OCT/DEC 2016

Public Lands in Alberta Editor: CONTENTS Ian Urquhart OCT/DEC 2016 • VOL. 24, NO. 5 & 6 Graphic Design: Keystroke Design & Production Inc. Doug Wournell B Des, ANSCAD Features Association News Printing: Colour printing and process by 4 Is There Enough “Public” in 28 AWA Board Member Kirsten Pugh on Topline Printing Alberta’s Public Lands? the Climb and Run for Wilderness 9 Cowboy Welfare: The few exploit 29 How Many Bucks Does It Take? the many 30 At the Summit: Families Who 10 The Prairie One Percent: Time to Climb for AWA Share, Time to Invest? 32 Autumn Splendour 2016 13 Not in my Backyard (“NIMBY”) Printed on FSC Certified Paper 16 My First Year in the Bighorn Wilderness Watch

19 In Memoriam 34 Updates 20 Ribbon of Brown Departments ALBERTA WILDERNESS 23 A Positive Approach to Trail ASSOCIATION Advocacy “Defending Wild Alberta through 36 Reader’s Corner 25 First Nations’ Health and Wilderness Awareness and Action” Alberta Wilderness Association is 26 Conservation Corner: A Star By Events a charitable non-government Many Other Names organization dedicated to the 27 Who Am I?: Wildlife Poetry 39 Upcoming Events completion of a protected areas donation, call 403-283-2025 or Cover Photos contribute online at AlbertaWilderness.ca. This issue’s front and back covers are graced by Wild Lands Advocate is published bi- Gordon Petersen’s stunning monthly, 6 times a year, by Alberta photos of the last light on Wilderness Association. The opinions Barnaby Ridge in the expressed by the authors in this publication are not necessarily those West Castle Valley. of AWA. The editor reserves the right PHOTO: © G. PETERSEN to edit, reject or withdraw articles and letters submitted. Please direct questions and comments to: Featured Artist: Mike Judd 403-283-2025 • [email protected] Mike Judd is a lifelong resident of southwest Alberta. The Eastern slopes with all their Subscriptions to the WLA are $30 per wonderful wildlife, weather, and landscapes are the essential ingredients of Mike’s life. year. To subscribe, call 403-283-2025 The outfitting business led Mike to discover landscape painting as he arranged back or see AlbertaWilderness.ca. country trips for different artist groups. Spiritual experiences – that’s how Mike describes those horseback trips to high view points and days of gazing intently over some of the finest scenery in the world. Through his paintings Mike tries to capture his sense of what the land feels like to him and how the land’s moods vary with the seasons. The continuous, unrelenting pressure on Alberta’s wild lands lends a sense of urgency to his paintings. Too many natural landscapes have been compromised or sacrificed for urban and industrial wants. Mike is a member of “The Outsiders,” a group of nine visual artists who live and work in southwest Alberta. Their work, Mike’s included, is being exhibited at the Lebel Mansion 455-12 ST NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1Y9 in Pincher Creek until January 12, 2017. See www.thelebel.ca for more information or 403-283-2025 contact the gallery at (403) 627-5272. The Mansion is open Tuesdays to Fridays, from www.AlbertaWilderness.ca noon to 5pm. [email protected]

AWA respects the privacy of members. Lists are not sold or traded in any manner. AWA is a federally registered charity and functions through member and donor support. Tax-deductible donations may be made to AWA at 455-12 ST NW, Calgary, AB T2N 1Y9. Ph: 403-283-2025 Fax: 403-270-2743 E-mail: [email protected] www.AlbertaWilderness.ca ISSN 1192-6287 With the Aged Comes the Wisdom of the Ages

May God bless Mary. Mary is a 91-year old supporter of AWA. After she received the last issue of the Advocate she wrote what you see below to Alberta’s Minister of Envi- ronment and Parks about the Castle. Mary’s concern for what we should leave her two great granddaughters is inspirational. May the Christmas season deliver to all of us, not least the officials charged with protecting our natural heritage, some of that inspiration and the common sense Mary saw in Lorne Fitch’s arguments against OHVs in the Castle.

-Ian Urquhart, Editor Is There Enough “Public” in Alberta’s Public Lands?

By Andrea Johancsik, AWA Conservation Specialist

hunter, a mushroom picker, locked too!” camp; or if your use is contrary to a rec- and a rancher go to a bar. “All “Hey, don’t be upset,” the rancher chimes reation management plan. Thanks for the A we have is Alberta beef to- in, “it’s the law. I have a grazing lease and land and enjoy your Alberta beef!” night,” says the server. I’m legally allowed to deny you access to Think this is a joke? It isn’t – you might “Well it’s no surprise,” the mushroom that public land if your use involves bicy- not have access to the public land that all picker says. “Just yesterday I encountered cles, animals for transport or motor vehi- of us own. You could be denied access to a locked gate before my favourite mush- cles; if your use of that public land would land to do these seemingly harmless activ- room field.” take you through a fenced pasture where ities. It’s all perfectly legal according to the The hunter chimes in, “I wanted veni- livestock are present or on cultivated land Recreational Access Regulation and lease son and my buddy wanted to get a fresh where a crop has not been fully harvested; conditions. In order to enter one of the fish down the road, but the gates were if there is a fire ban; if you plan to hunt or 5,899 grazing leases in Alberta, you need to

Public Lands Facts According to the Government of Alberta, grazing leases are long- term authorizations to individuals, corporations, or associations. Al- lotments, on the other hand, are areas in the forested range of central and southern Rocky Mountains that use natural barriers like rivers and mountain ranges for cattle grazing. The type of disposition gener- ally – but not always – corresponds to Alberta’s White and Green area system. Alberta created this distinction in 1948. Sixty-one percent of Alberta is found in the Green Area; 31 percent is in the White Area. (See Figure 1) Leases are found generally in the White Area and allot- ments in the Green Area. The White Area is mostly settled. Three-quarters of the White Area is owned privately. White Area lands may be used for a range of commer- cial, recreation, and conservation purposes. Municipal governments have primary authority to make decisions regarding how private lands in the White Area are used. Primary authority rests with the provincial government for how public lands in this Area are used. The Green Area is nearly all owned by the public. Two land uses not associated with lands in the White Area, timber production and watershed protection, are listed as main land uses in the Green Area. Primary authority rests with the provincial government for how Green Area lands are managed. Public lands in Alberta make up about 60 percent of the total provin- cial land base. Of that, approximately eight million acres of public land are under agricultural disposition. Of that, 5,899 grazing leases cover over five million acres. Figure 1: Alberta’s White and Green Areas SOURCE: GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA, LAND-USE FRAMEWORK

4 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES receive permission from the lessee and the lease may be subject to certain conditions like “No access if livestock in field” and “Contact 7 days before accessing lease.” Meanwhile, in grazing allotments, ac- tivities pertaining to oil and gas, forestry, off-highway vehicle use, cattle grazing, and other recreation compete with one another for access to the land. This approximates a “free for all” and creates the opposite prob- lem – too much access, too easily obtained. One would think that the safety risk to livestock is no different whether they are on grassland or in the foothills. One AWA member wrote, tongue in cheek, to say: “Ironically, in the Green or forested zone of the province, cattle are also grazed The Government of Alberta’s “Use Respect/Ask First” campaign from the 1980s and AWA’s response on public land grass, but under permit. There, the public is not considered to be at no-brainer; settlers altered the landscape obtain permission. Although this aims to risk from vicious cattle. There, the public dramatically and as their numbers in- be simple, critics argue it restricts unrea- is free to risk recreating amongst a mix of creased so did conflict for resources. The sonably those who go on spontaneous trips cows, calves and bulls. Apparently Green grazing system was an organized method to onto public land and that the internet is not Zone cattle are a different, more benign reduce and manage resource conflict. the best way to connect rural residents. breed, than White Zone cattle.” The access issue flared up significantly in The Government also aimed to address Near Caroline, you might be barred entry the 1970s and 1980s. Gordon Stromberg’s public awareness by their “Use Respect” onto a grazing lease with a condition of “No private members bill in 1973, The Private program to encourage ranchers and hunt- access while livestock are on field” because Land Protection Act, sought to give persons ers to get along. AWA adamantly opposed a few cows are licking a salt block coinci- holding grazing leases or permits the right the project because it implied that permis- dentally (or strategically?) placed near the to refuse access to the public. There wasn’t sion was required to access public lands locked gate. In West Bragg Creek, on the a single definitive legal statement on pub- by foot and led an access campaign with other hand, anyone who has mountain lic lands access; a handful of laws includ- Alberta Fish and Game Association in the biked or hiked in the area has experienced ing the Public Lands Act, the Petty Trespass mid-1980s. a bounty of cows so proliferate that they Act, the Wildlife Act, and the Criminal Code Access rights to public lands were tested risk slipping on a cow patty or colliding offered inconsistent and sometimes contra- in the courts in the late 1980s. Treaty Indian with Bessie at the next hairpin. dictory positions. George Alexson was charged with trespass This type of difference is puzzling and In 1981, a two-day Trespass Seminar for hunting without permission on grazing illogical. It suggests there’s a serious need brought stakeholders together including lease land west of Longview. The case of to pay more attention to public lands man- AWA, Western Stockgrowers Association, R vs Alexson was heard at three levels of agement issues. But understanding public Alberta Fish and Game Association, gov- the court system In Alberta. The provincial lands access in Alberta is a complicated af- ernment agencies and other groups. The court ruled the general public has unre- fair. Let’s break it down and discuss how we group couldn’t come to consensus on ac- stricted access to Crown grazing leases. The got here, what Albertans think about pub- cess but some needs were agreed on. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice ruled that lic access, and what should happen next. For instance, the group identified a need land under Crown grazing lease is off-lim- for a clear and simple method for identi- its to anyone without permission. Finally, Origins of the Recreational fying and locating land operators on both in October 1990 the case was heard in the Access Regulation public and private land. A website was Court of Appeal and was overturned again. Alberta’s grazing system is older than the eventually created (https://maps.srd.alber- The Court of Appeal ruled that “hunting on province itself. It was established in 1881 ta.ca/RecAccess/Viewer/?Viewer=RecAccess) land which is subject to a grazing lease is to reduce conflict between ranchers and where someone who wants access to leased not an offence under the Wildlife Act or the encourage economic growth from the graz- land can view the location of the lease and Public Lands Act, nor does it constitute tres- ing resource. Divvying up the land was a the lessee’s contact information in order to pass under the Petty Trespass Act.”

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES A5 The precedent-setting case for access by tabled Bill 31 in 1999, the Agricultural Dis- Regulation came into force, there have only the general public, however, came in 1995 positions Statutes Amendment Act to address been 12 formal disputes filed. Four were after Calgary hunter Wade Patton attempt- this issue. The Bill was passed but never resolved in favour of the lessee and seven ed to hunt on the OH Ranch; the Ranch proclaimed, a rare event in which the bill in favour of the recreational user. One was made an application in court to prohib- becomes law but does not come into effect. withdrawn as resolved prior to a decision it the hunter from accessing their leased The very last paragraph in Bill 31 contained by the Land Stewardship Officer, (LSO), a lands. The application was denied initially a provision amending the Public Lands Act position in Alberta Environment and Parks. but the Court of Queen’s Bench overturned to require lessees to provide “reasonable ac- We were told by government that many the decision. Patton couldn’t enter the lease cess” for recreational users. other informal LSO disputes are handled without permission. The justice ruled the A few years later, the Agricultural Disposi- at the field level with no formal application OH Ranch had “exclusive right of occu- tions Statutes Amendment Act re-emerged as being filed or entered into a database. Al- pation” which carried with it the right to a government bill, Bill 16. Mike Cardinal, though there are no records AWA was told prohibit entry onto the lands. The Court of the Minister of Sustainable Resource Devel- “these occur regularly in some regions.” It Appeal affirmed this decision. Lawyer Mike opment at the time, said the bill built “on appears the dispute process set up by the Wenig wrote the following about this case extensive public consultation that occurred regulation hasn’t been used consistently in a 2005 essay: “the Court based its legal in 1997 and reflects recent discussions with throughout the province and, in some cas- findings on vague references to common the stakeholders.” The new act led to the es, it hasn’t resolved some contentious and law property doctrines and on weak, neg- Recreational Access Regulation as we know ongoing disputes. In a 2003 response to ative inferences from the province’s reser- it today, expanding that one paragraph of the new regulation, the Environmental Law vation of rights to continue granting access Bill 31 but including none of the provi- Centre predicted this problem. James Mal- for resource development” and “the OH sions about lessee compensation which is let wrote: “practically speaking, the burden Ranch courts’ unexplained legal and factual the subject of Ian Urquhart’s article in this of applying for review of any access dispute findings were an unsatisfactory resolution issue. I’ll give the Minister the benefit of will also fall upon the visitor.” Not surpris- of the public access issue.” the doubt that discussions around access ingly, in general lessees are happy with the So how did these “vague” and “weak” el- hadn’t changed from 1999 to 2003 – after regulation while recreational users find it ements that the courts upheld come to be all, AWA has been asking for public lands onerous and unfair. included into an enforceable regulation? to be public for longer than I’ve been alive In 1997 and 1998, MLA Tom Thurb- – but Bill 31 and Bill 16 looked about as What do lessees think? er chaired the Agricultural Lease Review similar to me as the Fire Code Regulation A quick search through the public web- Committee and released the “Thurber Re- and the Dangerous Dogs Act. site previously mentioned shows that port.” It revealed that compensation pay- The bill had its critics in the legislature. conditions on leases vary widely. The ments from oil and gas were retained by the One predicted that issues like lack of spon- burden is on the recreational user to find grazing lessees instead of the rightful own- taneity in recreational planning and “a out when they have to call, what they’re er, the Government of Alberta. Thurber cramping of style and access for [hikers]” allowed or not allowed to do, and to know would arise. Another accused the execu- where they’ll go ahead of time in case they tive branch of the government for “[ruling] encounter different conditions on an adja- supreme in this province” and “selling out cent lease. “Reasonable access” is certainly to special interests because they happen to not a concept that everyone agrees on. I be powerful.” The ND opposition proposed might argue that it’s reasonable for some- an amendment to ensure hikers were al- one to walk onto public land regardless of lowed on agricultural dispositions, at their what time of day or year, whereas a graz- own risk and liability. The amendment ing lessee might believe it’s reasonable to would have taken foot access out of the reg- require two weeks-notice before entry. ulations to allow freedom for walkers who I spoke to three people who hold graz- didn’t intend to hunt on the land. It was ing leases west of Rocky Mountain House, defeated and the very problems that were where hunting attracts a lot of users. All flagged by these critics in 2003 persist. three lock access to the land they lease One aim of the Regulation was to set with gates. All have experience with oil Lease conditions like these are a telling sign of the up a dispute resolution process in case of and gas operations on their lease. All three control lease holders have on choosing which rec- reational activities are allowed on the lease, if they conflict between a user and lessee. In the support the regulation. choose to exercise it. last 16 years since the Recreational Access One lessee complained about invasive

