|
|
If You Admire the View,
You Are a Friend Of Kananaskis
In this month's newsletter...
- Kananaskis Speaker & Discovery Series
- Membership Survey Results
- Public Land Partnership
- Kananaskis Trail Builders Coalition
- Mountain National Parks - Management Plan Survey
- News from the Board -- Comings and Goings
- Outdoor Ethics Part 2: Planning, Planning, Planning
- The Critters of K-Country: Bighorn Sheep
Kananaskis Speaker & Discovery Series
by Nancy Ouimet, Executive Director
The 2019 winter Kananaskis Speaker and Discovery Series in partnership with Alberta Parks and in collaboration with the University of Calgary – Palliser Club offers a variety of presentation topics and discovery events at the University of Calgary or at the Peter Lougheed Discovery Centre. Here's the upcoming lineup.
University of Calgary – at 7:00pm, Science Theatres – ST 135 (Map)
DANAH DUKE, MIISTAKIS INSTITUTE – March 7
How Do Animals in Alberta Cross the Road?
 Transportation infrastructure across the world poses numerous environmental challenges, affecting our air, landscapes and water. From a landscape perspective, roads and railways cause wildlife mortality through collisions and act as a significant barrier to wildlife movements. The Miistakis Institute aims to generate awareness of the challenges that transportation infrastructure poses to wildlife and to promote workable solutions to these challenges. Examples will be given from their work addressing wildlife connectivity and highway mitigation along Highway 3, Highway 1 and Highway 68 in Alberta.
KRIS KENDELL, ALBERTA CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION – March 27
Amphibians of Kananaskis: insights in their conservation and stewardship
 Join Kris Kendell, biologist with Alberta Conservation Association, for an informative presentation about the amphibians of Kananaskis Country. During the presentation you will increase your knowledge of the many unique adaptations and life histories of this fascinating group of animals. You will also learn about the greatest threats to their survival as well as actions you can take in your backyard, or on your land, that can benefit amphibians. The presentation will also explore how citizen scientists have contributed to the advancement of amphibian conservation in Alberta.
Peter Lougheed Discover Centre – at 1:00pm, meet in the Discovery Centre (Directions)
 LEITH MONAGHAN – Sunday, March 24
Winter Ecology
Join outdoor enthusiast Leith Monaghan as she explores how the world around us changes as we move into the winter season. Dress warm and prepare to be outside! Please bring snowshoes (limited snowshoes are available).
**No sign up required, all events free with $5 suggested donation**
Membership Survey Results
 In October-November 2018 we circulated our Membership Survey in various communications, and received 94 completed surveys (63 responses having volunteered in a FKC activity and 31 responses having never volunteered in a FKC activity). These folks have been FKC members for 1-5 years (73%) and for over 6 years (27%) and residents of Calgary (63%), Canmore (26%), Cochrane (5%), and Bragg Creek, Airdrie, Mallarville, Lethbridge and Didsbury.
The majority of people (99%) enjoy hiking, followed by xc skiing (70%), snowshoeing (66%), mountain biking (47%) and other activities such as trail running, backcountry/frontcountry camping, paddling, and climbing.
The overall ratings and feedback provided was good, positive, with constructive feedback. People have joined FKC to support Kananaskis Country in a tangible way, and help work on trails. Their participation gives them a sense of giving back with an opportunity to build/maintain the trails they use. This is at its core what makes the FKC trail program unique.
There are good learnings from what people like the least about FKC activities, such as the occasional long hikes to worksite. Comments were shared regarding the orientation and safety paperwork being too lengthy, long driving distance, and the need for carpooling opportunities.
Our Crew Leaders rating for leadership, safety and training was 4.48/5 stars, and volunteer rated their level of appreciation when volunteering at 4.43/5. On a 1-4 scale, volunteers rated their experience as Great (60%), Good (30%), Neutral (8%), and Poor (2%) – with 90% likely to continue to volunteer.
There were also clear indications as to why people are not volunteering, such as being too busy or inconvenient days/times, and being uncertain of necessary skills, fitness, strenuous work.
Other than helping with specific trail care initiatives, people mentioned they would be interested in other environmental work such as clean ups, invasive management, restoration, and a few indicated interest in Board/committee work or office support.
