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Getting to Know Bistcho

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Getting to Know Bistcho Getting to know Bistcho By Carolyn Campbell, AWA Conservation Specialist he Bistcho region, in Alberta’s complexes. Over the millenia since the last and snowy areas in search of their princi- northwest corner, is a part of the glacial period, these cool conditions have pal winter diet of lichens. The Bistcho car- T traditional territory of the Dene allowed considerable carbon stores to build ibou population has been declining in the Tha’ First Nation and home to a threat- up in its layers of mossy peat vegetation. ten years since its monitoring commenced, ened woodland caribou population. It is a The Bistcho’s peat landscape stores and although the last three years have indicat- sensitive and valuable wilderness area that moves water differently from more south- ed relatively stable numbers at lower lev- deserves protection. Bistcho is still remote, erly forests. In the low-lying areas, wet- els. Other Bistcho boreal wildlife include with few permanent roads, and most Alber- lands known as ‘channel fens’ transport moose, black bears, beavers, wolves, and tans will never travel to its expansive peat slow moving water over a peat layer that weasel family members including marten, wetlands, lakes, and forests. That is a great has slowly built up in former glacial melt- mink, and wolverines. reason to get to know it better in these pages. ways or stream channels. Plateaus of poorly Intact peat wetlands are more highly re- The Bistcho wilderness lies in Alberta’s drained sphagnum peat bogs are common sistant to drought and fire than are upland boreal Northern Mixedwood, Lower Bo- on somewhat higher ground. Drainage is forests rooted in mineral soils. As a result, real Highlands, and Boreal Subarctic Sub- relatively limited in the area, giving rise to the Bistcho region could be an effective cli- regions (see the map below). Its low-lying numerous shallow lakes. mate refuge for woodland caribou and oth- peat wetlands support mosses, grass-like The threatened Bistcho boreal woodland er boreal fish and wildlife populations in sedges, shrubs and black spruce trees, caribou population relies upon this land- the face of global warming. However, these while some of its uplands support mixed- scape and its connectivity to adjoining car- wetland conditions also make the vegeta- wood forests. It has discontinuous perma- ibou ranges – the Yates range to the east, tion very sensitive to any mechanized dis- frost soils and its subarctic climate only NWT and BC caribou ranges to the north turbance, which can compact soils or in- allows for short growing seasons. Bistcho and west. With their large hooves, caribou terrupt the surface water and groundwater is a patchwork of forests with vast wetland are perfectly adapted to move through wet connections. Bistcho is a patchwork of forests and vast peat wetland complexes that support threatened woodland caribou, store large amounts of carbon, and are very sensitive to mechanized disturbance. CREDIT: AWA, PHOTO: © C. WALLIS WLA | December 2018 | Vol. 26, No. 4 | FEATURES 13A All of Bistcho’s flowing waters find their with families. During the archaeology there are some active leases to the east and way to the Arctic Ocean via the Northwest summer field trips, an elder shared the south of the lake. Territories’ mighty Mackenzie River. In information that people left that lake-side In 2012 the Alberta government placed a the western Bistcho region, water moves settlement in the 1930s and early 1940s moratorium on new mineral tenures over through channel fen wetlands into the Pe- because of a deadly flu outbreak. All this much of the Bistcho and Yates caribou titot River and on to the Liard River. In is to say that this landscape, like so many ranges. The Bistcho caribou range area the eastern side, its rivers contribute to the others in Alberta, has a rich history of use extends considerably southwest of the Hay River Basin which drains into Great by Indigenous people beyond what many Bistcho Lake area and eastward into the Bear Lake. of us are aware of. Cameron Hills; the adjacent Yates range One of the jewels of the region is Bistcho Bistcho currently has no protected areas. extends further east along Alberta’s bor- Lake. At 426 km2, Bistcho Lake is Alber- In order to safeguard this irreplaceable der with NWT to Wood Buffalo Nation- ta’s third largest lake, after Lake Claire and landscape, AWA believes that most of the al Park. This was a very positive measure Lesser Slave Lake (Lake Athabasca is larg- Bistcho region should be formally protect- for maintaining some connected caribou est in total area, but it lies mostly in Sas- ed as a Wildland Provincial Park, based on conservation options for the Lower Peace katchewan). Bistcho Lake is shallow, with the collaborative model used to establish regional plan. an average depth of less than two metres, Hay-Zama Lakes Wildland Provincial Park Even though the Lower Peace plan has and it supports northern pike, walleye, in 1999. Hay Zama is an