Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts

Wednesday, 29 July 2015

Patience, cutthroat! The grasshopper is on it's way...!

(Editor's Note: Thanks to Davd McIntyre for this guest posting. It's about how a couple of unnamed streams are actually the centre of a universe an a thriving elk herd nursery. You will have to imagine the future additions that David describes to the photo below.)


The pictured view looks east from our doorstep into the Rock Creek valley. The creek flows—left to right—into the foreground. Two—and only two—significant year-round streams (unnamed) flow westward to feed the creek from within the pictured limber pine-studded landscape. 

 AltaLink's proposed transmission line (a twinned, 500 kV line), if built, would cross—left to right—the pictured view, and cross each of the described Rock Creek tributaries.

Monica and I, hiking east of our home on Sunday, July 26th, encountered an elk herd as we walked along the southernmost of these two year-round streams. The stream, flowing west, is a significant tributary of Rock Creek, and it exits the hillside a few hundred meters north of the SE corner of S1, T8, R3, W5th. The described location is roughly 1 km southeast of the point where a helicopter, in May of this year—as I reported at that time—and flying as low as an estimated 1 meter above ground level, flew over two grizzlies and scattered a herd of elk. (Of note, both the described locations are on AltaLink's proposed twin-500 kV line traversing the Rock Creek valley.)

The noteworthy aspect of our July 26th (2015) sighting of the elk herd is that the herd, comprised of 40 animals, and moving east, perhaps in response to a threat I couldn't see, or discern, involved 20 adult cows, a single bull elk and, most significantly, contained 19 newborn (June of 2015) calves, i.e., an almost astounding number of calves-to-cows ratio, perhaps especially so given the previously reported grizzly bear consumption of newborn elk calves on the same landscape. 

There are two additional factors, each noteworthy, that relate to landscape and ecological value within the eastern realm of the Rock Creek watershed that may not yet be formally recorded and thus on the "radar" in terms of AltaLink's proposed transmission line.

These factors:

1.The two unnamed streams defined in the accompanying photo caption are the only Rock Creek tributary streams entering the creek from the east. The southernmost of these two streams, a linear waterway, flows directly into Rock Creek. The northernmost stream, after entering the valley bottom in the extreme left portion of the pictured view, feeds a wetland bordering Rock Creek. This wetland, estimated to be on the order of 30 hectares in size, ultimately drains into Rock Creek. Both of the noted streams, and the described wetland, are critical to Rock Creek's flow, and critical to the success of any efforts to include the lower creek as part of the westslope cutthroat trout recovery program.

2. The same two tributary streams define the majority of my observed (via tracks and sightings) east-to-west and west-to-east grizzly movement across the Rock Creek valley and east of the North Burmis Rd. In other words, most grizzlies moving between the Livingstone Range and the Connelly Creek valley via the Rock Creek valley, use these two spring-fed drainages to enter and/or exit the Connelly Creek valley (to the east). Also, most of the grizzly bear sightings and reports that I've provided to you have their origin within the pictured landscape.

A footnote to the July 26th observation of cow and newborn elk calves: While hiking, and after observing the elk, I caught a single grasshopper. Later, as I crossed the footbridge at my doorstep (within the shaded portion of the accompanying picture), I fished the trapped 'hopper from my breast pocket and tossed it into the water. An instant later, in a swirl of water, the grasshopper was gone. One cutthroat beat several others to the prize.  

I love, and live for, the world at my doorstep. Cutthroats, elk and grizzly bears are part of the land's living magic. They give me hope.


David McIntyre
Crowsnest Pass, AB  



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Tuesday, 7 July 2015

10 Ways To Improve Your Wildlife Photography


(Editor's Note: Thanks to Rick Andrews for this great blog article! If you've been following the OWC on Social Media, you'll know that the west is burning. People are in danger, but so are the animals. I read recently that many of those wildfires we are currently struggling to combat have been started by cigarette butts. I don't think you would treat your home the same way. So why are we so careless with our camping in their habitats? After all, we love our wild spaces, too. Here's how to get closer to the creatures who live and raise their families in the watershed.)

10 Ways to Improve your Wildlife Photography
by Rick Andrews



Over the past several years I've photographed wildlife in many locations throughout the Canadian and US Rockies, as well as remote locations such as Nome Alaska and Hokkaido Japan. Along the way I've met many wildlife photographers from those just starting out to seasoned veterans. In fact since the introduction of digital cameras, wildlife photography has never been as popular as it is today, so if you are one of those people who share my passion, here are a few tips to help improve your wildlife photography and keep you safe while doing it.


