Grouseberry (<em>Vaccinium scoparium</em> Leiberg ex Coville) fruit production in forest openings in Banff National Park, Alberta

Grouseberry (Vaccinium scoparium Leiberg ex Coville) is an abundant dwarf shrub in the understory of many areas of subalpine forest in Banff National Park and has the potential to produce fruit important for wildlife. However, the suppression and prevention of wildfires, which began in the early 1900s in the park, have reduced fire-dependent shrubland and open forest and increased the extent of closed, mature forest. Because canopy closure is typically associated with decreased fruit production by understory shrubs, the decline in fire disturbance may be reducing Grouseberry fruit production. To quantify this effect, we measured Grouseberry fruit production under various forest canopies at 10 sites in Banff during 2004–2012. We measured site openness by modeling photosynthetically active direct solar radiation (dPAR) adjusted for overshadowing by topography and coniferous foliage. We found a positive relation between Grouseberry fruit production and dPAR in 2006 and 2010–2012, but not in 2008 or 2009, the 2 years of lowest fruit production; data were lacking for 2004, 2005, and 2007. We also recorded high Grouseberry fruit densities beginning 5 years after fire removed the forest canopy in four prescribed burns conducted during 2001: fruit production was 3.3 to more than 20 times that in adjacent mature forests in 5 of the 6 years analyzed. This study shows the potential ecological benefits of both prescribed burns and wildfire in upper subalpine forests where Grouseberry is widespread, but fruit production is low under the forest canopy.

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Forest fire's influence on yellow hedysarum habitat and its use by grizzly bears in Banff National Park, Alberta

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z99-123 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 77 (10) ◽

pp. 1513-1520 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

David Hamer

Keyword(s):

Forest Fire ◽

Rocky Mountains ◽

National Park ◽

Ursus Arctos ◽

Fibre Content ◽

Grizzly Bears ◽

Canadian Rocky Mountains ◽

Prescribed Burns ◽

Banff National Park ◽

Root Quality

Hedysarum (Hedysarum spp.) roots are a primary food of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. I studied the effects of recent forest fire on yellow hedysarum (H. sulphurescens) habitat by comparing root density, mass, fibre content, ease of digging, and use by grizzly bears in and adjacent to two prescribed burns that were conducted in Banff National Park, Alberta, in 1986 (Cascade Valley) and 1990 (Panther Valley). Digging was 12-14% easier in burned than in forested habitat. In the Cascade burn, yellow hedysarum roots were significantly more abundant and heavier than in the adjacent forest. This burn was intensively dug by grizzly bears between 1995 and 1997, but no diggings were found in the adjacent forest. In the Panther burn, no significant differences in root quality or mass were found. Bears dug few roots in the burn and did not dig in the adjacent forest. Their use of these two burns demonstrates prescribed fire's potential to create important yellow hedysarum digging habitat for grizzly bears in Banff National Park.

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The effects of highway transportation corridors on wildlife: a case study of Banff National Park

Transportation Research Part C Emerging Technologies ◽

10.1016/s0968-090x(00)00014-0 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 8 (1-6) ◽

pp. 307-320 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Shelley M Alexander ◽

Nigel M Waters

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Banff National Park ◽

Highway Transportation ◽

Transportation Corridors

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Excavation of Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) Middens by Bears (Ursus spp.) in Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis) Habitat in Banff National Park, Alberta

The Canadian Field-Naturalist ◽

10.22621/cfn.v130i4.1918 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 130 (4) ◽

pp. 281 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

David Hamer

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Forest Cover ◽

Habitat Characteristics ◽

Tamiasciurus Hudsonicus ◽

Red Squirrel ◽

Limber Pine ◽

Banff National Park ◽

Pine Stands ◽

Study Sites ◽

Pinus Spp

Bears (Ursus spp.) in North America eat the seeds of several pines (Pinus spp.), including Limber Pine (P. flexilis E. James). Information on use of Limber Pine in Canada is limited to a report of three bear scats containing pine seeds found in Limber Pine stands of southwestern Alberta. After my preliminary fieldwork in Banff National Park revealed that bears were eating seeds of Limber Pine there, I conducted a field study in 2014–2015 to assess this use. Because bears typically obtain pine seeds from cone caches (middens) made by Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), I described the abundance, habitat characteristics, and use by bears of Red Squirrel middens in and adjacent to Limber Pine stands at six study sites. On Bow River escarpments, I found abundant Limber Pines (basal area 1–9 m2/ha) and middens (0.8 middens/ha, standard deviation [SD] 0.2). Of 24 middens, 13 (54%) had been excavated by bears, and three bear scats composed of pine seeds were found beside middens. Although Limber Pines occurred on steep, xeric, windswept slopes (mean 28°, SD 3), middens occurred on moderate slopes (mean 12°, SD 3) in escarpment gullies and at the toe of slopes in forests of other species, particularly Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). At the five other study sites, I found little or no use of Limber Pine seeds by bears, suggesting that Limber Pine habitat may be little used by bears unless the pines are interspersed with (non-Limber Pine) habitat with greater forest cover and less-steep slopes where squirrels establish middens. These observations provide managers with an additional piece of information regarding potential drivers of bear activity in the human-dominated landscape of Banff National Park’s lower Bow Valley.

