Not much is known about the species living in the high country of the Canadian Rockies – but a local conservation group wants to change that.
The Bow Valley Naturalists (BVN) has started a project to gather baseline information on the distribution of some of the wildlife living in the higher elevation habitats of Banff, Yoho, Kootenay, Jasper, Canmore and Kananaskis Country.
Known as High Elevation Localized Species (HELS) – a concept developed by local scientist Tony Clevenger – HELS could refer to anything from trees and wildflowers to insects and animals; of which very little is known about some species.
But for the purposes of this long-term project that began last summer, BVN has selected four species as a starting point – hoary marmot, pika, mountain goat and white-tailed ptarmigan.
They are asking people to keep track of their observations – places, dates and numbers – and record them on the HELS section of their website (www.bowvalley naturalists.org).
BVN says they plan to use these observations initially to “take the pulse” of alpine ecosystems. From there, it is hoped the information will help further the understanding of human impact on naturally fragmented species like HELS.
“The interest is in learning as much as we can about what the current situation is for HELS and then finding some means of tracking that and evaluating change over time,” said Mike McIvor, the group’s president.
“And, I think for a lot of people who live in this area and who spend a lot of time in the mountains, these species are a part of the landscape, and so it’s worth getting to know them.”
Currently, very little, if anything, is known about HELS in the Rockies here; their distribution, population trends or even if they are likely to become extinct.
Even less is known about the corridors that are needed for these animals to freely travel between critical habitat patches, which is often closely related to the viability of wildlife populations.
Barriers to dispersal – where wildlife move away from an existing population or away from the parent – have not been identified. And, as a result, there has yet to be any concrete work to lessen the effects of human activity, or roads, where these might impede or prevent animals moving about the land.
“There is this group of species that are pretty much dependent on high elevation habitats and we know those habitats are fragmented naturally, plus whatever we as humans do on top of that,” said McIvor.
“These meta-populations, as is the term, are already fragmented by topography, and yet for those populations to persist in the long-term, there has to be some connectivity between them for genetic exchange.”
When thinking about the future of these species, McIvor said the assumption has been they were safe because most of the habitat change and disruption appeared to be taking place in the valley bottoms.
But, he said, the onward march of global warming brings an entirely new concern, noting there are to be some dramatic changes in the high country in decades to come.
“Some we may perceive initially in aesthetic terms, although at the moment we certainly don’t want to imagine shrinking meadows, dry tarns and September without larch gold,” he said.
“But in ecological terms, HELS live with limited options. It’s time we learn more about them and find ways to ensure their options remain viable.”
Climate scientists have made projections about range shifts of animals in response to changing climate conditions, both of individual species and of groups of species.
McIvor said there is research to suggest that some pika populations both to the north and south have already disappeared – and the culprit appears to be global warming.
“One of the things that’s becoming more and more clear about global warming and its effects is that you can’t make any sort of generalizations about it, and trying to predict that we know exactly what’s going to happen would be ridiculous,” he said.
“I guess it’s possible that these species that we’re looking at may not be affected very much. It’s just that for some of them, there are indications in other places that they have been affected.”
A recent report by the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) Conservation Initiative concludes the region is warming faster than the global average, experiencing phenomena such as rapidly melting glaciers, earlier spring run-offs, declining snow packs and earlier bloom dates.
“All these factors could mean a northward shift of the ranges of many common wildlife species and the disappearance of others,” it concludes.
From the early 1900s to the 20th century, from Montana north through British Columbia and into the Yukon Territory, temperatures have risen more than the global average increase of 1.3 degrees F.
Changes in seasonal patterns of temperature and precipitation and the frequency of extreme events have also been observed. Most notably, winters throughout the region are warming faster than other seasons.
The report says climate change in the Y2Y region is already a reality, as is demonstrated by the nearly 25 per cent loss in alpine glacier cover in the Canadian Rockies since the mid-1800s, much of which has occurred in recent decades.
In some cases, the report says, the current extent of glacial retreat has not been observed in the past 3,000 years or more. Extensive melting of the Athabasca Glacier in Banff National Park has revealed wood that was snow-covered for 8,000 years.
In addition, the combination of warmer winter and spring temperatures has resulted in decreased snow accumulation in many parts of the Y2Y region.
Although average summer temperatures have increased less than average winter temperatures, the number of extremely hot summer days in some areas has risen over the past 100 years.
Extremely hot days have begun to occur both earlier and later in the year compared to the timing of such events in the early 20th century.
“Extreme heat events could push organisms, including humans, and ecosystem processes past the point where they can tolerate changes,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, the HELS project initiated by BVN is still in the very early stages, and next year will be another year of recording random observations. It may be possible to eventually identify areas that would be ideal for long-term monitoring.
Depending on what they learn, they could also end up requesting that responsible land managers, such as Parks Canada, take appropriate action.
McIvor said BVN is hoping the project will be of some value to researchers, including Clevenger, who is considering ways to evaluate the status of some HELS, in the design for monitoring phase IIIB of the Trans-Canada Highway.
“We’re doing this because there’s an information vacuum that we thought we could help fill. We’re totally prepared to share the information,” he said.
“We want the exercise to have a clearly defined sense of purpose, so that people do understand that their contributions are valuable.”