1. Anticipate the shot. Being ready for a photographic opportunity when it presents itself is half the battle. You don't want to be frantically searching for your camera or fumbling to try and figure out how to turn it on after spotting a roadside animal. It's always better to travel with your camera beside you or at least within easy reach, that way you're likely to end up with something more memorable than a "butt shot" of your subject as it heads back into the forest.


​

Brown-phase Black bear - Waterton Lakes NP

2. Be patient. Patience is probably the greatest asset a wildlife photographer can possess, and being patient and allowing animals to become accustomed to your presence often leads to far more natural shots.

3. Maintain a safe distance. Maintain a safe distance of 100 meters for bears and wolves, and 25 meters for other species. Mammals such as bison, moose, elk and bear can be very unpredictable, and can move surprisingly fast. This is especially true if they feel their young are being threatened, or during the fall when rutting males fiercely protect their harems.

4. Use your vehicle as a blind. Quite often a vehicle makes an excellent blind from which to photograph wildlife. In southern Alberta, birds of prey such as Swainson's hawks and Great Horned owls are often seen sitting atop roadside fence posts. Your chances of getting a close-up shot will be greatly enhanced if you photograph them from your vehicle.

​Great Horned Owl south of Lethbridge

5. Use a tripod. Although using tripods and monopods is sometimes a little clumsy, it will usually lead to better results than simply hand-holding your camera. Alternately you can also use any hard surface such as your vehicle or perhaps even a fallen tree trunk. This is especially true when using your camera's zoom lens which is very sensitive to even the slightest movement. Also practicing to gently squeeze the shutter button instead of deliberately pressing it, will further reduce unwanted camera shake. Be aware too that some cameras may have a slight lag between the time the shutter is depressed and when the photo is actually taken. Keeping the camera absolutely still is therefore essential to get the sharpest image possible.

6. Include habitat. A close-up shot of an animal may make for a great portrait, but it tells us very little else about it. So after you've got your close ups, try a few shots that also include some of its habitat. That way your viewers can see not only what the animal looks like, but where it lives and feeds too.

7. Rule of thirds. The "rule of thirds" divides the image frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically, and positioning the animal at the intersection of two of those lines will create visual interest by strengthening your image. (Some cameras even include this feature in the viewfinder or LCD screen).  Just remember to give your subject room to breathe by framing it so that the animal is looking into the frame, rather than having its face pushed up against the edge.  To create further interest, try composing some of your shots in a portrait orientation. 


​

Rule of thirds Composition


8. Action shots - While its relatively easy to take shots of stationary animals and birds, try further developing your skills by capturing images of them in motion. Birds in flight are a great place to begin, and while it may take a little practice, it can soon lead to some great results.



​
American White Pelican - Oldman River, Lethbridge

9. Look for the unusual. While in Waterton Lakes NP earlier this year, I found a Bighorn ram being pestered by a couple of magpies. As I watched, one of the magpies landed on the horns of the ram, and as it lifted its head I was able to take this somewhat unusual and amusing shot. Again it pays to anticipate this kind of shot so that you're ready if the opportunity arises.


​
Bighorn and Magpies, Waterton Lakes NP


10. Look for wildlife where you live. We often think that in order to take good wildlife shots we need to go "somewhere." But in reality wildlife is all around us here in southern Alberta, and finding wildlife close to where you live, will provide you with many opportunities to photograph them at different times of day, and in different light. For some of us, that opportunity is already available - literally - in our own backyards.



​
Black-capped Chickadee, Lethbridge



Lastly, a word about ethics. As wildlife photographers we should understand that wildlife photography is really all about the wildlife and not the photograph. Needlessly stressing animals or baiting them with food simply to get a shot, is in my opinion, not only unethical, but can also put wildlife, as well as ourselves, in very real danger.

Being attacked by a charging animal because we are too close can lead to serious injury or worse, and regardless of how the attack happened, it usually ends badly for the animal. Likewise animals that become habituated to people, often become a nuisance. The lucky ones are sometimes relocated, the unlucky ones are sometimes destroyed. Surely the life of an animal is worth much more than a photograph.