6 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES and noxious plants primarily spread by and letting the lessee’s cattle roam outside users know about their safety, and to be off-highway vehicle users. Though the oil the lease. According to the conditions aware of how many people are on the and gas company on the lease does some on this lease (foot access only, no access lease at a given time. This communication weed control, this lessee takes the brunt when livestock in field), the hunters are is encouraged and most sensible people of stewardship responsibility for spraying probably breaking the law. This lessee was will try to do this. But the lessee shouldn’t and pointed to a need for more provincial upset that the regulations weren’t being be liable for the risks I might expose my- management of weeds. The oil and gas enforced. self to on leased lands. If they’re not liable company on this lease closes the gates to Liability is a major issue for grazing les- then AWA doesn’t believe prior contact the access road during hunting season at sees. They wouldn’t want to be at fault if must be necessary for people to access the lessee’s request. When I asked what anything happened to users by way of an leased land on foot. problems the company had that would re- accident or bear the cost for emergency Shawna Burton, owner and manager of quire closure of the gates, I was told that response calls. The Recreational Access Burton Cattle Co., holds both a grazing it was a proactive decision because there website says the lessee’s liability is reduced lease and allotment in the M.D. of Wil- had been problems of theft of solar panels if recreational users become injured, un- low Creek near the Porcupine Hills. She and batteries in other dispositions. This less the courts find the lessee intentionally maintains the most damage is caused by may be true, but I would also guess there or negligently tried to injure them. Rec- off-highway vehicle users in the forest- are benefits to maintaining a good rela- reational users are responsible for their ry allotments. On the grazing lease, the tionship (either “financial” or personal) own personal safety. It would be smart for biggest problem is garbage left during with the land’s other occupants. the recreational user to inform the lessee hunting season as OHVs aren’t allowed. A Another lessee holds land that is ap- about their entry in order to be aware of video published on AWA’s website in the parently popular with hunters. Badly be- and perhaps warned about hazards like spring shows this stark contrast between haved, disrespectful ones have cut fences aggressive bulls or other hunters on the OHV-disturbed land and intact land (al- to remove their kills, wrecking the fence lease. One lessee told me he likes to let bertawilderness.ca/ohv-disturbance-por- cupine-hills). Burton appreciated the kind of courte- sy that happened in the past when users would build face-to-face relationships with the lessee before accessing the land, but doesn’t deny access to people on foot or horseback. “This country should be preserved,” she says. “It’s nice to be able to share it with people that appreciate it and respect it. We have people that have been coming for years to hunt – this is their trip to the motherland. It’s solitude, it’s cathar- tic for them. We have people [come] that have nothing to do with agriculture that love it as much as anyone else.” It’s clear that being a grazing lessee car- ries with it a number of challenges, and that restoring damage to leased public lands usually is a burden the lessee bears primarily. It’s understandable that with emotional, material, and financial connec- tions to the land, you wouldn’t want to deal with damaged land and broken fenc- es. We would argue, however, that foot access (hunting, bird watching, hiking, and other low-impact recreation) isn’t det- October 2016. While AWA is asking for public lands to be “open unless closed” to foot access, motor- rimental to the landscape and that indi- ized use should be “closed unless open.” viduals should be able to make their own

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES A7 decisions about, and be responsible for, vehicle damage. She also crosses the lease important for stewards who have been their personal safety. The current system, to get access to vacant public land beyond voluntarily performing that vital role on under a premise of protecting the public, the lease boundaries where there are no the land for generations. Not every ranch- unfairly advantages a minority of individ- restrictions on public access. This year, er stewards the land perfectly and other uals who are granted the privilege to graze correspondence with the government has people can bring attention to range prac- the land – without necessarily giving any informed Vivian a steward role falls under tices that affect parts of the land, such as consideration to low impact foot access. the Recreational Access Regulation. She is riparian zones. Alberta has gone too far in the direction denied access as a steward, even though In deciding what the best use of public of making this type of public land de facto “steward” is not specifically defined in the land is, Alberta needs an inclusive and private property. Leaseholders shouldn’t Regulation. comprehensive public debate that consid- have the same rights as they would if they Other stories include lessees strategically ers modern issues such as climate change owned the land. placing salt blocks near the road entry to and indigenous rights. We shouldn’t as- activate the “No access if livestock present” sume that grandfathered uses are the What does the rest of the condition in the foothills. In the southeast, “right” uses today. public think? recreational users were repeatedly denied Dwight Rodtka, hunter and retired pro- access except to the hunters who paid the The Future of Access? vincial wildlife official, submitted a formal lessee for access. Profiting off the wildlife In 2014, a stakeholder engagement ses- dispute in the past year to resolve the issue resource is illegal under Alberta’s hunting sion was hosted by the government to of being denied hunting access to a long- regulations but selectively denying access explore changes in the Recreational Ac- used grazing lease. Rodtka asked for ac- is not. cess Regulation, as the regulation was set cess to a high-grade road, but the lease’s to expire. AWA was excluded. We were conditions state the lessee can deny access What does it all mean for told that the government consulted two to anything other than foot access, Rodt- conservation? grazing associations, three beef produc- ka’s request for access and his subsequent One of the biggest issues with this sit- ers, three off-highway vehicle organiza- appeal were both denied. Rodtka particu- uation is that there is inadequate protec- tions, and four non-motorized recreation larly took issue to the fact that the lessee tion for wildlife and habitat on grasslands, groups. Notably missing from this list are told him that OHV users were allowed the landscape and ecosystem where most environmental groups, First Nations, and (allegedly the lessee was advised by Sus- grazing leases are located. Kevin Van industry, all of which were specifically tainable Resource Development to allow Tighem states that cattle grazing is the pointed out in last year’s Auditor Gener- OHVs) but trucks were not. Rodtka was best economic use of our public range- al’s Report as key stakeholders. The audit told by the agrologist in charge that the lands. Maybe that’s true in the bare dollar even specified that “current and future Al- lessee was legally allowed to ignore his value, but what if we put a price on eco- bertans” were a stakeholder – that’s YOU. own lease’s conditions, which include in logical goods and services like clean water This Regulation is set to expire in March this case ‘no motorized access’. and biodiversity? While it’s certain that 2017, so there is still time to give the gov- “Where I live a lessee has cattle on his well-kept, long-held livestock operations ernment your thoughts on the matter. lease during summer and then puts four contain some of the healthiest native eco- AWA believes that in order to achieve a horses on the lease in the fall leaving them systems, we shouldn’t be so quick to make vision of public lands in Alberta held in there until hunting seasons are closed. such a definitive generalization. perpetuity for the public and in the public This eliminates public hunting but the Cattle have been around for 150 years trust and interest and managed for con- lessee and his friends enjoyed this private but bison and indigenous peoples co- servation, broad and meaningful public hunting reserve all season,” says Rodtka. evolved with the grassland ecosystem for consultation should inform public lands He adds: “How the government can de- thousands. The recent work of the Iinnii policy. Key elements to include in this fend this hideous abuse is beyond com- (bison) Initiative by the Blackfoot people policy are: allowing unconditional foot prehension. Albertans have been robbed to reintroduce bison widely across the access, managing for wildlife, watersheds, of their public land by grazing lessees’ and Eastern Slopes is a powerful example of and ecosystem goods and services, and their friends who now control access to it the influence empowered peoples can only allowing designated motorized ac- and we don’t even realize it.” have on public priorities. Grazing can cess if the decision is based on science and Vivian Pharis, long serving AWA board contribute to a healthy ecosystem but public input. member, also uses the same lease for stew- valuing the land for other purposes like ardship – checking on the health of the conservation and reintroducing extirpat- landscape and documenting off-highway ed species is also important. Access is also

8 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES This article was Cowboy Welfare: published first in the October 2016 issue of The few exploit the many Alberta Views. AWA is grateful to both Kevin and Alberta Views for their permission to reprint By Kevin Van Tighem the article here.

magine that you and your extended to eat grass. The land still belongs to you ther is it the whole picture. The exploiters family own a large tract of land full and me. But previous Alberta governments are probably a minority. Many grazing-lease I of native vegetation and wildlife. allowed lessees to sell their public land holders are good folks who protect the land Some of your family fish there in summer or leases rather than surrender them when from motorized abuse while still welcoming hunt there in the fall. Others simply enjoy they no longer needed the grass them- hikers, hunters and others who travel on foot. the birds, flowers and fresh air. The native selves. Buying a public grazing lease creates Their low grazing fees are more than offset by prairie on the land would benefit from some the illusion of land ownership, but that’s all many volunteer hours of land stewardship. grazing, so your family offers a seasonal cat- it is: an illusion. That land is owned, on our Those good lessees are as offended by the tle-grazing lease to a local rancher. behalf, by our government. abuses of the few as the rest of us ought to be. Then one day, much to your surprise, you Because of that illusion, grazing lessees Previous attempts to reform cowboy wel- find some new roads and natural gas wells on have asserted rights not granted by the actual fare foundered, largely because Conservative the place. The rancher who leases your grass leases. The government even allows lease- governments depended on politically influ- has granted an oil company access to your holders to act as “gatekeepers” for public ac- ential rural elites. Our new, less beholden land in exchange for annual payments—to cess. The presence of livestock is considered government might do better. Their challenge himself. Not only that, he’s put up “No Tres- reason enough to deny access. Some unscru- will be to not throw out the baby with the passing” signs around the property and he pulous operators exploit that angle to turn bathwater. Cattle grazing is, after all, the best stops you at the fenceline. “I lease this land,” public land into private hunting reserves. Af- economic use of our public rangelands and he says. “You can’t go in there.” ter pulling their cattle out for the season, they can be important in sustaining native prairie. “But it’s my land!” you exclaim. turn a few horses loose and use the presence There’s no question that non-grazing reve- The rancher grins slyly. “Hmmm…” he of those horses as a reason to deny public nues from public land should flow into gov- says. “How much you willing to pay?” hunting access—while giving their friends ernment revenues rather than lessees’ pock- Impossible? Not in Alberta. Our public and family exclusive hunting rights. Some ets. Public foot access should be allowed at land is treated like private property when the have even been caught illegally charging all times. And grazing-lease fees should re- government leases out the right to graze our access fees to guide companies, profiteering flect private market rates to ensure the fairest grass. About 5,700 private individuals and not only from our public land but our public return to us who own the resource. groups lease more than 202,000 km2 of Al- wildlife too. Still—the best grazing lessees work to keep berta Crown land for livestock pasture. They If there’s oil and gas under the land, grazing our native prairie in prime condition, protect pay less than $3 per animal unit month (or leaseholders can pocket serious profits. Gov- endangered species, remove invasive weeds AUM; the equivalent of what a cow and calf ernment looks the other way when energy and sustain wetlands and water supplies. It’s eat each month). This is far below market companies pay leaseholders for permission only fair that excellent stewardship should rates for private grazing leases. For example, to build roads, pipelines and well pads— earn discounted grazing rates. Responsible when my wife and I lease out our private land even though that money should go to the reform should lead to the best lessees paying for grazing, we get about $25 per AUM— owner, not the renter. Auditor General Mer- the same low rents as before—not as cowboy eight times more than the government land wan Saher’s 2015 annual report estimated welfare but as fair compensation for careful just across the fence. Red Deer lawyer Bob that Alberta forgoes more than $25-million stewardship of Alberta’s family treasures. Scammell, who has spent decades fighting annually by way of this unearned subsidy to Kevin Van Tighem spent three decades for the public’s right to enjoy its own land, a wealthy few. Meanwhile the provincial trea- studying, interpreting and managing nature calls the grazing lease issue “cowboy welfare.” sury is bare. in Canada’s western national parks. Grazing leases are just that: leases for cows It’s not a pretty picture, but in fairness nei-

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES A9 The Prairie One Percent: Time to Share, Time to Invest?