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Elements that promote highway crossing structure use by small mammals in Banff National Park

Journal of Applied Ecology ◽

10.1111/j.1365-2664.2004.00877.x ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 82-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 44

Author(s):

Wayne McDonald ◽

Colleen Cassady St Clair

Keyword(s):

Small Mammals ◽

National Park ◽

Banff National Park

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The Village Lake Louise Controversy: Ski Resort Planning, Civil Activism, and the Environmental Politics of Banff National Park, 1964–1979

Sport History Review ◽

10.1123/shr.2015-0015 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 47 (1) ◽

pp. 90-110

Author(s):

Qi Chen ◽

Pearl Ann Reichwein

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Public Space ◽

National Parks ◽

National Park ◽

Environmental Politics ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Public Consultation ◽

Ski Resort ◽

Banff National Park ◽

The Village

A new ski resort village plan proposed for Lake Louise in Banff National Park triggered intense opposition at public hearings in 1972. Local proponents, backed by Imperial Oil, had entered into agreements to expand services at Lake Louise, which led to federal public consultations. We investigate Parks Canada’s early public consultation process and how it was institutionalized in federal policy making from 1964 to 1979. Public debate was significant and influenced political decisions in the Village Lake Louise controversy. The National and Provincial Parks Association of Canada, Bow Valley Naturalists, Environmental Law Association, mountain clubs, academics, and others advocated for protection as conservation lobbyists and the Government of Alberta also objected to the proposal, leading Minister Jean Chrétien to halt the plan. It was a win for citizens, environmentalists, and ecological integrity as Village Lake Louise debates became Canada’s town hall. Past environmental protection is relevant to civil society and public space in a moment of new approvals for massive ski hill industry expansions in national parks. Precedents in civil society and governance can inform understanding of public consultation and a new environmental politics.

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Use of Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) seeds by GPS-collared Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) in Banff National Park, Alberta

The Canadian Field-Naturalist ◽

10.22621/cfn.v135i1.2165 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 135 (1) ◽

pp. 61-67

Author(s):

David Hamer

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Ursus Arctos ◽

High Elevation ◽

Habitat Characteristics ◽

Grizzly Bears ◽

Pinus Albicaulis ◽

Whitebark Pine ◽

Gps Collars ◽

Additional Information ◽

Banff National Park

Seeds of Whitebark Pine (Pinus albicaulis) are a major food for Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) in the Yellowstone ecosystem. In Canada, Grizzly Bears are known to eat Whitebark Pine seeds, but little additional information, such as the extent of such use and habitat characteristics of feeding sites, is available. Because Grizzly Bears almost always obtain Whitebark Pine seeds by excavating cones from persistent caching sites (middens) made by Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), it is possible to infer Whitebark Pine feeding when bears are located near excavated middens in Whitebark Pine stands. During 2013–2018, I conducted a retrospective study in Banff National Park using data from 23 Grizzly Bears equipped by Parks Canada staff with global positioning system (GPS) collars. My objectives were to use GPS fixes to determine the percentage of these bears that had been located in close proximity to excavated middens containing Whitebark Pine seeds and to describe the habitat at these excavated middens. I linked 15 bears (65%) to excavated middens and, by inference, consumption of Whitebark Pine seeds. Excavated middens occurred on high-elevation (mean 2103 ± 101 [SD] m), steep (mean 26° ± 8°) slopes facing mostly (96%) north through west (0–270°). Use of Whitebark Pine seeds by at least 65% of the 23 studied Grizzly Bears suggests that conservation of Whitebark Pine in Banff National Park would concomitantly benefit the at-risk population of Grizzly Bears.