Rick Andrews is wildlife photographer based in Lethbridge, Alberta, and all of his images featured in this blogpost were taken in the Oldman Watershed.

More of Rick's wildlife imagery can be found at www.rickandrewsphotography.com

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Sunday, 3 May 2015

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

(Editor's Note: We love teddy bears and shoot grizzlies. Yet the world reveres Canada for its majestic, natural landscapes and wildlife. Our farmers and ranchers who steward this landscape are telling another side to the story. Waterton Biosphere is releasing a new film this Friday  - what happens when increasing population, expanding agriculture, loss of habitat, and teddy bear/killer bear legends collide?) 
Sharing the Range:  a film about ranch families living with grizzly bears in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve to be released May 8th, 2015.
Pincher Creek, AB – April 29, 2015 – The Waterton Biosphere Reserve is proud to announce the upcoming release of a short film, Sharing the Range, on May 8, 2015. The film tells the story about the challenges of living with large carnivores and how people in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve (WBR) are meeting those challenges.
The southwestern corner of Alberta, Canada, where the Waterton Biosphere Reserve is located, is home to a large number of people involved with agriculture; it is also home to a high population density of bears. With so many people and carnivores sharing the same habitat, there are bound to be conflicts.
 "We have bears in all this country; lots of sows with little cubs. They've denned near here – so it's not just in the mountains and not just on public lands that we are seeing a lot of grizzly bears. It's on private lands all over the place." Jeff Bectell, rancher, Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association Chair and Coordinator of the WBR Carnivore Working Group
As the Waterton Biosphere Reserve has worked with the local community and wildlife managers to address the issues of living with large carnivores, the need has arisen to share the story of the farmers and ranchers who directly face the many challenges of living with large carnivores; challenges that impact both their livelihood and the safety of their families.   Despite these challenges, southwestern Alberta families are working hard to solve the problems that arise when animals like bears and wolves share the landscape with people and agriculture. It is important for people who care about large carnivores, and people who care about the landscapes of southwestern Alberta, to recognize the effort spent and costs incurred by farmers and ranchers stewarding these lands.   
And so it is that Sharing the Range was produced, offering a glimpse into the lives of farm and ranch families and their struggle to share the land with large carnivores. The farmers and ranchers of the Waterton Biosphere Reserve appreciate the unique landscape in which they live, knowing that their land is prime habitat for wildlife. However, making a living in this environment is not without challenges and wildlife can pose significant concerns for rural families in terms of safety and economics; along with the stress that comes from both worries.
Sharing the Range tells their story:  real people, with real families who work hard to produce healthy food in a sustainable way that allows room for large carnivores to roam.
 "I wish we had a better way of communicating with the general public about who we are. Often I think people misunderstand farmers' and ranchers' feelings about wildlife.  What I would like people to know is that we enjoy seeing a grizzly bear or big bull elk as much as anyone, but when our livelihood and our families are threatened by wildlife over which we have little control, it can be very upsetting to us. My hope is that Sharing the Range will allow people a glimpse into our lives, and a better understanding of the situation which we are living in here in southwestern Alberta." – Tony Bruder, rancher and Area Coordinator for the WBRA Carnivore Working Group
Filmed by award winning filmmaker Leanne Allison, with footage contributed by Jeff Turner, famous cinematographer and wildlife filmmaker; Sharing the Range not only tells an important story of the people in the Waterton Biosphere Reserve, but offers stunning imagery of southwestern Alberta and the grizzlies who call this area home.
The full documentary will premiere May 8th, 2015 at 7pm in the Remington Carriage House Museum Theatre, Cardston, AB.  Everyone is welcome, and we hope you will join us.
View the Sharing the Range trailer and learn more about the film:  www.sharingtherange.com



Contact the WBRA:
Jennifer Jenkins
Communications Coordinator
Waterton Biosphere Reserve Association
jjenkins@watertonbiosphere.com
403 627 9598
Website: www.watertonbiosphere.com
Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/WatertonBiosphereReserve
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Tuesday, 7 April 2015

How far can you see? Is a viewscape valuable?

(Editor's Note: Have you been up northwest of Pincher Creek  in the Livingstone Range? 
There are still remarkable views to be savoured that give you the feeling you are the first person on Earth at the time of creation.)


The pictured view looks northwest toward the eastern slopes of Alberta's Livingstone Range. 