By Ian Urquhart

hen I introduce students Saskatchewan and the other in the Munici- “The province charges in my introductory politics pal District of Taber. A third system was pro- W class to power and inequal- posed by Alberta’s Agricultural Lease Review less rent for grazing ity I ask them to read a short magazine piece Committee (Thurber Committee) in 1998. by Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize-winning As Andrea Johancsik notes in our first fea- leases than private economist. “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the ture article the Thurber Committee recom- landowners charge.” 1%” details growing inequality in the United mendations were passed by the legislature in – Alberta Auditor General, July 2015 States – a country where a few years ago one 1999 but the law never came into force. percent of the population claimed nearly 25 The Alberta Land Institute is an indepen- Ranchers aren’t the only ones who look to percent of U.S. income. Stiglitz suggests that dent research institute that strives to take public lands as a vehicle to help earn a liv- American society suffers from the inequality “an innovative and impartial investigative ing. Oil and gas companies want access to obtained by the power of the wealthy. “One approach.” The authors of the alternative those lands as well. Their search for oil and Percenters” are generally disinterested in see- models study sought to offer “clear and inde- natural gas may lead them to access and, as ing government look out for the vast major- pendent information regarding the legislative a side-effect, damage the very same lands ity of Americans and offer them good pub- and policy objectives around compensation.” where leaseholders graze their cattle. This is lic education, good public health care, and Their goal was simple, and fundamentally where the concept of compensation arises. stronger environmental protections. important – to try to better inform compen- In Alberta’s compensation system, the pub- The Stiglitz article offers a useful context sation policy discussions. lic – the owners of public lands – receive for thinking about grazing leaseholder com- very minimal compensation for oil and gas pensation – one aspect of the grazing lease Alberta’s Grazing Lease operations on leased lands. The leaseholder system on public lands in Alberta. Who re- Rental and Compensation receives the lion’s share of compensation. ceives compensation, for example, for oil and System The amount of compensation leaseholders gas exploration and development activities Today, grazing leaseholders pay the pro- deposit into their bank accounts generally on public grazing lease lands? How should vincial government an annual rental fee. is determined through negotiations with the compensation be divided between leasehold- The rental fee is calculated according to companies. These negotiations are private; ers and government? If government receives the amount of forage required by an “an- there isn’t a public record of how compensa- a share, how should that share be invested? imal unit” in one month (if you run into a tion actually is paid. In January the Alberta Land Institute (ALI) 1,000-pound cow on the street you’ve run published “Alternative Models of Compen- into the definition of one animal unit). Rental Back to the One Percent sation on Alberta’s Crown Grazing Lease rates are highest in southern Alberta, lowest The secrecy surrounding compensation Lands,” a comparative study of compensa- in the north, and in between in Red Deer/ payments creates an obvious problem for tion models for public grazing lease lands North Saskatchewan area. Alberta’s Audi- serious research into Alberta’s compensation (the study is available online at http://www.al- tor-General reported that, in 2013-2014, payment system. The authors of the ALI bertalandinstitute.ca/research/research-projects/ the provincial treasury received $3.8 million study seem to have been very careful in how project/grazing-leases). O’Malley, Entern, Ka- from grazing leaseholders. It also noted that they addressed this problem. They calculat- plinsky, and Adamowicz compared current a Government of Alberta survey from 2012 ed an estimate, based on the decisions the public lands grazing lease policy in Alberta recorded that privately owned land in Alber- Alberta’s Surface Rights Board has made in with several alternative systems. Two of those ta was rented out for grazing at ten times the compensation disputes between leasehold- systems operate today, one province-wide in rate charged to graze cattle on public land. ers and petroleum companies, of what lease-

10 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES holders receive for each wellsite on leased from allowing industrial “cowboy welfare” would seem to be an ap- lands. This estimate for 2013/14 is $1,500 propriate label to use to describe what Alber- per wellsite annually. access to their ta’s current compensation model delivers to a Using the $1,500 per wellsite estimate the fortunate few. ALI study suspects that grazing leaseholders leased land.” And then there’s the windfalls that may receive $50.13 million annually in petroleum – Alberta Auditor General, July 2015 arise when leases are sold. Leaseholders keep industry compensation payments. Over the all of the money they receive when they sell The ALI report uses the term “windfall” at 30-year lifespan of a wellsite these compen- or transfer a lease to graze cattle on public one point. I can imagine how some grazing sation payments were estimated to amount land. The Auditor-General noted that a pair leaseholders may have cringed when they to just under $1 billion - $901.5 million. of leases in southwest Alberta, amounting to saw that word. Giving windfalls to grazing Do these estimates mean all grazing lease- 1,134 acres, were offered for sale. The asking leaseholders wasn’t the program’s intent. holders receive compensation from the oil price was $265,000. The annual rental fee As the ALI study describes it, that intent or and gas industry? No. Of Alberta’s 7,388 paid to taxpayers for those leases? $486. Isn’t purpose was to make grazing leaseholders grazing leases on public lands 44.8 percent this the type of situation that screams “wind- “‘whole’, to put the grazing leaseholder af- of them (3,312 leases) don’t have any petro- fall profit?” fected by energy operations in a financial po- leum wellsites on the land. The authors of the ALI study don’t delve sition as close as possible to the position they Getting back to that idea of the one per- into questions of fairness. They don’t recom- were in prior to entry by the operator.” cent and fairness…of the 7,388 leaseholders mend a policy change. What they do though Are there any or many windfalls out there? in Alberta one percent of them (74) annu- is show that in Saskatchewan and the Munic- Is the leaseholder who receives an estimated ally receive an estimated $19.1 million. The ipal District of Taber the compensation issue $1.218 million “whole”? What about the oth- one percent receives a staggering 38 percent is handled very differently. Those jurisdic- er 73 who claim an estimated $19.1 million of all the petroleum compensation cheques tions have developed compensation arrange- every year? In July 2015 the Auditor-General sent to leaseholders. The study believes that ments where payments are shared between reported that one of the province’s grazing one leaseholder, who has 812 wells on leased the public and leaseholders. In both of those associations paid the government “$68,875 land, receives $1,218,000 every year in com- systems the lion’s share of compensation pay- in grazing fees and collected $348,068 in pensation payments. People who told the ments goes to the public while the leasehold- industry payments for industrial activities late Bob Scammell years ago that they knew ers receive considerably less. Figure 1 com- on their leased lands. If individuals and as- of leaseholders who were receiving more pares what the distribution of compensation sociations are more than whole, the phrase than $100,000 annually in petroleum com- pensation payments likely knew very well Alberta Land Institute Estimates of Compensation Paid what they were talking about. to Grazing Leaseholders on Alberta’s Public Lands Is this overall level of compensation fair? Is Annual Compensation Compensation Over Thirty Years it fair that none of the compensation goes to $50,130,000 (± $16,710,000) $901,524,000 (± $300,508,000) the real owners of public land – people like Note: The Institute estimated leaseholder compensation over a range of $1,000 to $2,000 per wellsite. you and me? The millions of dollars collected The $50 million and $901 million figures represent the sums of the $1,500 per wellsite calculations. by the Prairie One Percenters, if not the com- pensation regime itself, surely bears a critical Figure 1: Distribution of Estimated Alberta Compensation look from the perspective of fairness. Payments Under Three Eisting Leaseholder Compensation Systems “Certain leaseholders 60 50

receive surface access 40 compensation fees in 30 excess of the actual rent 20 Millions of Dollars they pay to the province 10 0 Current Alberta If Alberta Used If Alberta Used MD of for grazing livestock Compensation System Saskatchewan’s Taber’s System

Estimated Annual Compensation Payments in System and the costs incurred Graing Leaseholder Govt of Alberta

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 11A payments between the Alberta government remaining $36.762 million would go to the the land whole as well. If petroleum activi- and leaseholders would look like if Alberta provincial government. ties compromise the landscape then some of kept its current system or followed either of Fairness has another, even more important, their compensation should be plowed back these two alternative compensation models. dimension that I would like to raise when it into the land itself. Did Saskatchewan and the MD of Taber comes to the compensation payment issue. While important in all landscapes this think about what a fair distribution of com- This dimension is about the land, about the principle is especially important in Alberta’s pensation payments should look like when damage oil and gas inflicts on the land, and grasslands. One of the reasons so many of they designed their models? If they did, how compensation payments are and could Alberta’s endangered species are found in the they came to very different conclusions be used. How much of the compensation province’s grasslands may be traced to the about what constitutes fairness than what the Prairie One Percent receives is devot- detrimental impact that our thirst for oil and is suggested by Alberta’s system. If Alberta ed to restoring and improving the public’s gas has on native habitats. If Alberta’s politi- used the Saskatchewan system, a system land? In 1999 the Thurber Committee rec- cians can summon the political will needed employed by the centre-right Saskatchewan ommended that Alberta create a “Conser- to think about redistributing some percent- Party government, grazing leaseholders in vation Resource Management Fund” with age of petroleum compensation to the public Alberta would receive $5.752 million rath- some of the funds that flowed then and now treasury I would hope those funds would be er than $50.13 million. The government to leaseholders. This Fund could, in part, dedicated to restoring Alberta’s grasslands. would receive $44.378 million. If Alberta invest in enhancements to Alberta’s grass- This is an issue and an obligation I suspect adopted the system used in the Municipal lands. If government has an obligation to is better entrusted to government than it is to District of Taber then leaseholders would make leaseholders “whole” I think it has at our Prairie One Percent. receive 26.7 percent of $50.13 million; the least as equally strong an obligation to make

Featured Artist Mike Judd

Cameron Lake, Oils on Canvas, 60” by 72”

12 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES Not in my Backyard (“NIMBY”)

By Joanna Skrajny, AWA Conservation Specialist

icture your daily morning publicly shame whoever did this to you. less moments. The tree where your chil- routine: you wake up, grab After your anger subsided, you would dren spent endless hours climbing and P your morning cuppa Joe, and be filled with a sense of loss. Much of swinging on that old tire, burned down. open the blinds to let the morning sun the work you’ve done to take care of The following three photos show that wash across the kitchen table. But your your home, gone after a few thought- this happens every day on land that window lets in a more disturbing im- age. Overnight someone had dumped a pile of garbage on your lawn and then chopped down and set fire to your fa- vourite tree. Freshly ripped tire tracks over your beloved begonias and per- fectly manicured lawn are the scars of a midnight joyride. I imagine you would be furious. You would want to go to the police and de- mand that they serve justice. You would call your insurance company and want compensation for thousands of dollars of damage to your property. After that is all done, you’d need another cup of coffee – maybe something stronger. You might take a selfie with the damage and post it to social media (#mondays am I Garbage left in piles will be foraged by hungry bears, acquiring a taste that may get them killed one day. right?) so you can vent your anger and PHOTO: © W. HOWSE

Stay off the lawn: Too lazy to take your chairs home after a weekend of camping? My begonias! Nothing left to grow on this mud bogging patch adjacent to the Why not burn and leave them? PHOTO: © J. SKRAJNY North Saskatchewan River. PHOTO: © W. HOWSE

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 13A An example of a created and abandoned campsite. All the trees have been cut down to make room for trailers. Garbage, including empty shells, litter this camp – with the next camp only metres away. PHOTO: © J. SKRAJNY

belongs to you and me, the wonderful and river. Keep in mind that in a PLUZ it public safety very quickly becomes the backyard that Alberta’s public lands pro- is illegal to operate an off-highway vehi- primary concern. vide us with: cle anywhere that isn’t a designated trail. Perhaps the most egregious damage These photographs are just a small Most of what Corporal Howse showed results from the cumulative impacts of sample of what Corporal Wayne Howse me was evidence of illegal use. A large so many people with motorized vehi- of the RCMP has seen during his time portion of the forest around the roads cles on a landscape. There is evidence enforcing public lands legislation in the has been cut down in order to make everywhere of people joyriding in the Bighorn. On a recent tour that I took room for trailers, for firewood, and for lake and on the river beds. All of the with him around this area I saw just a campers. Trails have even been grav- surrounding hills have tracks running small piece of the extent of damage and eled over by motorized users to make up and down them and the hills are vis- neglect on our public lands. them “legitimate” for the 5th wheelers ibly slumping. The garbage is left for the to come in. wildlife to feed on. Often, this damage Case Study: Abraham I learned that, on a summer weekend, goes un-noticed and unenforced, be- Lake Mouth (KiskaWilson upwards of 400 trailer units camp in this cause there is literally only a handful of PLUZ) area. Multiply that by a few times and officers responsible for watching over The Kiska-Wilson Public Land Use you have an estimate of the sheer num- thousands of kilometres of public land. Zone (PLUZ) is an incredibly popular ber of people and OHVs that are in the I used to think that this disturbance, area for random camping on weekends, Kiska Wilson Public Land Use Zone. As however intense, only would be found as it backs onto Abraham Lake. Corpo- you can imagine, environmental damage in isolated pockets. The reality is that ral Howse showed me the proliferation is only a small portion of the work that the disturbance is everywhere. There of trails everywhere in this area. They officers have to do every day. With so were many locations on our full day are especially common around the lake many people out in such a small area, tour, covering a few hundred kilome-

14 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES An aerial photograph of a popular random camping spot in the Kiska-Wilson PLUZ. This is just one of 3 or 4 similarly sized sites – it’s not uncommon for these fields to be completely packed wall-to-wall with trailers during weekends. PHOTO: © W. HOWSE tres, where you would see trailer units So what can we do? 3. There needs to be areas where mo- camped on oil and gas well pads, sur- Here are some suggestions on how we torized recreation is not permitted rounded by clearcuts, with trails cutting can avoid NIMBY on our public lands: under any circumstances, such as into the remaining forest. It’s import- 1. Off-highway vehicle (OHV) use in our provincial parks. Currently, ant to keep in mind that is this only a needs to be considered a privilege, over 90 percent of provincial pub- snapshot of one of the hundreds of areas not a right. In the absence of a des- lic lands are open to OHVs, yet re- that enforcement officers have to patrol. ignated trail network, public lands cent surveys have estimated that And then there’s the ongoing prolifera- should default to being off limits to only about six percent of Albertans tion of logging and industrial roads that OHVs. We need to recognize that participate in motorized recreation. encourage even more motorized access off-highway vehicle use can have OHVs are known to displace oth- onto the landscape. In a word, it’s over- significant impacts to our lands and er users such as hikers, as well as whelming. wildlife if it is not properly regu- wildlife. Simply put, this use is per- We are used to hearing these things, lated. Trails need to be planned in mitted on a disproportionately large but it’s very different when you actually areas where watershed, wildlife, and amount of land. see it on the land. By the end of the day, ecosystem integrity is not compro- Thanks to Corporal Wayne Howse I felt an incredible sense of loss. This mised by OHV use. for the photographs, the tour, and the is land that belongs to the public, and 2. Give out expensive tickets… often endless hours of helping to protect our must not only serve human wants and – constant enforcement educates public lands. economic development, but must sus- those who listen and penalizes those tain our wildlife as well. It’s clear that who don’t. Enforcement officers also the current model of managing public need to be able to give on-the-spot lands is simply not manageable. fines to offenders.