There were many comments and feedback throughout the survey. These gave us more perspective on what’s working and what needs improvement. We heard you and we will be working towards improving the following in 2019:
- Ensuring our volunteer trail activities are offered on both weekdays and weekend to accommodate all schedules.
- Ensuring our volunteer trail activities provide opportunities for all levels of ability, fitness, ages, and ensure people feel competent and inspired to participate.
- Car pooling! We heard this loud and clear and will look into options for this.
- Offering family/kid friendly volunteer opportunities.
- Ensuring you, the devoted volunteers, are well-thanked and appreciated.
- Offering more notice for volunteer opportunities.
- Kicking off the trail day as prepared and efficiently as possible, while incorporating the necessary paperwork, orientation, and safety requirements.
 A BIG thank you to our members who took the time to complete the survey. Your feedback is always welcome, no need to wait for our next survey, just send us an email or call us 403-678-5593.
If you don't already have a FKC volunteer profile, we encourage you to set one up HERE. This is the site where you sign up for volunteer opportunities and get added to our volunteer email list. You'll receive our WHAT'S HAPPENING communication with all our volunteer and event updates.
Public Land Partnership
Established in  1979 to prevent conflicts between motorized and non-motorized recreational activities, the the Kananaskis Country Public Land Use Zone (KC-PLUZ) is a 12,083 square kilometre area within Kananaskis Country. The Elbow Valley is located in the KC-PLUZ accessed off Hwy 66 west of Calgary. Recent trail camera data in the Elbow Valley indicates that trails in the KC-PLUZ receive some of the highest visitation in Kananaskis. This is likely due to the proximity of the Elbow Valley to Calgary. The Greater Bragg Creek Trail Association and Moose Mountain Bike Trail Society currently maintain specific trail systems within the KC-PLUZ, which leaves an additional 140km of trails not maintained.
The Friends are embarking on a new partnership with Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP), aimed at providing our volunteers with opportunities to maintain and improve popular recreation trails in the KC-PLUZ. We anticipate it will take us two years to get organized to fully start implementing this initiative, which will initially include integrating the following approach:
- Tools and Equipment: Purchase of hand tools and OH&S equipment to support a 15-person trail crew for trail maintenance projects.
- Trail Inventory: Inventory trails currently not maintained to assess trail conditions and identify issues.
- Multi-Year Work Plan: Trail inventory data will be used to create multi-year work plan. This plan will be presented to AEP for approval.
 The 2013 flood significantly affected trails in the Kananaskis County. AEP established the Backcountry Trail Rehabilitation Program to ensure trail access was restored on Public Land. In collaboration with the Friends, a few priority recreational trails in the KC-PLUZ were restored and improved between 2014-2016, including the Prairie Creek and Powderface Creek trails. During the 2019 trail season, the Friends will continue our maintenance work on the Prairie Creek and Powderface Creek trails. We will first reassess the trail conditions since last maintained in 2016, followed by recruiting and engaging volunteers to help improve those issues. Picture on right features FKC volunteers working on a Powderface Creek Trail re-route in August 2016.
This new initiative will help address issues such as eroded trail surface, braided alignments, and poor drainage that are creating unsafe conditions and increased environmental impact. Considering the level of use these trails receive, this partnership is timely to start addressing these issues and improve their long-term sustainability.
Additionally, our work in this new area of Kananaskis will offer shorter driving distances from the Calgary base of many of our volunteers, and we anticipate there will be varying levels of trail work from easy branch brushing to widen the trails line of sight, to medium, and harder trail maintenance. We look forward to sharing these volunteer opportunities starting in June. 2019 is going to be an awesome trail stewardship season!
Kananaskis Trail Builders Coalition
There are a number of groups who work with AEP on various Kananaskis Country trail systems. Each of these organizations has successful volunteer trail building and maintenance programs. Collectively, these organizations engage hundreds of volunteers in trail stewardship initiatives each year that improve Kananaskis trails and its recreational experience. To maximize resources, build capacity, and help set consistencies and standards among all groups and across the region, the Friends is helping establish a Kananaskis Trail Builders Coalition. The Coalition consists of the following groups:
- Friends of Kananaskis Country
- The Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association
- Moose Mountain Bike Trail Society
- The Great Divide Trail Association
- Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance
- Canmore Area Mountain Biking Association
These groups met on February 11 to begin discussions on how to collaborate and ensure each group is providing safe and enjoyable volunteer opportunities. 2019 priorities will include improving Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) practices and procedures, and create additional training resources. This will include all six groups teaming up to offers a Regional Volunteer Crew Leader Training Course for about 55 Crew Leaders.