Yesterday afternoon, without really knowing where I was headed, I arrived at an ancient limber pine that, growing from a thrust-faulted alter of sandstone, lies within a spectacular natural sandstone amphitheater. 

My wife and I refer to the location as a vision quest site, but it isn't a prehistoric site as far as we know, or can tell, although it affords views of such sites, and of a Serengeti-like landscape—it's drop-dead gorgeous—that's rich in archaeological and paleontological treasures.

Yesterday's footloose escape took me past blooming wildflowers, flocks of migrating birds, parades of mule deer and flocks of displaying wild turkeys. Overhead, an adult golden eagle soared over a cliffside nesting site. 

Deer and elk sign covered the rough fescue grasslands, where the season's first emerging Columbian ground squirrels could be seen, and where the skeletal remains of a black bear left me to wonder what had caused the animal's death.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, … but in another sense, I was looking at them, and the reason for sleepless nights. I was looking at the Crown of the Continent landscape where AltaLink proposes to erect a view-degrading, ecologically-destroying array of overhead transmission lines.

This morning, from my home overlooking Rock Creek on the eastern flanks of the Livingstone Range, I'm viewing, as I write this message, two moose and herds of mule and white-tailed deer. And I can glance up, above my computer screen, to see a large elk herd that, moving slowly, is grazing its way northward. 

Within this same view, if AltaLink's $750-million wish comes true, I'll soon look out at—and under and through—approximately 3 km of lattice towers and screaming-in-the-wind transmission lines … all paid for by cash-strapped Albertans.


David McIntyre
Crowsnest Pass, AB  



Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Friday, 3 April 2015

Happy Easter!

(Editor's Note: Thanks to David for these lovely photos! The Oldman would love to publish your "Signs of Spring" notes and photos, too! Have a lovely Easter!)

Springtime in the Canadian Rockies:

On a morning recently, it dawned white, revealing an overnight blanket of knee-deep snow—walking isn't easy—and precious few signs of spring. 

But beneath 500+ Bohemian waxwings, dozens of pine grosbeaks, gray-crowned rosy-finches and other "winter" birds, and just above a foraging moose, no less than 11 robins give some hope that the mountain bluebirds and emerging spring wildflowers seen late last week will once again expose themselves.

These bluebird photos courtesy Dames on the Range


The attached images give you a feel for the day—the cow moose stands, fittingly, between a small moose-ravaged aspen and an equally ravaged saskatoon (serviceberry).

The best,

David






David McIntyre
Crowsnest Pass, AB 




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , ,

Monday, 30 March 2015

Ever wondered about your water? TEST IT!

(Editor's Note: Thanks to Jacskon for blogging about how YOU can test your water. Kits are free!)

 AWQA Day, June 5th, 2015
A hands-on approach to increasing water quality awareness in Alberta
Have you ever wondered about the quality of water in your local stream or wetland? 

 You can have the opportunity to learn more about your local waterways by engaging in the Alberta Water Quality Awareness (AWQA) program in 2015. On June 5th we will kick-off our program for the 2015 year!
Alberta Water Quality Awareness (AWQA) aims to increase people's awareness about the health and value of water in Alberta, through hands-on water quality testing. Participants in the program are provided with a free water quality test kit. 

 21 September, 2013 02-51-02 PM

 This easy-to-use kit includes all of the materials needed to analyze four basic water quality parameters: temperature, pH, turbidity and dissolved oxygen. These basic measures of water quality have important implications for fish and wildlife habitat, outdoor recreation, and human health.

Albertans were last able to get their 'feet wet' in 2012, during Alberta's fifth AWQA event. The program was a huge success, with nearly 2000 people, from across the province, actively testing water in their communities. Families, individuals, schools, watershed groups, rural landowners, and community and youth groups all participated in the program. 

 Together these groups collected and tested water samples from over 200 different locations, covering all seven of the major watersheds in Alberta. These results were compiled to create a 'snapshot' of water quality in the province. 

 Results from past years can be viewed at www.awqa.ca

Everyone is invited to participate in AWQA 2015. Interested parties can order their free water quality test kit online at www.awqa.ca. 