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 15A My First Year in the Bighorn

By Joanna Skrajny, AWA Conservation Specialist

e finished our first day of display the rock shot right back – narrowly volume of silence you experience – until backpacking through the missing us three monkeys in the path of the you realize it’s not silent. It might be subtler W mountains and arrived at rock. I silently thanked myself for packing but it’s just as dynamic as the city din we our camping spot after a long day of metic- a good first aid kit. are accustomed to. As the cold alpine air ulously measuring the length of every dam- Once our food was safely aloft, the three settled down on our camp, we fell asleep aged trail. As the three of us set up camp, I of us hobbled off to bed at the ripe hour to creeks chattering away into the night. had taken off my shoes to rest my red and of 8pm. We experienced a thunderstorm one night, swollen feet, and the contents of my pack Although I have been out a few times be- every single bolt of light flashing brilliantly lay strewn around camp. The others had fore to the area, this was my first time out and the rain droplets tapping on the can- done the same, three trails of cooking ware on the trail systems leading into the heart of opies of our tents. As the storm finished and sleeping materials leading to tents. the backcountry. What is wonderful about I stepped outside. The storm had passed After dinner, and just as drowsiness began the Bighorn is that it is full of flat valley through quickly, not even leaving a cloud to set in, we started a particularly important bottoms covered in a network of nameless behind. Water dripped from the trees that daily ritual – hanging our food in a bag on a creeks and streams. You are immediately wetly glistened in the night from the stars tree away from camp in order to avoid any greeted with wonderful views – open land- above, stars so very, very bright. Slowly, as midnight visits from a bear. One of AWA’s scapes, twisted trees, interesting rocks and dawn drew closer, the forest began to move most dedicated volunteers, Paul, took it open skies. An easy 10km hike takes you and rustle again with life. upon himself to complete the task. He me- to a gorgeous back mountain pass filled With the morning came bird song and ticulously wound a length of rope around a with alpine meadows. With many creeks chilly frost. During the daytime, pikas rock, and the three of us walked to scout a crisscrossing the valley bottoms the hike called to us out from the scrabble and mar- suitable tree candidate. We found one a few entailed a fair number of water crossings – mots poked out their rotund bodies. One hundred feet away, and Paul aimed his rope but my feet weren’t complaining about the very special morning, we saw grizzly bears bound rock at a reasonably tall branch. He cool water on a nice summer day! digging in the meadows for hedysarum, threw the rock, only to have it catch the One of the things that anyone who has also known as “bear root,” among a splash branch below. In a particularly impressive spent time in the wild can attest to is the of wildflowers.

Why were we in the motorized use and, in 2003, AWA initiat- tem. Over the years, the trails we walk and Bighorn? ed a project called the Bighorn Recreation what we use to monitor them has changed In the late 1970s, Bighorn Wildland and Impact Monitoring Project. drastically. From pen and paper we have was managed primarily under the Alberta 2016 marks 13 years of AWA monitor- transitioned to tablets on which a ques- Eastern Slopes Policy as prime protection ing these trails. Although it was my first tionnaire-style form is completed in order zone, which prohibited motorized recre- trip a few volunteers like Paul Sutherland to ensure consistency in the answers. ation. In 2002, the Alberta Government and Heinz Unger have participated in This work has been an integral piece formalized an access management plan these monitoring exercises many times. of AWA’s work on the Bighorn and we that legalized motorized recreation in the They were an invaluable pool of knowl- couldn’t have done it without the dedi- Wildland on designated trails. AWA had edge for me to draw from. This year, we cation of volunteers like Paul and Heinz. the foresight to see that trail monitoring took two separate 3-day trips, which is the Many thanks to you both! was essential to determine the effects of time needed in order to cover the trail sys-

16 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES Mmmm... breakfast for mama bear! PHOTO: © P. SUTHERLAND

Room with a view! PHOTO: © J. SKRAJNY The Bighorn is big country, with some portions which are considered “undam- impressive wild spaces. Its stretches of un- aged” have eroded around 20cm since they compromising wilderness – sometimes si- were opened. lent, sometimes not – are so humbling to The amount of water that this landscape me. It’s country I cherish and seek out. It is capable of holding is reflected in the offers what I need to “reset” my addled ur- trails. Many Wild Lands Advocate readers ban mind. may remember last year’s findings of what As we were out hiking the trails, it was happens when a new trail is built on such clear we were out during an unusual time. a sensitive landscape. The Canary Creek On the August trip - Left to right: myself (Joanna), Many of the trails had been closed due to trail had been relocated away from a val- and volunteers Heinz and Joel on the August trip. PHOTO: © J. SKRAJNY the fact they were unstable and highly erod- ley bottom, a section with multiple creek ed. Consequently, the amount of motorized crossings, up to a wooded hill in order to the slope, we still noted huge piles of earth activity was minimal. For once we could avoid washouts from future floods. Good churned to reveal exposed and torn roots. actually hear the wilderness, which is too in theory, but the exceptionally wet land- And yet this wasn’t the only spot. Almost often ruined by off-highway vehicle racket. scape played havoc with this relocation the entire network of the trails, especially In August, following a month of consistent effort. Cut into a 33-degree slope made of those contained in the mountain valleys, rain, the remaining open trails were filled soft soil, the trail was already slump- where both water and OHVs funnel, were with water. We slipped and slid our way ing and collapsing not ten months after in a similar – if not worse – state of disre- down the middle of the tracks where possi- it was built. pair. The second conclusion was that there ble, bushwhacking where it wasn’t. My visit one year later to the rerouted trail is simply no better place to put this trail, All of this August rain, although not un- gave me two definite conclusions – neither much like many others in the Bighorn. This common in the Bighorn, provided us with of them positive ones. The first was that the was the shallowest slope away from the a unique vantage point. It helped us ap- whole 800m of the rerouted trail looked – creek valley. If any trail were to be here, this preciate just how much erosion this land- bad. There’s just no other word for what would be the place to locate it. scape has experienced in just over 10 years. we witnessed. The slumping had moved This year in the Wild Lands Advocate we Sticking our tape measures into the pud- up the slope by another metre in some have extensively covered the various im- dles consistently revealed that even trail portions. Where the trail wasn’t cut into pacts that OHVs have on the landscape and

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 17A wildlife. Some of the “hits” include: and will keep their machines on designat- • increasing runoff and sediment, ed trails – which we know is not always • increasing habitat fragmentation, the case. • displacement of wildlife such as elk and Another important piece to this puzzle to grizzly bears, me is that the Bighorn is special and it is • increased motorized access contributing heartbreaking to see piece by piece whit- to poaching and stress on wildlife tled away. Last year was a particularly dry • displacement of other users such as spring, and for most Albertans, the rain this hikers summer was welcome. This landscape is From a conservation perspective it’s clear highly valued for providing drinking water that OHV use has impacts on any land- to many Canadians. The Bighorn is called scape. These environmental impacts are the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan exacerbated in areas as sensitive as the River for a reason – it’s wet! The rivers and Bighorn. Any trail damage is long-lived, streams flowing out of the Bighorn provide magnified by the short growing season. But up to 90 percent of the water supply to Ed- even from a perspective of simply looking at monton. This landscape is clearly crucial the trails it’s clear they are doomed to fail. for water security and wildlife habitat. It is Nature simply didn’t mean for them to be also one of the only remaining footholds in

on this landscape. Alberta’s Eastern Slopes free from heavy in- Who’s laughing now? Volunteer Joel happily knee Water + soft soil + over powered ma- dustrial use and logging. deep in waders on a trail filled with water. This is a chines is simply not a sustainable combina- As we hiked in the rain, listened to it pelt designated trail and was deemed stable enough to be open. PHOTO: © J. SKRAJNY tion. When every step of our feet squishes our tents, saw the stars, and lost ourselves into the trails, how are machines weighing in such a vast landscape, I kept having My first year in the Bighorn affirmed why anywhere from hundreds of pounds to over the overwhelming sense of experiencing I work as a conservation specialist and half-a-ton with huge tire treads supposed something so much greater than myself. what AWA is working towards. It’s clear the to ride on these trails without having an Too many members of our species believes Bighorn should be protected as a Wildland impact? In recent memory trails have now we can build it better, we can conquer and Provincial Park, just like the government been closed in 2012, 2013, and 2016 for tame the landscape. But at what point do promised in 1986. Our monitoring is used some portion of the summer. Even from the we accept, respect, and humbly bow to the to inform decision-makers about the im- perspective of the public purse it is obvious uncompromising wilderness, instead of portance of smart planning and protecting that these trails will have to be rebuilt again picking up another shovel? At what point wilderness and headwaters landscapes. But and again. Why should we spend money does wilderness, landscapes not or very it’s also important to physically walk the endlessly repairing the damage done? And lightly touched by our hands and boots, land and appreciate it for yourself. I hope that’s assuming that all users are respectful have its own worth? this will encourage you to do the same.

In 2015 volunteer Ken Lee measures collapsed sections of trail along Canary Creek, In 2016 a portion of the rerouted trail in the forest. Even where the trail wasn’t cut less than 10 months after the trail was constructed by the Government of Alberta. into a 33 degree slope, there was extensive root and vegetation damage. PHOTO: © S. NICHOLS PHOTO: © J. SKRAJNY

18 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES In Memoriam

Ed Wolf, an AWA founding member, for- Christyann remembers Ed for the enor- Ed Wolf mer board member, and an anonymous mous campfires he would make that evap- October 27, 1922 – August 30, 2016 supporter of AWA passed away at the end orated the rain and helped everyone get of August at the age of 93. Ed anonymous- dry again! Every time she builds a campfire ly provided monthly rent money when she thinks of him and always will. In the AWA first sublet Hillhurst Cottage School last few years, he was extremely concerned in the 1970s from the Hostel shop. Many with unreported bird deaths from wind long-time AWA members have tales about turbine development and the rampant ex- Ed. He loved hunting, especially with Tom plosion of wind farms throughout Alberta. Beck and Dick/Vivian Pharis, and hiking.

no longer hunt or fly fish or even visit his his cooperative work in the 1970s Eastern favourite pools along the North Raven River Slopes hearings and the fight to save Will- or Prairie Creek. Over the next 5 years the more Wilderness Park from development, disease would rob him even of his ability to when he was Alberta Fish and Game As- write. sociation president. The two associations, Bob had always lived life to the fullest with with Bob always pushing us, worked coop- a long, distinguished career in law, another eratively and effectively together through the long, even more distinguished career as a 1980s on Integrated Resource Planning, on writer and a third remarkable career in vol- exposing the hazards of game farming, and unteerism, particularly as an outdoors advo- on defeating the province's plan to sell graz- cate. ing lease public lands. In 2011 Bob could still write, and his pen Bob’s passing is a call to action. AWA must was loaded with rich description and sharp redouble its efforts to pursue the goals he analysis. In recognition of his keen legal cherished: regaining free access to grazing Bob Scammell mind Bob received a Queen's Counsel des- lease lands and ending “Cowboy Welfare” November 29, 1937 – ignation in 1980. But Bob’s greatest fame, (Bob's term) that denies the public millions November 24, 2016 including international fame, came from his of dollars a year in surface rights fees. When writing. For 50 years, Alberta newspapers, we are successful on these intractable issues Late this fall Alberta lost a proud son, its most consistently the Red Deer Advocate, – and we will be successful – our victories most passionate outdoors advocate and, carried Bob's weekly outdoors columns. He will be dedicated in Bob's memory. Deliver- without doubt, its greatest defender of pub- wrote for a range of Alberta's sports journals ing justice on these two issues meant more lic lands, when Bob Scammell passed along. and for sporting magazines across North to him than anything else. Bob was taken by a muscle atrophying dis- America. Bob won many awards, including To read a fuller account of Bob's remark- ease that, even when I spent a day interview- three national writing awards in 2011 alone, able life, please see Wild Lands Advocate Vol. ing him in 2011, already had him in its grip. the year I interviewed him. His books were 19, no. 4 (August 2011). It robbed him of his greatest pleasure – to be often Canadian bestsellers. – By Vivian Pharis able to walk out in nature. In 2011 he could AWA will long be beholden to Bob, for

