the university classroom when Will defended his Masters thesis a couple of years before that. His affinity for bull trout was reflected in his thesis.

During his time in Lethbridge, he had presented information to the Oldman River Chapter Trout Unlimited about bull trout migrating between the Castle River and Hidden Creek in the Upper Oldman River. Kathryn received her MSc in Biological Sciences in 2013. Both are shining examples of education at work for good.

But, I digress, sort of. Again, this effort was about bull trout. In our 5 km section, we counted 308 redds, which seemed significant.  Overall in the four sections, team members counted more than 500 redds. A survey is conducted annually in the entire Wigwam, the count ranging from 1,500 to about 2,000. The river is B.C.’s single largest spawning run of adult bull trout (3,000–5,000 adults annually). They spawn in autumn then swim downstream, as far as Lake Kookanusa about 50 km to the west (with much more ease than an older man negotiating river rocks, I thought.)

Southeastern B.C. was chosen for the conference, partly because it is “bull trout heaven,” said Will. By contrast, in Alberta across the border from the Wigwam and other thriving  B.C. streams, it is a threatened species. That means it’s “likely to become endangered if nothing is done to reverse factors leading to extirpation or extinction.” In B.C., it is a species of special concern – less than threatened but still monitored carefully to make sure it doesn't decline.
Jeff Burrows of the B.C. Ministry of Forest Lands and Natural Resource Operations, Fish and Wildlife Branch, told the conference counts by various methods put bull trout numbers at about 14,000 in the East Kootenay alone. In all of Alberta, provincial estimates placed the Alberta bull trout population at approximately 20,000 adults in a 2014 update.

"Since the provincial regulation change to a zero harvest regulation for bull trout in 1995, a number of bull trout populations have recovered to some extent, while others have stabilized at low population levels. In a number of cases, bull trout may have decreased or even disappeared from certain streams,” according to the bull trout management plan.

When I asked Jeff about a perceived superior approach to fisheries in B.C. compared with Alberta, he smiled,  saying only, “We have to make our cases.”
He also supervised the redd-counting effort on the Wigwam, leading us to the muster point 52 km up from Hwy. 3 at an elevation of 1,300 metres. We passed through locked gates “there to keep motorized vehicles out,” Jeff said. When asked about enforcement, he said if a vehicle is reported in the area, it is thoroughly investigated. Noticeably absent in the restricted area were ATVs and RVs.

I was at the conference as a member of the TU Oldman River Chapter, which acts as steward on about 4 km of Crowsnest River frontage it leases in the Crowsnest Pass. My participation there was to bring information back to the chapter on bull trout habitat and recovery efforts elsewhere.
Here are some other takeaways from the conference and the Alberta Bull Trout Conservation Management Plan 2012-17 about bull trout that may help our chapter (and other groups) determine how it may help in bringing back bull trout numbers:

• The species needs cool water (13 C)  to thrive. Those temperatures are generally found in lakes and streams in higher elevations, like the Oldman River headwaters which has significant concerns from over use by industry and recreational users that affects bull trout spawning areas. According to the Alberta Bull Trout Conservation Management Plan, “Generally, bull trout populations in the southern watersheds – Oldman, Bow and Red Deer rivers – have experienced the greatest declines. . . . The fact that many bull trout populations have not recovered, or are still considered vulnerable, has largely been a consequence of the increasing cumulative impacts of industrial and recreational activities within the species historic range as well as competition from introduced fish species” such as brook trout.

• Bull Trout have been abused in Alberta for at least a century. (The one at right we found dead on the Wigwam rocks.) You can find frequent references to the species being considered a trash fish and caught then thrown into the bushes. Angling regulations have been changed recently to catch and release on all trout in the Oldman drainage. “Where bull trout recovery has occurred (in other jurisdictions), it has been largely due to angling regulation changes and related management activities including: (1) zero harvest limit, (2) bait bans, (3) seasonal and permanent angling closures in key spawning, staging and over wintering areas, (4) public awareness and education efforts to reduce fish mis-identification and unintentional harvest, and (5) enforcement efforts to reduce illegal harvest," according to the recovery plan.

Alberta has so far been slow to respond to pleas for increased enforcement. And, according to the BT management plan, “While a few populations are abundant and may be increasing, generally, angling restrictions alone have not been adequate to recover bull trout populations.”

• Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, the department which has responsibility for fish, is studying bull trout sustainability. Jessica Reilly told conference participants “the sustainability of bull trout in Alberta was recently evaluated (in 89 areas of the province) to determine whether the stock is healthy, fish abundance and threat mitigation,” starting with the question: What is the state of Alberta’s fishery? Early findings include: road density above 1.4 km per square km is “probably bad for bull trout” and the areas which showed the highest adult bull trout density in the province were all in national parks.