 Kits can be ordered as a single, teacher kit package, as well as a special order for those with larger groups of students. AWQA kits will be shipped around mid-May and water quality testing can be done anytime between June 1st and August 31st. A single kit can be used ten times to test any stream, lake, river, wetland, dugout, community pond, reservoir, slough or other surface waterbody in Alberta. It is crucial to the success of this program for the data to be uploaded after collection, don't miss out on this great opportunity to get involved in the outdoors and water education.
Students, or other participants, can go online and add their water quality information to the database atwww.awqa.ca, and together create a picture of water quality in Alberta. Data will also be transferred to the Alberta Tomorrow program where students and citizens can further their engagement in the environment, and data, by working with the land-use simulator. Various teacher resources are on our website which includes lesson plans, worksheets, and more information on the parameters that are being tested.

 awqa_en_2062_Jessica_180

Teacher Resources can be viewed here: http://alms.ca/teacher-resources/
If you want to order your kits today, follow this link: http://alms.ca/order-your-test-kit/


AWQA Day is a program of the Alberta Lake Management Society in partnership with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, and Alberta Tomorrow.AWQA Day is made possible through the generous support of our sponsor EPCOR.
For more information on Alberta Water Quality Awareness please visit www.awqa.ca.

Or contact:
info@alms.ca
(780) 415-9785

--
Jackson Woren, B.Sc, BIT
Lakewatch Technician
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, 4 March 2015

Looking northwest, into the face of time

(Editor's note: Believe it or not, Spring IS coming ... and with it, the time of nestlings, hatchlings and nature babies of all kinds. Thanks, David, for reminding us of these quiet spaces that need our care and attention.)

  Looking northwest, into the face of time

by David McIntyre

The view looks northwest across the Rock Creek valley toward the serrated edge of Alberta's Livingstone Range, a Crown of the Continent-featured landmark. This Oldman Watershed headwaters landscape has no meaningful protection. It remains under threat from potential strip-mining, clear-cut logging and overhead transmission lines. Any of these industrial activities, if realized, would forever scar the land's intrinsic beauty, degrade its ecological integrity and destroy its internationally acclaimed aesthetic virtue. It's this last value that's repeatedly taken the Livingstone Range to Hollywood movie stardom, and created the cachet for its appearance in a 
Remember to Breathe Alberta tourism video.  

When my grandparents were born, the pictured landscape supported herds of buffalo.

When my parents were born, people living here saw their first automobile.

During more recent years, this landscape has emerged as Canada's supreme sailplane soaring site. 

Just 14 years ago the same mountain range was discovered to be the flight path for the world's greatest concentration of migrating golden eagles. More than 5,000 of these majestic birds have soared through the pictured view during a single autumn migration.

Within the past few years, threatened pure-strain westslope cutthroat trout have been found here.

The showcased landscape is also a virtual Serengeti. It supports herds of deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk and moose. It's carpeted with rare rough fescue grasslands. It's home to endangered forests of limber and whitebark pine.

I've seen a wealth of wildlife—including cougars, wolves and grizzlies—within the featured view, which reveals a crossroads of land-managing jurisdictions. Here, on the eastern flanks of the Livingstone Range (public land), the MD of Pincher Creek meets the MD of Ranchland and the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass.

This landscape, today, is under more industrial threats than you can imagine. None would appear to offer any significant economic virtue, or benefit to society as a whole. Each and every one, if permitted, would degrade a geotourism product that Alberta markets internationally.

What's to become of Alberta's remaining heritage landscapes? What will my grandchildren—and yours—have as a meaningful remnant of today's drop-dead-gorgeous vistas?

What can you do to protect the last of the best of this province's heritage forests and rangelands? Some of you can buy—and preserve—vanishing viewscapes, or create conservation easements that offer protection. Most of you can support organizations and groups working to protect Alberta's remaining native grasslands and isolated pockets of headwaters integrity. Everyone can speak their mind to their elected representatives. 

Premier Prentice said this: "If we're serious about becoming a global leader in energy, then we need to become a global leader in environmental performance. Under my leadership, we will establish Alberta as a world leader in the advancement of conservation and the protection of the environment."

Thank you, Premier Prentice. Today's the day to walk the talk.

The Livingstone Range, known to the Piikani as Piitstaistakis (Place of the Eagles), is public land that needs your help. It needs it today. Tomorrow may be too late.