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 19A Ribbon of Brown

By Eric Gormley, Kristine Kowalchuk, and Raquel Feroe

ildlands Advocate has pub- us. Just as important, it provides habitat for scape architect Frederick Todd offered lished excellent articles on dozens of species of plants and animals and the emerging city of Edmonton a unique W diverse wild backcoun- is the only corridor for wildlife movement vision, something eastern cities had long try places. This discussion is about a wild across the city—most commonly coyotes forfeited—a “necklace of parks” running urban place, the North Saskatchewan riv- and deer, but also moose, and the odd through the river valley. Assembling this er valley through Edmonton. Wandering black bear. It is the “emptiness” that makes park has been a constant thread in Edmon- home after a night downtown you might it so valuable. As local biologist Ross Wein ton’s DNA ever since. step off the hard surfaces to the top bank says, “the river valley is our eco-corridor, Many people over the decades endorsed of the river valley, and see darkness below. it’s all we have in the Edmonton area.” Todd’s remarkable vision. The last centu- Urbanites could see a void—vast lands And yet, rather than rejoicing in this ry focused on acquiring valley lands for undeveloped—but conservationists know green gift that makes us the envy of cities parks, including from reclaimed dumps what can’t be easily seen is often where the everywhere and doing our best to protect and industrial sites. Parkland grew from good stuff happens. Edmonton’s river val- it, Edmonton has recently begun to actively 294 acres in 1906 to 2,000 acres in 1947 ley represents the largest expanse of urban promote the river valley as a backdrop for and nearly 5,000 acres in 1965. Fifty years parkland in all of North America, and until human recreational activities and, increas- after Todd had imagined it, Edmonton now it has remained, on the whole, natu- ingly, to destroy it by turning it into the director of parks J.R. Wright surmised, ral. Human beings gain mental and physi- equivalent of an outdoor mall, replete with “continuity and unity are probably the cal benefit from spending time in the valley, escalators, amusement activities and com- strongest intangible elements contributing away from noise, away from artificial lights, mercial centres. Balancing humans’ place in to the uniqueness of the River Valley.” The with a nighttime view of the stars. It calms our city’s river valley has never been easy, vision for this park was to make it feel like but in the past few years there has been a the countryside. When the City acquired sudden change in direction in river valley 1,300 acres of Whitemud Ravine from 20 management. Unless there is greater aware- different owners in 1960, Wright wanted ness of the river valley’s ecological, histor- housing setbacks at the top of the ravine so ical, and cultural value, we are poised to people below in Whitemud Creek would lose the most important natural area of our look up and see only nature. Putting peo- entire city. ple in touch with nature—especially those Edmonton’s river valley park today is no lacking means to travel to the mountains or accident. It has benefitted from thousands other rural areas—was the aim. of years of wise stewardship of indigenous Along the way, park builders from Wright peoples who used the area as a source of to city councillors, bureaucrats and busi- fish, game, saskatoons, chokecherries, ness people cautioned against short-sight- cranberries, and materials for making tools ed policies that would erode the great civic and fire—as well as a source of spiritual plan. Edmonton’s citizens acted to save Mill connection with the land. The valley’s long Creek and MacKinnon ravines from traffic history of human occupation reminds us of engineers in the 60s and 70s, the latter af- how important nature is to our well-being. ter shovels were already in the ground. In Blue clematis, south bank of the North Saskatche- wan River, east of Dawson Bridge Over a century of protection has respect- response to these threats, in 1975 the Prov- PHOTO: © E. GORMLEY ed this heritage. In 1907 Montreal land- ince and City together bought land and built

20 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES Trail through poplar and carragana in Dawson Park PHOTO: © E. GORMLEY a continuous trail system on both sides of River to be a “major ecological corridor last of its valley restricted development ca- the river from Edmonton’s east end to the across Alberta.” The report observed the veats, the section from Edmonton to Dev- High Level Bridge, creating a 13 kilometre valley and ravines are still “well-connected, on. That same year, the city approved the riparian zone in the process. The Province and maintaining and improving this con- Valley Line LRT, even though its route pass- further protected lands along the river from nectivity will be critical to protecting bio- es straight through landscape that connects Fort Saskatchewan to Devon from com- diversity over the long term.” In 2011, the Mill Creek Ravine—“a biodiversity core mercial and industrial use by designating City published “The Way We Green,” its area”—to the river valley regional wildlife them a “restricted development area.” In environment master plan. It lamented the corridor. According to the environmental 1976, the John Janzen Nature Centre was loss of natural areas and pledged to protect impact assessment, the LRT track and long opened to provide public awareness and “ecological connectivity in the North Sas- retaining walls beside the existing three education of nature. This was followed in katchewan River Valley — one of the re- lane roadway are “expected to impede local 1985 by the River Valley Bylaw, which ex- gion’s key biological corridors.” A Natural wildlife movement,” and have a “major im- tended the river park to the western limits Areas Advisory Committee and the City’s pact” on the local ecosystem. of the city and noted the need to protect Master Naturalist Program that trained cit- Meanwhile, the 1975 Capital City Recre- against the intrusion of roads and utilities. izens in stewardship practices grew out of ation Park agreement the Province signed In the early 90s the City’s Ribbon of Green these initiatives. In the past few years both with the City, requiring the City to consult document confirmed, “the public now rec- have been suspended…and this seems to with the Province over development in the ognizes the valley can be easily damaged as have portended the shift to come. eastern half of the river valley, has slipped well as conserved.” It resolved, “the major One would expect current concerns over into a coma, and now is in danger of being portion of the river valley will remain in a climate change and species loss would buried. The City and the Province are also natural state,” and in support of this vision, heighten appreciation for nature’s work both providing infrastructure funding to education “programs will increase aware- in helping to control pollution, manage River Valley Alliance, a quasi-official body ness of natural and human history.” floods, and add to the physical and mental whose motto “preserve, protect, and en- This theme of a continuous greenway was health of people—but the pendulum has hance” has been recently updated to “pro- reinforced in the City’s Biodiversity Report swung towards development of the river mote, protect, and enhance.” (2008), declaring the North Saskatchewan valley. In 2013, the Province dropped the City administration still is careful to ac-

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 21A knowledge ecology, but rarely makes it a along River Valley Road is being floated. What people come to expect from nature in priority. In rapid succession the central riv- There has always been room for some the city can’t help but translate into a con- er valley is seeing a host of infrastructure appropriately placed, low-cost infrastruc- servation ethic that will guide stewardship projects, including the Valley Line LRT ture to accommodate river valley users, like practices of Alberta’s remote lands, as well. and, just 450 metres away, a $24 million picnic shelters or a building in Hawrelak As an antidote to the development trend, funicular—an outdoor elevator—under Park where people can put on their skates we would like to see the conversation the iconic, hundred-year-old Hotel Mac- and access washrooms. But now the City deepened about Edmonton’s greatest as- donald. Even though the same contractor wants to place infrastructure in the valley set. The river valley cannot be all things performed the EIAs for both projects, there as a way of attracting and capitalizing on to all people and remain important as a is no mention in the EIAs of cumulative ef- new user groups. Tourists, for instance, conservation corridor. The voices to weigh fects. Both projects encroach upon shrubby drawn by water taxis, and paying custom- the most heavily are the voices of those areas in the north bank of the valley, the ers for upscale patio restaurants who may who know the valley’s worth as a natural only sub-areas in both surveys in which bi- never have come to the valley otherwise, landscape, and they need to be amplified. ologists discovered the presence of the grey and who, after their meal, return to the city Clearly, many citizens value the river val- catbird. These two shrubby areas scored rather than venturing into the woods. The ley as more than just a backdrop for urban highest in avian diversity and abundance, rationale given is if the public wants urban pursuits Strengthening governance of the partly because they were removed from amenities in the valley, we need to provide valley, abiding by indigenous respect for roads and traffic. Both shrub areas will un- them. Contrast this with River Valley Bylaw, the earth, and staying true to the vision dergo major disturbance and house new which informs us, “[since 1910] municipal, of men and women who assembled and mechanical workings. Some vegetation will regional and provincial authorities have bequeathed these parks is vital. We must grow back, but one must assume the two sought to protect the North Saskatchewan rekindle the forums and collaborations projects, together, will impact bird activity River Valley’s natural open spaces from ur- that led to the 2006 Coyotes Still Sing in My in this part of the river valley. ban development….” Valley and 2005 North Saskatchewan River This fall the City also approved a 15-me- This begs the question: Is the City forget- Heritage Study. And do more to alert peo- tre “climbing gym” in Whitemud Nature ting its history? This rush to construct in ple to the valley’s superb flora and fauna. Preserve, and eight days later, it approved and commercialize the river valley seems Frederick Todd’s words are truer today than seven new docks and boat launches, each to discount all of the City’s accumulated when he spoke them a century ago — “a requiring tree cutting, construction of wisdom over the past century of the val- crowded population, if they are to live in trails, and consequent loss of habitat. City ue of nature in the city. The river valley is health and happiness, must have space for Council deemed every one of these projects more than abundantly wonderful already. the enjoyment of that peaceful beauty of “essential.” Expected soon is the announce- Yet now one hears less about sightings of nature, which is the opposite of all that is ment of a paved promenade in Rossdale a pair of pelicans, or a grove of sweet cice- sordid and artificial in our city lives.” with “plazas, walkways, and docks.” The ly than one does about boat launches and We would like to hear from those with idea of a concrete seawall west from there flashy promenades linking riverside cafes. expertise and passion—the readers of Wildlands Advocate. To receive notice for fo- rums being planned or to share your ideas, please contact Eric Gormley at erigormley@ gmail.com

Eric Gormley is a retired educator and a beginner naturalist. Raquel Feroe is a physician who promotes awareness of known links between human and environ- mental health. Kristine Kowalchuk is a food and environment writer who teaches English at NAIT in Edmonton. Her book, Preserving on Paper, will be out in May 2017 from University of Toronto Press. All call Edmonton home. Retaining walls and LRT track will block the wildlife corridor from Mill Creek ravine to the river valley PHOTO: © E. GORMLEY

22 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES A positive approach to trail advocacy

By Glen Mumey

ur family travels trails by foot, improvements are desired, the GP users of- A positive position for the FPs could take ski, and snowshoe – we are ten provide them through volunteer work. two parts – stressing public benefit from O foot-propelled (FP) trail users. Their case with government rests not only their activity, and encouraging improve- Naturally, we view with interest the ex- on the pleasure they provide their users but ments to the trail system that would recruit tensive policy discussions in Alberta – es- on the assurance that their use does little more FP users. One benefit beyond the pecially regarding the southwest corner or no harm. To this end they may promise pleasure of the users relates to health. With where we live. The general policy approach to protect streams with bridge crossings, the public paying the medical bills, getting from organizations that represent FP users to encourage GP users to avoid environ- people engaged in outdoor exercise has a is a negative one – exclude off-road vehi- mental damage, and to endorse some gov- policy-making appeal. Extensive scientific cles from our pathways. As things stand, ernment control of their activities (though research supports the benefit of exercise, though, there are many gasoline-propelled they normally do not lobby for tough law and thereby, could develop into a quantita- (GP) users, and we live in a democracy, enforcement of trail rules). Their focus on tive case for the positive contribution of FP so these recommendations often do not permitted passage on public land is self-re- activity to medicare savings. succeed. Either by permission, or by de- inforcing – the more access available, the If FP activity can be demonstrated to fault through lack of rule enforcement, the more GP users. save public money, there is a case for using quads and snowmobiles remain a substan- FP users are many but disparate. They some public money to promote this. Any- tial presence. are not sifted for commitment with a 5-fig- one who has used trails in the U.S national Our provincial government is elected to ure ticket. Some may spend much of their forests or the Canadian national parks will look after matters that the citizens can- free time on trails; others may just take an have observed attributes that draw people not look after individually. Trails located infrequent break from car sight-seeing with to FP trail use. They are good access roads on public land owned collectively by all an easy hike on a national park nature path. to trailheads, well-marked trailhead areas of us are one of those matters. To make Their advocacy is likely to take their own with developed parking space, well main- decisions on trails, we would expect gov- permitted passage for granted, perhaps by tained trails, and easy-to-understand route ernment to weigh the number and com- ancient usage, and to strongly demand ex- information. When any one of these con- mitment of different sets of trail users who clusion of the GP group from public lands. ditions is deficient, FP use is discouraged. are expressing preferences, the money that They do this by stressing the harm done by Well-marked trailheads with good park- must be taxed away from others to provide that group, through damage to the land, ing are practically non-existent in the ex- benefits to these users, and any effects of air, water, and wildlife. Few would dispute tensive Alberta public lands not in parks. the trail use, positive or negative, on those that GP travel is more environmentally dis- Signage is not expensive, and can both in- who do not use the trails. ruptive than FP, but policy makers must vite people to try trails and allay concern of The GP users are a pretty committed think about quantity of harm. getting lost. Some attractive outdoor des- group. Most of them have spent 5-figure There are several weaknesses in this neg- tinations are too remote for someone who money for an off-road vehicle and its ac- ative advocacy by FP groups. Systematic has only a half-day or a day for hiking – coutrements. What they want from gov- proof of major harm is difficult and com- they might require several hours travel on ernment is permission to ride on public plex to establish. Additionally, positive an old logging road to reach a feasible start- lands. Their vehicles can quickly move public benefits from FP passage may be ing point. FP use could be encouraged with them to their favourite areas, so pre-exist- neglected. Moreover, any success from the selective access road development. ing primitive logging roads or less are good advocacy does not have a simple nexus of If a good FP infrastructure is in place, enough for their needs. Where modest trail self-reinforcement. marketing of healthful outdoor activity