Crew Leaders are the front line supervisors for the volunteer trail crew. The Crew Leader is responsible for teaching and supervising a team of volunteers to maintain a safe and respectful working environment and instilling in them a sense of responsibility, while managing the technical tasks of a particular project. Training and experience in OH&S techniques, processes and procedures is critical to ensure the trail project and crews are well-managed and safe. Crew Leader training courses will cover the following topics: Crew Leader roles and responsibility, hazard assessments and mitigation, emergency response plans, tool safety, trail building and maintenance safety techniques, and respectful workplace.
The Coalition presents an exciting opportunity to collaborate and maximize resources for the greater benefit of each group.
2018 Crew Leader Training (FKC & Greater Bragg Creek Trail Association Crew Leaders)
Mountain National Parks - Management Plan Survey
The Canada National Parks Act requires that each of Canada’s national parks have a management plan, which is reviewed every ten years. A management plan identifies the vision and long-term strategic direction for the park, and describes how that vision and direction will be achieved. It also describes how the park’s natural and cultural resources will be protected while promoting public understanding and appreciation, and facilitating exceptional visitor experiences.
Parks Canada is updating the current management plan for Banff, Kootenay, Yoho, Jasper, Mount Revelstoke and Glacier National Parks. One of the first steps in this process is determining what issues and opportunities will be priorities for the new plan to address. As National Parks are held in trust for Canadians, Parks Canada is seeking your views. Input from this process will be used to shape the contents and the engagement process for the draft management plan.
Parks Canada is engaging with stakeholders, the public and Indigenous Peoples from January 30, 2019 to April 30, 2019. Share your feedback: https://www.letstalkmountainparks.ca/
|
|
Shaggy February sheep in the wildlife underpass -- Photo courtesy of Alberta Environment and Parks
News from the Board -- Comings and Goings
By Derek Ryder, Co-Chair
We were saddened to receive the resignation of our bookkeeper, Lawrence Nyman, in late November. Lawrence joined us in early 2015. He brought to the organization a significant amount of non-profit bookkeeping experience and tremendous expertise in QuickBooks, our accounting software. He was  instrumental in substantially improving our budgeting processes, moving us away from cheque writing and onto the TelPay platform, and also helped us with improving financial reporting processes. In 2015, he even acted as part-time office management on occasion, covering for Nancy while she was on vacation. Lawrence is well-respected in the Bow Valley, both as a bookkeeper and member of the community (including extensive volunteer work with the Rotary Club and others), and he will be missed.
We are pleased, though, to announce that Sachi Kitazaki has joined us as our new part-time bookkeeper. She’s not just a CA and a CPA, she also has a Master’s Degree in Accounting. New to the Bow Valley, she previously worked for the City of Red Deer in an accounting role in the Community Services division (which includes their Parks and Recreation sections), and as a Capital Asset accountant and a Financial Analyst. She’s also done auditing and forensic auditing, plus spent time as an accountant with two large professional accounting firms. She has extensive experience volunteering her accounting and bookkeeping skills in the community and non-profit sector. She is eager to take the incredible depth she has in bookkeeping and accounting, and further enhance the financial management and reporting of the Friends.
The Board takes managing the fiscal situation of your society very seriously. Good quality financial data from our bookkeeper is essential to an understanding of where we are and where we are going. While several folks on our Board (as well as Nancy) have financial management skills, our bookkeeper is on the "front line" and sees all our financial transactions. As Lawrence (and his predecessors) have shown, the better our bookkeeper, the better our organization.
Please join me in both saying a sad goodbye and thank you to Lawrence, and giving a warm welcome to Sachi. |
|
Outdoor Ethics Part 2: Planning, Planning, Planning
2nd in a series by Derek Ryder, Director of Communications
Part 1 of this series introduced the concepts of Leave No Trace Canada, and noted the 7 principles of Leave No Trace. The first of these principles is “Plan Ahead and Prepare”.
An obvious question is “ How can planning ahead and good preparation be associated with outdoor ethics?” The combination of unexpected conditions and poor planning can have a deleterious effect on people and cause the degradation of backcountry resources.
