What’s new with WBRA
Photo by Andrea Morehouse
Exploring Wetlands Near You
Invertebrate searching. Photo by WBRA
Wetland Field Day
Police Outpost Provincial Park provided a beautiful backdrop for a fun-filled day of outdoor learning during our recent Wetland Field Day!
In this curriculum linked field trip, grade 5 students from Cardston Elementary School explored the great outdoors where they learned various aspects of healthy land and water stewardship.
Thank you to our many supporters who help make this day possible including the Cardston Elementary School, Environment and Climate Change Canada , Alberta Conservation Association, Waterton Lakes National Park, Oldman Watershed Council , and of course to the teachers, parents, and community volunteers.
Getting Limber for Conservation
Recovering Vulnerable Limber Pine within WBR
Please join us in wishing 4600 limber pine seedlings good luck in their new home!
WBR partnered with the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation of Canada(WBPEF-C) and the Burton family of the Burke Creek Ranch to plant these limber pine seedlings on the landscape in late September.
This mass planting is one important step toward the long-term coordinated recovery efforts of this keystone species.
Why do limber pine need a helping hand?
Limber pine are a slow-growing, five-needle pine tree.
These hardy lifeforms can thrive in exposed, steep, rocky, and of course, windy areas. They are often shaped, bent, and twisted by our strong winds. You may recognize this gnarled figure thanks to the locally infamous Burmis Tree in Crowsnest Pass.
As one of two endangered tree species in Alberta, limber pine are seeing rapid declines throughout their once wide-ranging populations.
Limber pine. Photo by WBRA
Active blister rust. Photo by WBRA
Limber Pine Threats
One of the leading threats to limber pine is a human-introduced fungus called white pine blister rust. The fungus first infects the needles of the tree, eventually making its way down to the main stem. From here, the fungus blocks life-giving water and nutrient supplies, which often leads to the death of the tree.
Fire suppression, mountain pine beetles, and climate change are also among the threats facing limber pine.
Special Seedlings
The 4600 seedlings planted this September by WBPEF-C and WBR weren’t just any limber pine seedlings…
To ensure seedlings have the best chance for survival, the WBPEF-C and their partners select cones from parent trees showing signs of blister rust resistance with the hope that these new trees will be more resilient towards their greatest threat.
Before these seedlings arrived for planting, they had been carefully nurtured by WBPEF-C for two years while they were monitored for blister rust resistance qualities!
Clark’s nutcracker. Photo by JH Williams
The Birds and the Trees
The Clark’s nutcracker, a jay-sized bird belonging to the crow family, has an insatiable appetite for five-needle pine cone seeds. In autumn, the Clark’s nutcrackers are busy at work using their sharp beak to pry into whitebark and limber pine cones.
Five-needle pine seeds can’t move like some other seeds spread by wind or water and rely on this hungry bird to help disperse their seeds to plant new trees.
Once they have picked through a cone, the Clark’s nutcracker will hold the seeds under their tongue in a special pouch and will fly up to 10 kilometers to cache, or bury for later eating, their fat and protein-rich meal. The seeds that aren’t later eaten by the Clark’s nutcracker may get the chance to root and grow into a mature tree.
On average, how many limber pine seeds can the Clark’s nutcracker cache in a year?
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Bear Safety Training in WBR
Sharing the landscape safely
Thank you to those who attended the Bear Safety Workshops held in Kimball and Standoff this October!
Jeff Bectell, WBR’s Carnivores and Communities Program (CACP) Coordinator and Mike Gibeau of the Southern Alberta Land Trust Society presented on topics including bear biology and behaviour, elements of the WBR’s CACP, and the effective use of bear spray. WBR’s bear safety workshops are targeted specifically at the safety concerns for southwestern Alberta rural residents as they go about their daily routines, living and working in close proximity with grizzly and black bears. Attendees learned how to minimize attractants around their residences and properties, how to avoid bear encounters, how to safely respond to a bear encounter, and how to correctly identify dangerous bear behaviour.
As all ages were welcomed at the workshop, there was a youth-specific portion that highlighted bear safe practices while walking to the bus stop, completing chores, and just being a kid out and about our shared landscape.
Finally, a four-legged member of the WBR, a plastic black bear on a track, took center stage to assist folks applying their bear spray knowledge and skill. Our black bear would say all participants had great aim, as his eyes are still watering!
Please visit Bear Conflict Solutions to learn more about bear spray, which is one of your best protection measure against bears.
A big thank you to our funders and supporters who made these workshops possible, including Blood Tribe Land Management, Southern Alberta Land Trust Society, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta Environment and Parks, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and of course Bear Conflict Solutions.
Adopt-A-Highway Annual Fall Cleanup
Caring for Alberta’s Highways
Members of the WBR slid on some gloves and hit their familiar 3-kilometer route along Highway-6 to support the Caring for Alberta’s Highways Program.
It was a wonderful way to spend a warm and windless afternoon – a rare event for those in the WBR who have been cleaning this section since 2013!
We can all contribute in keeping our special corner of the world a little less littered for those who rely on it.
Garbage collected from Adopt-A-Highway Annual Fall Cleanup walk. Photo by WBRA
On the Horizon
Celebrate with us!
November 3rd, 2022 is the first International Day for Biosphere Reserves.
Designated as an official biosphere reserve in 1979, the WBR is just one of more than 700 UNESCO biosphere reserves around the world, 19 of which are here in Canada.
We want to acknowledge and celebrate the people and organizations who have contributed to the WBR over the years.
Be sure to follow our social media accounts on November 3rd to join the celebration.
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