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 23A with public funds also makes policy sense. Positive advocacy could also include rec- pay for some of it. Better infrastructure would also reinforce ommending better enforcement of back A positive approach in FP advocacy has school outdoor programs. Without the in- country trail rules. This is an endeavor an obvious self-reinforcing aspect. Recruit- frastructure, promotional programs can be that might be joined by at least some GP ing FP users by encouraging their activity promising an experience that turns out to users, who want trails used responsibly. increases the future clout of the FP group. be unappealing to many. Back country policing is not easy, but its The more of us there are, and the more FP users could also learn from their GP cost can be kept down by recognition of committed we are to trail use, the more we counterparts on one important item, trail a simple equation: deterrent effect = X may be listened to by policymakers. maintenance. Their organizations could (probability of getting caught) x Y (con- commit that if the government does its sequence of getting caught). X requires Glen Mumey, a retired professor of fi- share through infrastructure develop- costly surveillance, but addressing Y with nance from the University of Alberta, ment, they would raise funds and labour meaningful fines and vehicle seizures can lives in southwest Alberta for keeping trails in good condition. both reduce the need for surveillance and

Featured Artist Mike Judd

Castle Mountain, Oils on Canvas, 20” by 24” Pincher Creek, Oils on Canvas, 14” by 18”

Leaning Fir, Oils on Canvas, 20” by 24” Screwdriver Creek, Oils on Canvas, 16” by 20”

24 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES First Nations’ Health and Wilderness

By Andrew Waddington

he link between personal health in what are labeled “traditional activities.” called Tanka Bar, a bison based jerky bar. and the ability to access, engage This includes activities such as hunting, This is inspired by traditional native recipes T in, and spend time in wilderness fishing, berry/plant gathering as well as pro- and necessitates bison conservation. The has been well documented and studied. tecting animals that are considered “totem,” success of this bar has provided a guaran- What is less discussed is the link between that have a special spiritual meaning, such teed income for many on the reserve, thus wilderness and population health, which is as bison. allowing these individuals to secure housing, of particular interest when discussing the For a community health initiative to be food, and other economic benefits. Other off First Nations communities of this country. successful it is essential that the target popu- shoots of the Tanka Bar’s success include the Within Canada, First Nations people are lation wants to participate and will be treat- funding of a social housing project on the considered a “disadvantaged” population.” ed as an equal partner. These conditions Pine Ridge Reservation. Health Canada defines a disadvantaged create a process academics refer to as “doing Closer to home, here in Alberta, members population as one that is “vulnerable to en- with” versus “doing to.” While many top of the Blackfoot Nation are leading a project vironmental risks as a result of physical dif- down approaches to health interventions called the Iinnii (pronounced “E-Knee,” the ferences, behaviours, location and/or control may be well intended they tend to be viewed Blackfoot word for bison) initiative which over their environment.” The disadvantage as paternalistic. Therefore, they are not well focuses on the return of bison to the tradi- of First Nations communities is evident. On received and do not work. As supporting tional Blackfoot lands in Alberta and Mon- average First Nations people make $10,000 traditional aboriginal activities necessitates tana. Early observations on this effort are less than people from the non-First Nations the conservation of species and habitats the inspiring from both conservation and health population; they have suicide rates that are two interests – wilderness preservation and perspectives. They suggest an important link 800 times greater than other populations in promoting activities that promote healthy between conservation and enhancing the so- Canada; they have an incidence of tubercu- First Nations populations – complement cial determinants of health to the benefit of losis that is 26.4 times greater than the gen- each other well. They can encourage rela- the health of First Nations communities. eral population; the National Collaborating tionships that are more akin to real partner- While many of the conservation efforts Centre for Aboriginal Health found that ab- ships – focusing on the “doing with.” afoot in Alberta may not directly focus on originals have a disproportionately high rate When discussing population health it is enhancing population health they have the of HIV infection and contribute a significant also worth noting what are referred to as the potential to do so. While First Nations com- number of the new HIV cases that are di- social determinants of health. These are fac- munities may at first be the obvious benefac- agnosed. Further to this, diseases of lifestyle tors that have been shown to have a positive tors of these conservation movements (from such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary influence on health but are not direct health a health perspective) I believe a focus on Disease (such as emphysema) and diseas- measures per say. Fourteen social determi- conservation and spending time in nature es related to obesity are disproportionately nants of health have been identified and in- will extend well beyond the First Nations of high in First Nations communities. clude things like: income, early childhood this country. It may have a positive health While these statistics are shocking they development, food insecurity, employment, impact for all. shouldn’t stop us from focusing on the as- working conditions, and housing among Andrew is father, husband, hunter, and sets and strengths of First Nations commu- others. To demonstrate the link between nurse. In January 2016 he moved to Fort nities that could improve population health. conservation and the social determinants of McMurray to work full time as a nurse ed- A key theme that has been show to enhance health the Pine Ridge Reservation in South ucator. He’s also working on a Nurse Prac- the health status of First Nations communi- Dakota provides a powerful example. Mem- titioner Master Degree. ties is facilitating First Nations participation bers of this community launched a product

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 25A Conservation Corner: A Star By Many Other Names

By Niki Wilson

y Dad loves the stars. As a child whatever he wanted. He wrecked homes, It is said that Mista Muskwa and his pur- I remember him showing me pillaged food caches, scared away game, suers were so fast that they flew into the M the easy-to-find constellations ripped up edible plants and killed all who northern night sky. Just as this happened, like Orion the Hunter and the Summer Tri- got in his way. He got away with this bad the bear was mortally wounded and he angle. He showed me how to navigate using behaviour for many years, until the rest of turned and faced his attackers. Mista Polaris, the North Star, located just up from the animals decided it was time for the bul- Muskwa was bleeding badly and he shook, the upper right tip of the ladle or “dipper” ly Mista Muskwa to leave traditional lands. as a wet dog would shake, and as he did, from the Big Dipper. Since then, I’ve looked The animal group sent the best hunters and blood from his wound fell to the earth and up and found the familiar comfort of the Big trackers – the birds – to run Mista Muskwa landed and stayed on all the broad-leafed Dipper many times. However, now I know off the land. plants. That is why the leaves of all broad- it by another name – Mista Muskwa – the Wilfred Buck, Science Specialist at the leafed plants change color in the fall. As Cree name for The Big Bear. Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Mista Muskwa, shook he also splattered In the Cree legend, Mista Muskwa was a Centre, finishes this story in his paper a drop of blood on the bird that mortally massive bear that roamed the land doing Atchakosuk: Ininewuk Stories of the Stars: wounded him. To this day, pipichew – the robin – has a red chest. To remind all of the rewards of bullies, Mista Muskwa was placed in the sky along with the seven birds (Corona Borealis). Pipichew (the brightest of the 7 birds) was given a further honour by being granted a special egg. It was the color of the sky and had speckles that rep- resented the stars.

“The story of Mista Muskwa is always a fa- vourite of children,” says Buck, “because the constellation is easy to pick out, and it is in the northern sky all year.” Buck hails from the Opaskwayak Cree Nation of North- ern Manitoba. I met him during the Jasper Dark Sky Festival a few years ago, where he captivated festival-goers of all ages and backgrounds with his stories told both in a planetarium and around the fire at the Lake Annette Star Party. While Buck enjoys sharing stories, he also teaches others about the academic tradi- tions of his people. “First Nations people were theorists, adventurers, philosophers Mista Muskwa (The Big Bear) by artist Edwin Bighetty PHOTO: © E. BIGHETTY and astronomers,” says Buck. “It’s import-

26 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES Tehpakoop Pinesisuk (The Seven Birds) by artist Edwin Bighetty Atima Atchakosuk (The Dog Stars), popularly known as Ursa Minor, reminds us PHOTO: © E. BIGHETTY how the domestic dog came into being by artist Edwin Bighetty PHOTO: © E. BIGHETTY ant our children grow up with an awareness ry of another family that followed a star, I’ll a parcel of land in Calgary between Sil- of that.” also think of Mista Muskwa, and the gift of ver Springs and Varsity (199R Silverview Buck was 16 before he heard a Cree star appreciating that there are many ways to Way) in Bowmont Park. That series of story. Though he’d been in school, until know the world. poetry, “Wildlife of Bowmont Park – Who then he’d only been exposed to the Greek Niki Wilson is a multi-media science Am I?,” was well-received in the commu- and Roman names for the stars. An elder communicator and biologist living in Jas- nities around Bowmont Park. With the named Murdo Scribe told him another Big per. Visit her at www.nikiwilson.com. land staying in Bowmont Park Rosemary Dipper Story, that of the Fisher Stars. It tells and Mark now have turned their attention the tale of how Fisher brought summer to Coming in 2017…Poems to publishing a series of poems about Can- the people. “It got me thinking, and got me Commemorating Canada’s ada’s wildlife to commemorate Canada’s asking questions,” says Buck. Wildlife 150th birthday. We look forward to bring- First Nation astronomy is more than sto- What do you do when you’re concerned ing you some of those poems in the New ries and legends. The stars and planets as- about protecting wildlife and their habi- Year. Here’s a taste of what you can expect. sisted Cree and Anishinabe people in telling tat? Rosemary Gell’s answer was “write The poem below was part of the Bowmont time, direction, and weather, and was vital poetry.” Rosemary did this as part of her Park series. to survival. Buck says that in only teaching effort, along with Mark Campbell, to keep Canadian children the Greek and Roman version of this information, they miss out on a valuable and relevant source of knowl- edge about the Northern Sky. He writes:

I hope to see a day where Anishinabe, Dene, Oji-Cree, Inuit, Lakota, Ininewuk and all other marginalized peoples hold their stories and relationships to the stars in plain view for their children and all the world to see...We arrive at knowledge from many different paths and the more aware we are of other possibilities, the more sensitive we will be to understanding and difference.

This sentiment couldn’t be more relevant than it is in the world we live in today. This holiday, surrounded by the Christmas sto-

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | FEATURES 27A AWA Member Kirsten Pugh on the Climb and Run for Wilderness: Why? Why? And Why?

By Kirsten Pugh

Why I Climb derness, since my husband David or I would for the Climb and Run for Wilderness for When I first started participating in this carry them in a backpack. Now, however, at years now. I love getting people together to event, I was motivated not only by the desire six and nine they delight in going up more support fundraising for a very important to fundraise for AWA, but also to challenge times than me, and take even more delight cause or organization like AWA. It’s a great myself physically. One memorable year I in not letting me forget that they have gone opportunity to meet colleagues you might climbed the tower five times – but typically up more times than I have! They fundraise, not otherwise get to know and we always I go up two or three times. I love the atmo- in lieu of birthday gifts, and I hope will grow have a great time both on the Climb and in sphere, the camaraderie, and the sense of up to love and appreciate the wilderness as our training sessions. Last year we won the community that comes with being part of much as David and I do. Team Spirit award! Working for Cenovus something greater than yourself, They both attended the Wilderness De- and having the company support employ- What I will miss about being in the Cal- fenders Camp this past summer and abso- ee fundraising with matching donations, gary Tower is the art, the “Tallest Gallery in lutely loved it. The presentations they did support the team with T-shirts, and support the West.” I loved seeing the new art add- at the end of the week about westslope cut- AWA by sponsoring the 2017 Climb and ed every year and – of course – being told throat trout and owls were both adorable Run for Wilderness makes me very proud. what step I was on so I knew how many and heart-warming. I hope to see you inside the stairs of more were to go (Good news... there are the beautiful Bow building on Earth Day factoids to read on each floor while climb- Why My Company Climbs 2017 challenging yourself and raising ing the Bow, and you’ll know what floor I have been organizing the Cenovus Teams funds for AWA. you’re on too!). I love watching faces of people as they climb. Some are racing, seriously or for fun; some are chatting comfortably with friends old or new; but all have that light in their eyes telling you they are enjoying them- selves. Seeing Richard Guy climbing at the age of 99 in the 2016 Climb was so inspir- ing, and the fact he carries a photo of Louise, his late wife, gives me a lump in my throat every year. I will continue to climb for the next quar- ter century of this event. I will continue to stay active, to get out and enjoy the wilder- ness whenever possible, and to fundraise for AWA so that the wilderness will be there when I need to escape to it.

Why My Kids Climb Let’s be honest – my kids didn’t have a lot of choice when they started “climbing” for wil- The Pugh family at the 2016 Climb and Run for Wilderness

28 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | ASSOCIATION NEWS How Many Bucks Does it Take?