David McIntyre
Crowsnest Pass, AB  




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Monday, 9 February 2015

Livingstone Range landscapes/AltaLink threats/Alberta values


(Editor's note: This is a letter to Premier Prentice by one of our guest bloggers regarding the proposed transmission lines. The topic has many people talking - what do you think? We welcome blog submissions from everyone who is passionate about watershed management and health - making Southern Alberta a great place to live, work and play for generations to come. What are your views? We'd love to hear from you! )

 The Honourable Jim Prentice
Premier of Alberta
Legislature Building
307 - 10800 97 Ave.
Edmonton, AB  T5K 2B6

Dear Premier Prentice,

Subject: Livingstone Range landscapes/AltaLink threats/Alberta values—
and the proposed Castle Rock Ridge to Chapel Rock transmission line 
and substation





The view looks southwest across the crest of the Livingstone Range, a serrated knife-edge flyway for the world's greatest concentration of golden eagles—more than 5,000 have been counted here during a single autumn migration. The Piikani know this landscape as Piitaistakis, Place of the Eagles. It's home to rare rough fescue grasslands, endangered limber pines and whitebark pines. These species serve as a floral frame for a stunning array of wildlife species, including threatened pure-strain westslope cutthroat trout and grizzly bears as well as herds of bighorn sheep, elk, mountain goats and an astonishing number of moose. 

I wrote in mid-October to express concern that AltaLink planned to erect overhead transmission lines across the revered—and internationally marketed—Livingstone Range landscape. My message conveyed the cutting-edge rarity of the targeted land, and included two images revealing beauty and intrigue that, words alone, couldn't convey.

I brought the AltaLink threat to your attention because I felt it constituted an affront to the people of Alberta, and presented a crippling threat to southwestern Alberta and its world-renowned tourism values. 

Energy Minister Frank Oberle, responding to the message I sent you, wrote to me in mid-November. Were it not for his signature on the letter I might have guessed that it came from the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC).Why? The letter reads just like the AUC website, and gives the impression that the Gov. of AB and the AUC speak with the same voice. I found the letter disturbing in many ways, but particularly from the perspective that Minister Oberle, instead of responding to my concern, asked me to ask AltaLink what I asked of you: to protect Alberta's social, economic and environmental integrity.

AltaLink continues to operate in apparent contradiction to the words of its President and CEO, Scott Thon, and in seeming defiance of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP), a document that's crystal clear in its commitment to concentrate new development within existing industrial corridors. AltaLink's plans, if implemented, would create new industrial corridors and further destroy rare native rough fescue grasslands and endangered tree species. Additionally, the company's proposed roads, lines and lattice towers would, if allowed, invade a virtual Serengeti on the eastern flanks of the Livingstone Range. This is a landscape that's home to bighorn sheep, elk, moose, mountain goats, and two species of deer.

AltaLink, based on my experiences, has consistently failed to demonstrate a commitment to protect iconic landscapes, internationally marketed tourism values, ecological integrity, or this province's increasingly rare heritage rangeland viewscapes. Progressive countries—and electrical companies—are burying power lines within scenic vistas and areas exhibiting rare ecological integrity. Here in Alberta, AltaLink proposes to string new overhead transmission lines across this country's—and Alberta's—most treasured and tourism-marketed landscapes. The footprint of this specific AltaLink-proposed project is huge, the impacts colossal. 

Is the proposed Castle Rock Ridge to Chapel Rock transmission line needed? Many reviewers feel it isn't. The cumbersome and complex components of the current processes (involving AUC, AESO and AltaLink) are not transparent, and seem to benefit the named utilities at the expense of society as a whole. Today in Alberta, perceived electrical need and dissemination appear to be of more importance than all other values combined.
The AltaLink targeted landscape is much more than a rural landscape. It's a location on which Hollywood movies are filmed. It's the wide-open-spaces of the Cowboy Trail, the relatively unpeopled corridor through which millions of Albertans move from city homes to recreational, headwaters escapes. It's home to the world's greatest concentration of migrating golden eagles. It's a landscape featured in Travel Alberta's "Remember to Breathe" tourism campaigns. It's Canada's premier sailplane soaring site. It's a place that's remarkable in its beauty, its viewscapes, grandeur and biological diversity. It supports rare species, threatened species and endangered species. It's a landscape marketed as part of National Geographic's Crown of the Continent Geotourism initiative. It's quintessential Alberta. It's here today, but it's going to disappear if it isn't protected for tomorrow.