One personal example: I’m a fair weather hiker, but rain happens (especially thunderstorms). I was out on a trail once in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, still about 5 km from the car, when a storm blew in and it started to really come down. I put on my rain gear and continued, but within minutes, ran into a group of underprepared hikers. No rain gear (they were soaked), and they wearing just shorts with no extra  layers (they were cold). In an effort to try to remedy the problem, they had ripped a pile of branches off some trees, tried to build a makeshift lean-to, which wasn’t working as a rain shelter at all ( I find a lot of lean-tos in the woods, like the one pictured at right). They made a fire ring out of rocks, and were in the process of trying to light a fire inside the lean-to. The wet, green branches wouldn’t light, (thank goodness, or they would have set the lean-to on fire and probably the whole forest, too). When the rain subsided, there was now a total mess in the forest right on the trail, of ripped down branches and damaged trees, plus a rock ring. The funny part was, had they done their proper prep work, or known the area, or even known what to do in this case, there was lots of ready, dry shelter areas less than 100 m away against some rock bands.
 Another personal example where the bad planning was mine: I was canoeing with a group from Banff to Canmore, starting at Bow Falls ( the start's pictured at right), and not 15 minutes after leaving Bow Falls, sweepers (downed trees in the river) in a section of the river we later found was "notorious" capsized all but 3 of our 10 boats. As an upright boat, we rescued half a dozen people (and a dog) and got them to shore. We had extra layers and warm gear, and started to get everyone warmed up. Not being that clear on exactly where we were, someone built a small fire to start drying people out. Turns out we were just ~200 m from the edge of the Golf Course. An hour later, the Banff Park Wardens came by on a jet boat and encouraged us to put the fire out (and destroy any evidence it was there). Folks in our party had to come back a few days later and remove 2 canoes from the river that were wrapped around trees, becoming both hazards and permanent fixtures on the landscape. Had we understood the route and the hazards better, rather than relying on only the party's lead boat to know, avoiding the hazards or even dealing with the dumped boats would have looked a LOT different. “Bad planning” on our group’s part created a rescue situation even though we were prepared to self-rescue, and prevented us from finding easy ways out.
In 2017, we ran a 6 part series in this newsletter on planning and preparedness from a safety perspective. The Leave No Trace principles on preparedness are not focused so much on safety, as the impact that bad planning can have on backcountry resources. Those of you who attended February 2019 Speaker Series talk from Matt Muller of Kananaskis Public Safety heard about how rock rescues can require drilling and installing bolts on un-bolted routes – permanent markers on the landscape. Whether it’s building emergency shelters, or being ill-equipped for what our unforgiving mountains can throw at you, there’s a real impact on the ground from unpreparedness. It’s readily avoidable, and when done right, leaves the wilderness ready for the next people to see it in its original state.
 One area the Leave No Trace program focuses on in particular is meal planning. From the use of stoves instead of fires, to minimizing food packaging, to packing out what you pack in, even day hikers can Leave No Trace when they eat by just a bit of better planning.
For instance, just because it’s biodegradable, doesn’t mean it should be left behind. Apple cores, orange peels, and sunflower seed or pistachio hulls take at least 6 months and sometimes years to decompose, aren’t attractive on the landscape, and create habituation behaviours in critters like ground squirrels (who bite and carry pests).
In backpacking, planning meals limits your impact, and one-pot meals is the best way to go. Not only do they minimize pots and pans to carry, everything can be made on one stove (instead of a campfire), and they limit the number of utensils needed, as often you can eat with the ones you cook with.
I have found bits of every single type of granola/energy bar wrapper in K-Country, too. One suggestion Leave No Trace Canada has is to remove all packaging (where practical) and repackage EVERYTHING in re-sealable, reusable containers before leaving home. Once empty, put the empty bags or containers inside each other and carry them out. A simple, compact solution to the waste problem.
Even dog waste merits planning. Carrying the waste bags is one thing; how do you plan on taking them out? A Ziploc bag that can take all the poop bags safely and without any mess is an outstanding solution; leaving them on the side of the trail “to pick up on the trip back” is suboptimal at best.