By Christyann Olson, AWA Executive Director

At the end of each year, we take time confident I’ll be adding 2017 to that list. Please know we are inspired by your sup- to reflect on the past year and offer you a I am thrilled to have three dynamic con- port as volunteers and as donors. Almost snapshot of how we are managing. I am servation specialists – Andrea Johancsik, 90 percent of our revenue comes from the pleased to say it’s been another full and Nick Pink, and Joanna Skrajny – join Car- donations and fundraising you do for your challenging year for AWA. Our story is one olyn Campbell and me this year. They have AWA. We simply would not be able to pur- of hard work and determination by a dedi- helped us move forward on a number of sue our vision without you and the untiring cated and passionate group of staff and vol- difficult issues. Our faithful and untiring support of so many! unteers that I am proud to be the Executive accountant Anne Fabris retired this year If you are able, please consider making Director for. as did Sean Nichols and we offer them our a gift to help us continue being the strong We all know AWA cannot further its sincere thanks for their many years of ded- and independent voice for conservation we goals or succeed without the support of icated service. are. The insert in this Wild Lands Advocate people who are passionate about nature Overall, we have had more letters, notes, can be mailed in or you may use our se- and wilderness. We’re weathering some and cards thanking us for all we do. Many cure online service by going to our website tough economic and are doing quite supporters have written on issues that con- www.AlbertaWilderness.ca. All donations well. Our frugal and careful planning has cern them and we believe that together we received or post marked before midnight helped during the economic downturn are making progress on our vision of a net- on the 31st of December qualify for a 2016 and our reserve funds are helping to carry work of protected representative wild spac- charitable tax receipt. us through these hard times. es throughout Alberta. Our detailed Annu- With sincere thanks and best wishes for But we still need you. We hope members al Report is now posted to our website with the warmth and happiness of this holiday and donors like you will continue your our Financial Statements and I hope read- season for you and yours. faithful support as we move into 2017. ing through the report will add to the sense Christyann You’ve justified that hope and optimism in you have of where we have come from and past years and, knowing you as I do, I’m where we still have to go. Below you will find the names of those who friends and family have honoured over the past year. Some are honoured for the joy they bring today; others are honoured in memory of the important lives they led. Gifts in Memoriam 2015 - 2016 Celebration Donations P.K. Anderson 1927-2014 Lorna Gunn 1947-2016 Philip and Tristann Stopford Joseph Biegun 1924-2015 Chris Havard 1944-2015 Raymond Hadden’s Birthday Gerald Brewin 1929-2016 Kuma 2001-2016 Abigail Hadden’s Birthday Roger Creasey David Manzer Gus Yaki’s Botany Outings Brent Dahl 1961-2016 Weslyn Mather 1945-2015 Richard Secord Ken Dalman 1939-2015 Ruth McPhee 1920-2016 Karina Lynn Eustace-Wallis Richard Dean Brian McWilliam 1957 - 2016 Val Scholefield Joyce Docken 1923 - 2016 Adelle Peterson 1926-2015 Laura Sharpe Larry Frith 1943-2016 Martha Reisenhofer 1932-2016 Gerry Annand Bruce Greenwood 1931-2016 Gail Sygutek 1942-2015 Benjamin Vonesch Vic Grossi 1957-2015 Knut Vik 1933 - 2016 Alex & Lindsay Hugh Wallace 1941-2016 Joel Lipkind

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | ASSOCIATION NEWS 29A At the Summit: The Families that Make the Tower Climb for Wilderness a Success

By Nick Pink, AWA Conservation Specialist, and Polly Knowlton Cockett

On a typical day the Calgary Tower, a be- the event and a passion for wild spaces and Why do they do it? hemoth of concrete and steel, likely isn’t wildlife. The Tower Climb is a unique event. “It’s the first place you think of when you imag- To date nine families have claimed the different” Liz Fricke recalled. “So many ine the wilderness, wildlife, and water of Margaret and Jerry Hall Award for the Most outfits have a run or a walk...and people Alberta. But something special happened Outstanding Family. They are: regard it as a challenge, it’s actually fun to on Earth Day (April 22) every year from Year Family see how many times you can do it. Liz, hus- 1992 until 2016; the wilderness came to band Tony, and their family received the 2016 Darcy Pearson and Family the tower. This last year more than 1,000 2014 Award. 2015 Heather, Robb, Abigail, and participants and 150 volunteers migrated For some supporters, involvement with Raymond Hadden to the Calgary Tower to make their annual the climb came directly from their work trek up the 802 steps to the top while learn- Kirsten, David, Michael, and with AWA. Ed Hergott, patriarch of the ing, sharing, and promoting awareness of Annika Pugh 2008 award recipients, has volunteered Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA). 2014 Tony and Liz Fricke and family with AWA since he retired from teaching While all donors and supporters are great- 2013 Patti Dibski, Bill, Sam, in 1996. The Association quickly discov- ly appreciated as the driving force of AWA’s and Alex Overend ered the talent they had on their hands activities, some go far above and beyond 2012 Erin Grier, Joe, Willa and and asked Ed to help coordinate the Tower the call of duty. In recognition of these ex- Sadie Vipond Climb in 1997. They’ve never looked back; ceptional supporters, AWA bestows an an- 2011 Patti Dibski, Bill, Sam, Ed has been successfully coordinating the nual Margaret and Jerry Hall Award for the and Alex Overend Climb for almost 20 years. Ed told Polly: “I Most Outstanding Family. gather a group of about 25 of us. And we’re 2010 Cathy Scott, Gord, Ailsa and The Award is about more than fundrais- the guys that are in the tower, as you come Gareth Hobbins ing. “It’s about the participation and when up the various levels, and we direct traffic at 2009 Robin, Rowan, Grayson, Audrey you are doing it with a family it’s a notion the base, and we run the elevators. Plus, I’m Lane Cockett and Polly Knowl- that it’s an activity or an engagement that Christyann’s (Executive Director of AWA) ton Cockett the entire family can be involved in some eyes on the scene.” way,” says Polly Knowlten Cockett, whose 2008 Ed Hergott and Family - For others, the challenge of getting up family received the award in 2009. Recipi- 18 family members climbed and those 802 stairs got them started. “I want- ents share a year-after-year commitment to volunteered at this year’s climb! ed to see if I could make it to the top” says

Margaret and Jerry Hall Ed Hergott The Hadden Family (with Nana Liz (right) and Tony (left) Fricke Gareth, Ailsa, and Gord Hobbins PHOTO: © K. MIHALCHEON PHOTO: © J. QUIROZ Olson) PHOTO: © J. QUIROZ and Family (centre)

30 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | ASSOCIATION NEWS Kalen Pearson whose family won the award bit hard on it for the protection of those ar- “It’s so much nicer since they put all those in 2016. She adds “now it’s to support a eas and the watershed and the animals and murals in there,” says Polly Knowlton good cause”. the wilderness. Then Lougheed came in and Cockett, “When we were first doing [the Heather, of the 2015 Award co-recipient set aside Kananaskis Country [Provincial Climb], it was drab. They’ve really upped Hadden family, has participated for so long Park] and all kinds of protections that had the atmosphere so that it’s fun, and it’s fun that it has become part of her family’s yearly never been there. And so that was just an at the top.” traditions. “I don’t know when we started. enormous step forward. And the issues con- Twenty-five years of success and improve- It’s just something that we’ve always done. tinue, logging and gas and oil and all that.” ment have polished the event into what it It’s just part of what we do.” Erin Grier explains her support this way: “I is today. But there are always a few wrin- Perhaps not surprisingly, for many of these think what’s been a key to our support of the kles to iron out. When asked what they outstanding families, the activity is about AWA is our connection to nature and to wild didn’t like about the climb, Sam and Alex family and friends. Kirsten Pugh’s fami- places that my family spends a lot of time, in Overend, whose family has won the award ly shared the award with the Haddens in the mountains, helping our kids understand twice (2011 and 2013), had a few thoughts 2015. Kirsten, a past AWA Board Member, the importance of being connected to those to share. “The lines to get into the elevator recalls: “We had participated – I worked for places.” Erin received the 2012 Award, along [can be too long],” offered Bill Overend’s el- Cenovus-Encana – there was a fellow who with her partner Joe Vipond (now an AWA dest son, Sam. “When people come down organized the teams, and we just participat- board member) and their children Sadie the stairs when you are coming up. Or the ed through that. [Once Encana and Cen- and Willa. “And,” Erin adds, “it’s better than really, really competitive people that push ovus split in 2010], I took it upon myself an amusement park! You can see so many people.” to organize the Cenovus teams. I’ve been amazing and cool things.” “Getting up early,” adds Alex, Bill’s youngest. doing that since 2010. And the kids have Liz Fricke cites and appreciates AWA’s It seems only fitting that individual fami- always done it.” education mandate: “What they do is they lies have played such an impressive role in Gord Hobbins, father of the family that keep you informed in what’s actually hap- the strengthening of the AWA family over received the 2010 Award, checks off all the pening, which is not easy to do, and their the years. Families such as those recognized boxes: “[My son] Gareth would like it be- research seems pretty good. Because there’s with the Margaret and Jerry Hall Award cause he’s of an age where he likes to show been lots of areas that people haven’t known have been and remain a tremendous source people what he’s capable of from a physical what’s going on.” of support for AWA. perspective. Our daughter, it’s a win-win The Climb sounds like a The plans for the 2017 Climb for Wilder- situation, she’s been always the one to… if great time! ness mean that we’re moving to the Bow it has an environmental or positive spin on As with any annual event, each year pro- Building after 25 years at the Calgary Tow- it, she’s the one who puts the flag up and vides a lesson for what was done well and er. Our new venue has even more stairs and says wait a minute, ok I think we can walk what could use improvement. What keeps an even greater view from the top. What to this place, we don’t have to take the car.” people coming back? we hope never changes is the warmth and But why support AWA? “[We] like everything about the climb, excitement that AWA’s families bring to our Ed Hergott, Tower Aid & Base Crew Coor- especially doing it as a family.,” says Darcy celebration of Earth Day. dinator and all-around MVP, originally took Pearson. Kirsten Pugh echoes this senti- A special thanks to Polly Knowlton notice of AWA through his interest in out- ment: “The kids love it, so it just becomes Cockett for taking the time to interview all door activities along the eastern slopes. “The one of those traditions. And now for them, of the recipient families. eastern slopes were a big issue and the AWA it’s this thing we always do.”

Patti Dibski, Bill, Sam, and Alex Erin Grier, Joe, Willa, and Sadie Audrey Lane, Rowan, Robin, and Grayson The Pearson family Overend PHOTO: © J. QUIROZ Vipond Cockett, and Polly Knowlton Cockett PHOTO: © K. MIHALCHEON

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | ASSOCIATION NEWS 31A On October 22nd AWA hosted Autumn had the opportunity to mix with and ask sponsor Edmonton’s speaker series. Splendour, AWA’s largest event of the year questions of eight of AWA’s eleven-member The highlight of the evening came cour- in Edmonton. Over 100 AWA members board – led by our President Owen McGol- tesy of Vivian Pharis, Alberta’s archangel of and supporters gathered once again at Ed- drick. We were very pleased that Edmon- wilderness. Vivian took her audience on a monton’s Snow Valley Ski Club to re-con- ton Strathcona MP Linda Duncan was once tour of Willmore Wilderness Park – what nect with each other and learn more about again able to join us. The same should be she labelled “a million acres of wildest AWA’s activities over the past year. Guests said of Laura Jackson, of Jackson Power, wonder.” She described the Park’s impor- and Steve and Kay Kulak of Edmonton’s tance to Alberta’s First Nations – archaeo- Wildbird General Store. They generously logical evidence points to aboriginal oc- cupation and use in the Willmore as long as 10,000 years ago. By the time of World Sam Gunsch, Peter Lee, and Glen Semenchuk in conversation with MP Linda Duncan.

Some of the many treasures donated for the evening’s silent auction.

Owen McGoldrick and Christyann Olson with a Sunflower Platter, generously donated by Wildbird General Store.

32 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | ASSOCIATION NEWS War II the Willmore had gained a consider- development and industrialization. What’s the protection it now receives through its able international reputation for its wildlife different about the Willmore is that those own act, the Willmore Wilderness Park Act. riches – many outfitters took their clients ambitions largely have been held at bay. I hope that, at next year’s event, Vivian will out on hunting expeditions through the The work of Vivian’s generation of AWA be able to confirm that the Alberta gov- Willmore’s valleys, many trappers harvest- membership played a vital role in frustrat- ernment remains committed to preserving ed the area’s bounty of furbearing animals. ing those ambitions. AWA looks forward Willmore’s “million acres of wildest won- The human ambitions Vivian outlined in to working with groups today such as the der” for future generations. her remarks bear a striking resemblance Rocky Mountain Wilderness Society to en- - Ian Urquhart to those that have sacrificed too much of sure that the Willmore continues to enjoy Alberta’s wilderness. Those ambitions want MP Linda Duncan and AWA Board Emeritus Vivian Pharis, two tenacious defenders of wilderness. to tame the Willmore or enslave it through

A glimpse at some of the evening’s many conversations.

Vivian Pharis delivered a wonderful talk about the Willmore.

Although Elvis had left the building he left this collection of memorabilia or the raffle.