I participated—for six long years!—in the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP), completed workbooks and spent countless days in efforts to aid the final product. As I read the completed plan, I'm struck by how AltaLink's current transmission line proposals fail to meet the intent of the SSRP, despite the fact that its President and CEO, Scott Thon in a public statement (October, 2007) promised that his company would follow the guidelines in the plan. He said this: "Respecting the land and resources means Alberta must adopt new principles of minimizing the footprint, maximizing capacity infrastructure and conserving the land resource. At AltaLink we are taking an innovative approach to transmission by focusing first on reusing existing rights-of-way and reusing the land currently occupied by older, lower capacity lines for new, high capacity lines before we look to cut a new path of land."

From the SSRP: "Land-use decisions should strive to reduce disturbances on Alberta's landscape." Examples of the "built environment" that should not expand include utility rights-of-way. 

AltaLink's proposed lines and substation would create a new network of access roads through native rough fescue grassland, already rare in Alberta; cut through forests of endangered limber pines; and interfere with a wildlife corridor—it follows the Rock Creek valley—that is planned to save motorists millions of dollars in vehicle-wildlife accidents while creating safe wildlife movement across Highway #3.  

Biologists with Alberta Fish and Wildlife and staff from Southern Alberta Land Trust and the Nature Conservancy of Canada have identified the Rock Creek Corridor as critical for its outstanding conservation values. Addressing the need to foster these values, Alberta Transportation is an active partner in ongoing plans to create Highway 3 overpasses and/or underpasses.

AltaLink's existing transmission lines in the Pincher Creek area have proved deadly for waterfowl, and since this problem was identified (January, 2014), AltaLink has expanded its network of overhead transmission lines in the same area. 

AltaLink now proposes to erect overhead transmission lines to the west, crossing bodies of water that are staging areas for tundra and trumpeter swans. 

The existing lines, and any new lines, are almost certain to translate into what might be termed line-induced mortality among avian scavengers, including bald and golden eagles. And since the entire Livingstone Landowner Group (LLG) landscape is located within the migration route of the world's greatest concentration of golden eagles (thousands), and countless additional raptors, there's the potential for significant mortality among eagles and other carcass-scavenging birds if lines are allowed to further invade the eagles' core migration route. 


All of AltaLink's current proposals, instead of following the AUC's direction, aligning with the SSRP, and living up to AltaLink retoric, call for the creation of new overhead transmission lines in close proximity to one, or more, of the tundra and trumpeter swan staging areas located between the Livingstone Range and Highway 22. This same area, as revealed via LLG's and Miistakis Institute's Land Values Assessment of Livingstone Porcupine Hills and Crowsnest Areas, is significant to grizzly bears, and to multiple species of native ungulates (including deer, elk and moose). It's also home to rare rough fescue grasslands and at least one endangered species (limber pine).

From the SSRP: "Additionally the southern Rocky Mountain areas are critical to the long-term survival of grizzly bears, wolverines and lynx, which require habitat connectivity from Montana north and through Kananaskis." 

Also from the SSRP: "Industrial development … increases the risk of invasive species." 

AltaLink has an extremely poor track record with respect to weed control under its existing lines and along its access roads. In fact, there are numerous locations within the Livingstone Range landscape on which knapweed and blueweed, both prohibited weeds, almost appear to have been deliberately cultivated and propagated by AltaLink. Exacerbating this problem, transmission lines in areas of high topographic relief are accompanied by road networks that may be as much as five times the length of the serviced transmission lines. Existing roads, often heavily eroded, are typically weed infested. 

The SSRP emphasizes the importance of biodiversity and the broad range of ecosystem services provided by the landscape. The eastern slopes of the Livingstone Range are remarkable in terms of wildlife diversity (including threatened cutthroat trout) and plant communities (including rare, threatened and endangered species). The creeks that flow from this knife-edged mountain range are part of the watershed (identified as having the highest value). The natural values must be protected for the ecosystem services they provide, but also to allow tourism and filming opportunities. 

From the SSRP: "A competitive tourism industry depends on a sufficient supply of land where the integrity of attractive features, settings and scenery are (sic) maintained and long-term access is provided." 

The placement of AltaLink's existing 500 kV line (circa 1983) on the eastern flanks of the Livingstone Range was a terrible aesthetic, ecological and social mistake. Society has been forced to weather its consequences. A progressive and socially responsive electrical provider would bury this line and its chronic problems, its colossal maintenance costs and its high-pitched, maniacal "screaming" noises. (This noise spreads outwards for upwards of 10 km from its countless points of origin.)