By the way, road density is a priority for action in the Oldman Watershed Council Headwaters Action Plan.

• The bull trout was declared Alberta’s official fish in 1995 as a way of highlighting its shaky status. According to the Alberta Culture and Tourism website:  “The bull trout is one of eight species of trout found in the province's glacial waters. To ensure Alberta's population of bull trout never becomes endangered, there is a catch and release policy governing all bull trout fishing in the province.”

There is no mention in the message of factors other than fishing that have contributed to the fish’s decline, such as “resource development (that) creates high-risk environments for bull trout due to the cumulative effects of degraded habitat conditions combined with increased angler access,” according to the bull trout recovery plan.

• Bull trout “threatened” designation is based on federal legislation which requires the province to develop a recovery plan, but it takes an inordinate amount of time to develop plans and legislation does not force recovery activities, says Rick Taylor of the University of British Columbia, who sits on the committee which determines wildlife status under the Canada Species At Risk Act.

He also says, “There is no question recent weakened federal legislation will weaken protection of bull trout.”

• The Waterton River drainage has been studied recently by Alberta Conservation Association fisheries biologists, who categorized the system as high risk, low recovery potential. The ACA's Jason Blackburn pointed to problems that started in the early 20th century with developments such as Oil City in Waterton Lakes National Park. Other obstacles to bull trout recovery focus on hybridization (with brook trout) and high stream temperature variations from the top of the system in streams such as Spionkop, which with Yarrow and Blakiston Creeks had the highest numbers of adult bull trout in the survey. In lower sections, temperature is likely too high for bull trout.

Blackburn’s assessment of the likelihood for bull trout recovery is “there’s still hope, if someone cares enough.”

• Alberta also has a Westslope Cutthroat Recovery Plan because that species is also threatened. Alberta Cows and Fish Riparian Habitat Management Society has been front and centre in trying to move from planning to action on recovery of the two fish species. A work day to repair some Allison Creek riparian habitat is scheduled for Oct. 24. Oldman River Chapter has been invited to participate. As well, the chapter has offered to adopt Hidden Creek, a prime bull trout spawning area. What that might entail has yet to be determined.

Can You Help Rescue Our Fish? - IT BEGINS NOW!

Trout Unlimited Canada’s Alberta Fish Rescue

                       Trout Unlimited Canada has begun our annual

                  Fish Rescue from irrigation canals in southern Alberta!

Volunteers transport fish to be measured on shore

Throughout the summer, fish enter Alberta’s irrigation canals as water is diverted from rivers and reservoirs for irrigation and municipal use.  Most of the canals do not have any fish exclusion devices to prevent this from happening.  Once fish enter the canals, they are unable to return to their original systems.

In late fall, the canals are drained and can no longer support aquatic life.  With the help of hundreds of volunteers, Trout Unlimited Canada (with support from Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development), captures thousands of fish and relocates them to functional waterbodies where they can carry out their life cycles.

Since the commencement of Trout Unlimited Canada’s fish salvages in 1996, over 800,000 fish have been rescued. The 2013 Fish Rescue resulted in the capture of 12,036 sportfish and 23,535 non-sportfish — a total of 35,571 fish were recovered from five irrigation canals in southern Alberta. 

Eight sport species and eleven non-sport species were captured at Women's Coulee Diversion (WCD), Western Headworks Canal (WHC), Carseland Bow River Headworks Canal (CBRHC), Waterton-Belly Diversion (WBD) and Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal (LNHC). This year we will also include the Mountain View Leavitt Aetna Headworks Canal (MVLAHC).

 

 In addition to the actual fish salvage, valuable data is collected on the species, size composition, and abundance of entrained fish. The Fish Rescue is also an excellent educational opportunity for adults and children.  Volunteers are given the opportunity to learn about fish identification, handling, life history, and conservation.

Adult volunteers equipped with chest waders may also have the chance to assist the electrofishing crew by dip-netting or transporting fish out of the canal.

If you are interested in participating, we are still looking for volunteers to help us with the Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal Rescue in the Granum/Fort Macleod area taking place October 15, 16, and 17. 

Please contact Elliot Lindsay ELindsay@tucanada.org  or Lesley Peterson LPeterson@tucanada.org

For a full description of the Trout Unlimited Fish Rescue and detailed results, please visit our website at http://www.tucanada.org/index.asp?p=2027

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Lesley Peterson (P.Biol.)  Provincial Biologist   Trout Unlimited Canada
#160, 6712 Fisher St. SE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2H 2A7

        
O/ 1-800-909-6040   D/ 403-209-5185   C/ 403-875-3264   F/ 403-221-8368  

E/ lpeterson@tucanada.org           www.tucanada.org

To Conserve, Protect and Restore Canada’s Freshwater Ecosystems

and Their Coldwater Resources for Current and Future Generations.