 Good planning involves knowing your route. When you know where you are going, most (but not all) rock cairns, unofficial tree blazes and flagging tape become unnecessary; creating new ones is always superfluous. I have no doubt that anyone who has spent time in K-Country has found cairns in the strangest of places that don't add any value whatsoever to route finding. The 6' tall tower on Red Ridge pictured at right is just one example of an unnecessary cairn that is clearly not "leaving no trace" and offering no navigation value. Adding new cairns because "you" think the next person will need them suggests a lack of planning on your part, given the likely thousands of folks who have been there before you and found their way without them.
Good planning results in minimizing impact on the landscape, whether through reduction of your harm, or reduction of the risk that you’ll need help or run into trouble. We certainly can’t plan for every contingency, and can’t carry everything we need for every potential risk every day. But a good plan can take us a long way, and nature (and the next folks along the trail) will thank us for it.
|
|
The Critters of K-Country: Bighorn Sheep
30th in a series by Derek Ryder, IGA Interpretive Guide
Kananaskis Country is home to a wide variety of creatures, great and small. Big ones, like bears and elk, get a lot of attention. In this series, I’m going to look at some of the ones we pay less attention to.
 Truth is, it’s hard to not pay attention to Bighorn Sheep, Alberta’s provincial animal. They’re the ones causing regular roadblocks in places like the top of the Canmore Hill on 742, on Hwy 40 near Barrier Lake, near Galatea, near Grizzly Creek ( pictured at right), and at the Kananaskis Lakes Trail Turnoff, the Sibbald Flats, all along the Sheep and Elbow Trails, to name a few.
Since they’re reasonably well known, I won’t cover too much of the basics, but instead touch on some things you probably don’t know about these critters.
For starters, really cold weather is good for them. When they breathe it in, it kills parasites they get like lungworm, so mild winters can be hard on them. Yes, they lick salt off the road (they love salt and travel far to get to mineral licks), but they also eat gravel, in part to get some essential minerals, but also because it aids in their digestion of the tough grasses and lichens they eat.
 They get growth rings on their horns (which they don’t shed because they're horns, not antlers) but it takes some close inspection to age them. That’s because they make a few rings every year, and only the major ones are annual ones. I’ve studied the photo at left in detail and can’t for the life of me figure out the animal’s age.
Bighorn sheep generally hate being in a forest and are rarely found more than 200 m away from open areas. Ben Gadd suggests that fire suppression in the last 100 years has created more forests and less open space, reducing bighorn habitat and isolating populations. This is exacerbated by the fact that Bighorn flocks use a small  grazing area of only a few square kilometres. The flock that’s at the top of the Canmore Hill, for instance, is never very far from the top of that hill. Only young sheep disbursing from flocks move very far, and they don’t go much farther than 40 km.
Flocks are always run by an old ewe, which leads the flock on a regular circuit of feeding areas, so that Canmore Hill crowd is there for a few days, gone for a couple of weeks, then come back. The one male who won the famous head butting contests in November/December joins them for a bit to mate, then generally leaves (and is often killed by predators, weakened by so many head butts and so much mating). The ewes and lambs stay generally lower, the males drift off into little flocks  higher up in the mountains ( the photo above right is a typical male flock in September, high up in the rocks). Lambs are predated by many critters including like lynx, coyote and golden eagles, and both adults and lambs are taken by cougars, grizzlies and wolves.
Most people know Bighorns build up a thick winter coat which sheds in June, making them look almost mangy for a month or so. While they likely have skin parasites and ticks (remember: anywhere with Bighorns is VERY tick prone), that shedding is normal and not a sign of anything.
|
|
Your Donations are Always Appreciated and Needed
We are pleased to recognize the contributions of the Calgary Foundation, The Auxilium Foundation, Alberta Government - Community Initiatives Program, FortisAlberta, TransAlta, Banff Canmore Community Foundation, Town of Canmore, Alberta TrailNet, OnwardUP, Alberta Apparel, and the many individual donors and clubs & organizations who support our work.
There are many ways to express your gratitude for Kananaskis Country and we are always grateful for contributions that help us maintain our programs and operations. We provide charitable receipts for donations over $25. You can donate directly by mail or through the donations link on our website.
Donations made through CanadaHelps now have the option to include a dedication designation for your contribution.
Friends of Kananaskis Country
201-800 Railway Avenue
Canmore, AB T1W 1P1
403-678-5593
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