It would be tragic to allow history to repeat itself, to permit AltaLink to erect additional lines and towers on this Crown of the Continent-marketed landscape.

It's this land's wild, sweeping views that capture the heart and imagination of those who look out upon it. It's the allure of productive rangelands and the close juxtaposition of foothills and mountains that serve as a magnet. Near my home, I once stopped to ask a busload of photographers what it was that brought them here. The first person to respond said this: "It's more spectacular than the Icefields Parkway." Many artists, with chairs and easels at road's edge, stop and attempt to capture this same sublime enchantment.

Paradise is threatened. Here on heaven's doorstep, we risk losing the appeal that makes Alberta, Alberta. Erecting lattice towers and placing overhead transmission lines across an iconic Canadian landscape would kill the goose that lays the golden geotourism egg. 

The SSRP emphasizes promoting efficient use of land as a strategic direction. 

From the SSRP: "All land-use planners, land users and decision-makers are encouraged to consider the efficient use of land principles when land-use planning and decision-making on public and private land … to ensure that it occurs in a manner that minimizes the amount of land that is taken up by development." 

Why is AltaLink not proposing to upgrade existing lines, and follow existing utility corridors?  

From the SSRP: "Linear infrastructure such as …utility corridors…require large areas of land and … fragment the land base. The placement and development of this infrastructure needs to be done in a way that reduces the fragmentation of valued landscapes and also minimizes the overall built environment footprint." 

This same please-save-the-land vision is echoed in the "Community Values Assessment for the M.D. of Pincher Creek No. 9" (March 2012). Residents were asked to rate the importance of 38 value statements. Five of the fifteen highest rated value statements pertained to protecting the natural environment and maintaining natural wildlife and fish populations. Survey participants also strongly supported setting aside land in an undisturbed state for habitat protection, and identified the beautiful scenery as the best thing about living in the M.D. of Pincher Creek. (It's significant to note that AltaLink's latest proposed power line network would invade the M.D. of Pincher Creek's designated (2008) Heritage Viewscape. Included within this view: the DU Ranchlands Cabin set against the magnificent Livingstone Range. (This viewscape is expected to be endorsed provincially and nationally.)

The question is this: Will Alberta allow a nationally recognized—and internationally lauded—landscape to be destroyed by industrial intrusions?

I have provided you with the preceding to assist you in your articulated desire to establish Alberta as a global leader in environmental performance, a world leader in the advancement of conservation and protection of the environment. 

The Livingstone Range needs your help today.

Sincerely and respectfully,

David McIntyre
Crowsnest Pass, AB  

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, 21 November 2014

Cold-weather hunting—in quest of headwaters grandeur

(Editor's note: Thanks to David McIntyre for this unique look at some of our most treasured wilderness areas. 
The OWC welcomes submissions from everyone who seeks to make 
the Oldman watershed a better place to live, work and play. 
Let's hear your point of view!)


A recent (Nov. 9th) Arctic front turned a warm and idyllic autumn upside down. Almost overnight, temperatures dropped to near-record lows.

The following images were taken on Nov. 12th and 13th, when the morning temperature on my doorstep was -27 C. The views feature the frigid headwaters of the Crowsnest River, and capture some of the region's most cherished landmarks:

 
Crowsnest Mountain and the Seven Sisters command the skyline in this view of the upper Crowsnest River valley. Crowsnest Mountain, like Chief Mountain to the south, is a quintessential power peak,
 the focal point for countless prehistoric vision quests sites.

Wedge Mountain, tucked almost inconspicuously beneath Crowsnest Mountain and the Seven Sisters, sustains forests of endangered limber and whitebark pines, while Douglas-firs dominate the foreground landscape. Wedge Mountain, an eroded remnant of the Crowsnest Volcanics, is also home to big sage (Artemisia tridentata), a rare plant in Alberta.

The knife-edged, serrated crest of the Livingstone Range cuts upward into the dawn of a cold, blue-sky day.
The Piikani know the mountain range as Piitaistakis, Place of the Eagles.

The foreground forest seems to stand in watch as sunlight hits the eastern flanks of the
Livingstone Range beneath Centre Peak.

Avalanche chutes converge in whimsical fashion amid morning shadows on the eastern flanks of the
Livingstone Range.


David McIntyre
Crowsnest Pass, AB  




Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)