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The story of the mountains in Banff National Park

10.4095/119879 ◽

1960 ◽

Author(s):

H R Belyea

Keyword(s):

National Park ◽

Banff National Park

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Remote Sensing of Mangroves and Estuarine Communities in Central Queensland, Australia

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12010197 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 197

Author(s):

Debbie Chamberlain ◽

Stuart Phinn ◽

Hugh Possingham

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Time Series ◽

Land Cover ◽

Great Barrier Reef ◽

National Park ◽

Landsat 8 ◽

Barrier Reef ◽

Change Analysis ◽

Estuarine Wetland ◽

Open Forest

Great Barrier Reef catchments are under pressure from the effects of climate change, landscape modifications, and hydrology alterations. With the use of remote sensing datasets covering large areas, conventional methods of change detection can expose broad transitions, whereas workflows that excerpt data for time-series trends divulge more subtle transformations of land cover modification. Here, we combine both these approaches to investigate change and trends in a large estuarine region of Central Queensland, Australia, that encompasses a national park and is adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage site. Nine information classes were compiled in a maximum likelihood post classification change analysis in 2004–2017. Mangroves decreased (1146 hectares), as was the case with estuarine wetland (1495 hectares), and saltmarsh grass (1546 hectares). The overall classification accuracies and Kappa coefficient for 2004, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2015, and 2017 land cover maps were 85%, 88%, 88%, 89%, 81%, and 92%, respectively. The cumulative area of open forest, estuarine wetland, and saltmarsh grass (1628 hectares) was converted to pasture in a thematic change analysis showing the “from–to” change. We generated linear regression relationships to examine trends in pixel values across the time series. Our findings from a trend analysis showed a decreasing trend (p value range = 0.001–0.099) in the vegetation extent of open forest, fringing mangroves, estuarine wetlands, saltmarsh grass, and grazing areas, but this was inconsistent across the study site. Similar to reports from tropical regions elsewhere, saltmarsh grass is poorly represented in the national park. A severe tropical cyclone preceding the capture of the 2017 Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) image was likely the main driver for reduced areas of shoreline and stream vegetation. Our research contributes to the body of knowledge on coastal ecosystem dynamics to enable planning to achieve more effective conservation outcomes.

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Forest Canopy Can Efficiently Filter Trace Metals in Deposited Precipitation in a Subalpine Spruce Plantation

Forests ◽

10.3390/f10040318 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 318 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Siyi Tan ◽

Hairong Zhao ◽

Wanqin Yang ◽

Bo Tan ◽

Kai Yue ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trace Metals ◽

Human Disturbance ◽

Forest Canopy ◽

Subalpine Forest ◽

Forest Canopies ◽

Closed Canopy ◽

Filtering Efficiency ◽

One Year ◽

The One ◽

Filtering Effect

Trace metals can enter natural regions with low human disturbance through atmospheric circulation; however, little information is available regarding the filtering efficiency of trace metals by forest canopies. In this study, a representative subalpine spruce plantation was selected to investigate the net throughfall fluxes of eight trace metals (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Al, Pb, Cd and Cr) under a closed canopy and gap-edge canopy from August 2015 to July 2016. Over the one-year observation, the annual fluxes of Al, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cd, Cr and Pb in the deposited precipitation were 7.29 kg·ha−1, 2.30 kg·ha−1, 7.02 kg·ha−1, 0.16 kg·ha−1, 0.19 kg·ha−1, 0.06 kg·ha−1, 0.56 kg·ha−1 and 0.24 kg·ha−1, respectively. The annual net throughfall fluxes of these trace metals were −1.73 kg·ha−1, −0.90 kg·ha−1, −1.68 kg·ha−1, 0.03 kg·ha−1, −0.03 kg·ha−1, −0.02 kg·ha−1, −0.09 kg·ha−1 and −0.08 kg·ha−1, respectively, under the gap-edge canopy and 1.59 kg·ha−1, −1.13 kg·ha−1, −1.65 kg·ha−1, 0.10 kg·ha−1, −0.04 kg·ha−1, −0.03 kg·ha−1, −0.26 kg·ha−1 and −0.15 kg·ha−1, respectively, under the closed canopy. The closed canopy displayed a greater filtering effect of the trace metals from precipitation than the gap-edge canopy in this subalpine forest. In the rainy season, the net filtering ratio of trace metals ranged from −66.01% to 89.05% for the closed canopy and from −52.32% to 33.09% for the gap-edge canopy. In contrast, the net filtering ratio of all trace metals exceeded 50.00% for the closed canopy in the snowy season. The results suggest that most of the trace metals moving through the forest canopy are filtered by canopy in the subalpine forest.

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