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | ASSOCIATION NEWS 33A Updates

Carnivores and Communities that have installed deterrent and protec- tion to these problems. Every ranch is differ- in the Waterton Biosphere tion projects like electric fencing (to keep ent, every parcel of land is different, and each Reserve out both carnivores and ungulates like elk), person has their own financial and logistical The Waterton Biosphere Reserve Carnivore electric chicken coops, and repurposed Sea- needs to address. These problems are also Working Group (CWG) hosted a Carni- Cans. Throughout the day we heard sto- best addressed on a community scale. If one vores and Community Program Tour Sep- ries from landowners who face the greatest producer sets up projects to deter carnivores tember 22, in Twin Butte (south of Pincher threats and inconveniences from sharing the a neighbour may now be more at-risk of hav- Creek). Despite it being the rainiest day of landscape with carnivores. Some expressed ing problems. Like any Biosphere Reserve, the month, a large group showed up to tour fear as they reported walking their children the collaboration is grassroots and aims for the area and learn about how local livestock or grandchildren along driveways with fresh good outcomes for both the people and the producers deal with “problem” carnivores – grizzly scat or at having unexpected staring ecosystem they live in. I was impressed with mostly bears and wolves that interfere with contests with bears through the living room the dedication of local producers to continue their daily production and livelihood. window. One rancher has had 10 confirmed living with grizzly bears in the region. AWA Due to the weather we didn’t see much livestock killed by grizzly bears and 3 live- has consistently advocated for the protection of the stunning and rich landscapes of the stock killed by wolves this year. Those totals of Alberta’s grizzly bear populations and rec- southwestern corner of Alberta. But the en- don’t include other livestock that have gone ognizes the hard realities and dilemmas of liv- thusiasm and knowledge of group attendees missing on his property. He spoke of his frus- ing in areas of high human-bear conflict. The made up for the deluge of rain. Grizzly bear tration at never having seen a bear at work. I Carnivore and Communities Working Group researcher Andrea Morehouse and black learned that grizzlies often bury the remains deserves much recognition and thanks: bear researcher Annie Loosen presented an after they have a meal, making it difficult for whether people are motivated to participate update on their recent studies in the Water- people to prove that it was a grizzly kill! Yet at first by frustration, tolerance, or love for the ton-Parkland area, and Provincial Carnivore others shared hope by recalling the success animals, the efforts of this community is mak- Specialist Paul Frame updated the group on they’ve seen since installation of the projects. ing a difference for the wildlife. Alberta’s draft Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan. The Waterton Biosphere Reserve represen- - Andrea Johancsik Two buses took the tour to visit ranches tative emphasized that there is no one solu-

Featured Artist Mike Judd

Pincher Creek2, Oils on Canvas, 14” by 18”

34 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | WILDERNESS WATCH Pembina Climate Summit Let’s not forget though, it still is Calgary: tunities to use existing disturbances to Draws Hundreds one panel discussion was sponsored by the land for renewable energy develop- I bet some of you would be skeptical a Suncor and Shell, and expensive tickets ment (such as the SunMine solar farm year or two ago if I told you the 2016 Al- meant that the business world still dom- in Kimberley B.C. that is located on a berta Climate Summit would be oversold. inated the audience. Entrepreneurialism former mining site), formulate an ener- After all this is Alberta, home to oil sands, was a major theme. In the Utility-Scale gy efficiency policy, and use small-scale, low taxes, and climate change deniers. Renewables breakout session I attended, community owned renewable in our cit- But, what a difference a year can make. the technical jargon around markets, in- ies where the load is highest. These on- Add new provincial and federal govern- vestment, and electricity was enough to going questions should be an immediate ments, an agreement in Paris, and a sense make my head swim. This is not to say focus in planning for a zero net-carbon of urgency due to widespread job loss in those are bad conversations, but only future. It’s all of our work, alongside gov- the oil and gas industry, and all of a sud- that the mindset is one primarily of prof- ernment, industry, and landowners, to den climate change is a hot button topic. it, capitalism, and resource exploitation. find out how to enable a renewable ener- On September 20 at 8:30am, organizers This mindset is seldom questioned, de- gy sector in the abundant opportunity we of the Summit were greeted by a stand- spite its contribution to numerous global have in southern Alberta without com- ing-room only crowd, swelled by over 100 problems such as inequality, marginal- promising wildlife and the last remaining unexpected attendees. The Summit made ization of poor communities, land use native grassland and parkland habitats. the news and #ABClimate was trending on challenges, and biodiversity loss. I had Two high-school students spoke the Twitter, second only to #Brangelina (noth- the opportunity to raise this perspective closing words. One told the audience ing can top a celebrity divorce!). with David Hone, Climate Change Advi- that her grandfather recently died in Af- Presenters in the morning included En- sor for Shell, at a breakfast presentation rica not from old age, but from a snake vironment and Parks Minister Shannon the day prior, by asking, “your scenari- bite. Due to warmer temperatures, Af- Phillips, Eriel Deranger of the Athabasca os are based on an assumption that our rican snakes are moving into homes to Chipewyan First Nation, Intergovernmen- economic paradigm – global economic stay cool. She emphasized – “African tal Panel on Climate Change author John growth – will remain into the future, but snakes are too hot.” Climate change is Stone, Mark Brownstein from the Environ- do you believe there needs to be funda- not a problem that can be put off until mental Defense Fund, to name a few. Two mental, significant changes in our econ- next decade. The same student urged “fireside” panel discussions focused on omy to achieve ambitious targets like the the conference to do something positive first, how firms are responding to carbon Paris Agreement?” I think his response for their communities, and this will cre- constraints and second, on the role of fos- suggested that past assumptions about ate a ripple effect of resiliency across the sil fuels in 2050. Participants attended one what economic paradigm should guide province, the country, and ultimately the of four breakout sessions in the afternoon: our actions on this planet are not chang- world. Starting the conversations at the international trends for coal; energy effi- ing in the business world. Pembina Climate Summit was a first step ciency; utility scale renewables; and com- Some conservation interests were rep- in achieving this. munity-owned renewables. Here are some resented in the audience, such as Alberta - Andrea Johancsik highlights from Twitter: Ecotrust and the Miistakis Institute. Cof- fee-break discussions centred on oppor-

WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | WILDERNESS WATCH 35A Reader’s Corner

Rob Kaye, Born to the Wild: ters with wolves, cougars, and moose. the wilderness. Journals of a National Park Kaye’s early recollections from the 1950s Wilderness – what does it mean, anyway? Warden in the Canadian paint a picture of the early days in the town This question animates much of Kaye’s writ- Rockies, of Jasper. Interactions with bears were an ing. Misguided management practices like (Grey Wolf Books, 2015) everyday occurrence as the town’s open-pit fire suppression and ungulate and predator Reviewed by Andrea Johancsik dumpsite encouraged the bears to develop culls, reinforced by global climate change an appetite for human food. Kaye and his and increased visitation, have reduced spe- childhood friends snuck into the rodeo and cies diversity far from what it had been for attempted to jump on and off trains. In later thousands of years. years, their activities turned more sophisti- “Our parks have not been cated as they went fishing and backpacking spared the spoils of human use: on their own. These misadventures helped Kaye develop wilderness survival skills es- loss of habitat, serious declines sential for his later career as a park warden. in both number and diversity Early on, the book also describes Jasper’s of flora and fauna species, the indigenous and settler human history, and introduction of invasive non- the brief window of time in which they native species, commercial coexisted. Setting this historical context against the sudden change in patterns of exploitation, and overuse (loving human occupation is an effective tool to our parks to death).” help the reader make sense of Kaye’s ex- - Rob Kaye periences and also to appreciate the signif- Because the changes happen incrementally, icant ecological and management changes it took Rob his whole career to realize the ex- have occurred recently. tent to which humans have altered the once Kaye’s career stretched from the 1970s to ‘pristine’ environments in Jasper National Former Park Warden Rob Kaye relives his the early 2010s. The variety of duties he Park. Rob’s retirement coincided with the extensive commitment to and knowledge was responsible for over this lengthy ca- severe budget cuts made to Parks Canada in of Jasper National Park in his autobiogra- reer is remarkable. Kaye developed skills 2012, cuts that gutted “thousands of years phy Born to the Wild – Journals of a National in avalanche safety and ski hill rescue and of corporate knowledge and experience.” It’s Park Warden in the Canadian Rockies. Read mountaineering; he was a first responder clear from the book that Rob’s strong gener- it, and you’ll be exposed to wildlife encoun- for highway accidents; he wrote reports alized knowledge and on-the-ground exper- ters and challenging backcountry travel in and management plans and helped develop tise brought strength to the park’s manage- the comfort of your home, but the frank strategies; he repaired trails and telephone ment that could be passed to future wardens realizations of future threats to Canada’s lines; he enforced the law against poachers; – even the value of his mishaps shouldn’t parks remain real. and he did all of these jobs while taking be discounted. Cutting funds and splitting The 340-page book is full to the brim with care of himself and a team of horses alone roles aren’t new phenomena in the National lively stories about Kaye’s experiences in in the backcountry. Parks, but the lasting impact of a widespread the backcountry working as a park warden. When it came to playing these many roles, cut is likely impossible to quantify. Complementing his stories are numerous it is clear from Kaye’s recollections that he Kaye’s career may be over but the themes recollections of Rob’s peers and mentors. En- favoured the solitude and raw beauty of the and experiences he writes about will contin- countering wildlife is a theme that glues the backcountry to working at the townsite. He ue to be written through the many people book together, both the miraculous and the does a good job of describing the tranquili- he has influenced in his years with Parks deadly – although fatalities and injuries from ty and satisfaction that nature provides, but Canada. His autobiography serves as a valu- bears are rare, the tales that come out of them words can only do so much. While Kaye able memory. You might read an excerpt of are gripping. Kaye describes many incidents yearns to relive his youthful summers in the the book at your next family campfire and in Jasper of encounters between people and backcountry, the reader can’t help but also through it gain a deeper appreciation of the black/grizzly bears as well as human encoun- long to experience the same excitement in magnificence of nature.

36 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | DEPARTMENTS Alberta, BEARSMART: Do your part to save the bears by being You’ll learn all these things and more as you Colouring and Activity BearSmart. colour in this book. We have a page for you Book, Where do bears like to live? What do peo- to enjoy. Want to see the rest? It’s available for (Government of Alberta, 2012), ple and bears have in common? What should teachers, moms and dads, and kids to print Illustrations by Lorna Bennett. you do to keep yourself and bears safe? for free at: www.bearsmart.alberta.ca. Reviewed by Joanna Skrajny

Image provided courtesy of the Government of Alberta WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | DEPARTMENTS 37 Gillean Daffern and Derek Ryder, The Great Kananaskis Flood, (Victoria: Rocky Mountain Books, 2016) Reviewed by Andrea Johancsik In a new take on a coffee-table book renowned guidebook au- thor Gillean Daf- fern and Derek Ryder, the chair of Friends of Kanan- askis, offer readers a 190-page spread of photographs and stories from the 2013 Flood. Everyone who was in southern Al- berta during the 2013 Flood may have a story but The Great Kanan- askis Flood focuses on the stories in the headwaters of southern Alberta. Ka- is now at the nanaskis Country was the forefront of decision-mak- hardest hit landscape in who ing. For example, now ‘sacrificial bridges’ Alberta during this signif worked so hard are used instead of the traditional wooden icant event. The book ap- in the aftermath to restore Albertans’ fa- bridges and they are designed to break up peals to our very human connection to vourite trails and campgrounds. and break down so logjams aren’t a risk. stories and visuals and is a must-have for Discussion is light on some of the larger Friends of Kananaskis are also putting up every Kananaskis-lover and those who land-use problems that arguably exacerbat- interpretive signs to highlight flood im- want to nurture long-lasting memories of ed the intensity of the flood and the result- pacts on popular trails. the Flood. ing destruction. The book mentions that A map showing the location of trails, The book’s short introduction tells the inexpensive backcountry bridges became roads, and bridges displayed in the pho- story of the people most directly affected by washed out and created logjams, worsen- tographs would have given the book an the flood in the backcountry. Derek Ryder ing clogging and damage, but doesn’t dis- ounce more impact. But the readers who told me the idea for the book came from cuss whether bridges and developments are most likely to enjoy this book are prob- the realization that collectively the soon-to- should be rebuilt in the floodplain. How- ably buying it because they know and love be contributors were sitting on a treasure ever, the book intends not to comment on the trails already. trove of photographic records of the flood. political matters, but will instead spark the A typical coffee table book may be placed Because the Alberta government declared reader to ask the essential questions that strategically in the front living room to Kananaskis an emergency zone, there were volunteers and staff had to consider in the show off pristine local landscapes to out- few photographs taken during the flood. aftermath: Where is it appropriate to re- of-province visitors. This is not your typ- Parks staff, recreationists, and local area build? Did our human footprint make the ical coffee table book, but the photos and residents had to make fast decisions in the flood worse? Will this happen again, and stories here of this natural disaster are no emergency, seek shelter or evacuate, and in what will happen when it does? less awe-inspiring. Plus, it’s a great excuse some cases camp out until helicopter rescu- Ryder assured me those crucial questions to share your favourite flood story when ers could arrive. These stories bring atten- were being answered by land managers and your in-laws walk in! tion to the first responders and heroes of volunteer organizations during rebuild- the day and highlight the efforts of everyone ing, which is still ongoing. Sustainability

38 WLA | Oct/Dec 2016 | Vol. 24, No. 5 & 6 | DEPARTMENTS Upcoming Events EVENTS To receive regular updates on upcoming events such as hikes, talks, and music throughout the year, we would like to encourage you to sign up to receive AWA’s electronic newsletter at https://albertawilderness.ca/newsletter-signup/

Information and tickets about events is available online at: www. albertawilderness.ca/events/

MUSIC FOR THE WILD February 11 - Horizon Ridge and Will Lynch

March 11 - Barry Luft and the Hot TimAlis Come join us at the AWA Cottage School (455 12 Street NW) for a great evening of music!

Doors open at 7:00 PM, show at 7:30PM.

For more information and to purchase tickets, go to www. albertawilderness.ca/events/

CLIMB AND RUN FOR WILDERNESS 2017 We are pleased to announce that the 26th Climb for Wilderness will be held on April 22, 2017 at Calgary’s Bow Building! More stairs, even more magnificent vistas, and the excitement of a new venue await climbers. For the past 25 years, the Climb for Wilderness has challenged participants as athletes and fundraisers, supporting the wilderness we have in Alberta. The tradition continues, supporting education and awareness about wilderness and wildlife in Alberta and raising vital funds which ensure AWA can continue with its independent and non-partisan pursuit of wilderness conservation. The Bow Building will challenge climbers and families of all ages to 1,188 stairs and 54 floors. It’s time to start practicing! We can’t wait to see you on the stairs. Registration opens soon at: www.climbforwilderness.ca Make sure to follow our Facebook page (Climb and Run for Wilderness) and Twitter (@Climb4Wild)

For a complete list of AWA hikes and tours go to: Albertawilderness.ca/events PHOTO: © G. PETERSEN

Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to:

Alberta Wilderness Association 455-12 ST NW Calgary, Alberta T2N 1Y9 [email protected]

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