internationally not moved forward, some recovery mea- and whitefish populations. Large concen- significant lake and wetlands region south sures for Alberta’s threatened woodland trations of nesting bald eagles have been of Bistcho. Its Wildland Provincial Park be- caribou have. Habitat fragmentation from recorded around Bistcho Lake. gan with a Management Committee part- excessive surface disturbance by extractive In recent years, the Dene Tha’ First Na- nership with the Dene Tha’ First Nation, industry is the primary cause of woodland tion initiated community-based archaeol- the Alberta government, industry repre- caribou declines. According to the Alber- ogy surveys at Bistcho Lake and in other sentatives, and AWA. The Management ta government’s December 2017 report, parts of their traditional territories. A ma- Committee achieved an initial reduction 32 percent of the Bistcho caribou range jor goal of the “Science and Culture on the of the energy industry’s footprint, oversaw is disturbed by wildfire, and 91 percent is Land” program was to involve children the accelerated extraction of the oil and disturbed by human industrial activities, and youth in discovering and document- gas reserves, and it is now monitoring the mostly from historic seismic lines. The best ing their peoples’ long connection to these reclamation. When AWA attended a 2008 available scientific evidence, as document- lands. During the summers of 2013 to ceremony hosted by the Dene Tha’ to ed in the 2012 federal boreal woodland 2016, Dene Tha’ elders shared informa- celebrate Hay Zama Wildland Provincial caribou recovery strategy, is that woodland tion about local history and traditional Park and its international twinning with a caribou require at least 65 percent undis- sites. Youth, elders, and several participat- Mongolian wetlands protected area, local turbed habitat to have even a 60 percent ing archaeologists then explored the pe- people expressed support for the idea of a chance of being self-sustaining. rimeter of Bistcho Lake. In four summers protected area for the Bistcho Lake region. New energy leasing was finally halted they documented over 60 sites, including Bistcho is currently managed as multiple in all Alberta caribou ranges in summer some large “pre-contact” campsites dating use public lands. Alberta’s Forest Manage- 2015. That pause has offered a welcome back many centuries, below historic set- ment Unit (FMU) F20 extends for 8,700 reprieve to develop action plans to man- tlements. The elders’ stories and the sites km2 over much of the area; its remoteness age habitat for caribou recovery. However, indicate a significant history of occupation and sparse commercial forestry prospects Alberta has not yet finalized any caribou by the Dene Tha’. mean that there is no forestry tenure in range plans and new surface disturbance Around the turn of the 20th Century, FMU F20 other than a very small decidu- from existing energy leases continues in Hudson’s Bay Company trading posts were ous permit. Historically, leasing of oil and already excessively disturbed areas of Bist- established throughout the area. The Dene gas tenures produced extensive seismic cho and other ranges. Tha’ began to adopt a more semi-perma- line disturbance, most of which have not In June 2016, Alberta committed to es- nent lifestyle compared to their earlier no- been successfully reclaimed because of the tablish one Wildland Provincial Park in madic life. They gradually settled in small, weak standards of the day. More recent Bistcho, in unallocated Forest Manage- family-based groups in seasonally-used restoration techniques offer considerably ment Unit (FMU) F20, and another in log cabins. At the southeast end of Bist- more potential to restore legacy distur- Yates’ unallocated FMU F10. AWA wel- cho Lake is the site of a former log cabin bance in this sensitive landscape. There is comed this decision to benefit caribou village known as Dene Tha’ Bistcho Lake almost no active oil and gas development and other valued wildlife. Essentially no Indian Reserve #213. It was once bustling to the north and west of Bistcho Lake, but forestry tenure would be affected and ex- 14 WLA | December 2018 | Vol. 26, No. 4 | FEATURES Economist Dr. Tom Power concluded that managing lands for caribou recovery – including two new conservation areas, a development area and a habitat restoration program – can grow the economy in the Bistcho-Yates caribou ranges. CREDIT: GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA MAP, RE-FORMATTED BY POWER CONSULTING INC. isting energy leases could continue under and from recovering caribou habitat. and proceed to build optimized solutions a careful management regime such as was In the summer of 2018, AWA partnered offering the least costs and most benefits. established in Hay Zama. In August 2017, with David Suzuki Foundation and Har- Protecting most of F20, but allowing some AWA presented at a caribou open house mony Foundation to commission a study parts of it to remain as strictly-managed hosted by the town of High Level and of the economic impact of protecting energy development zones, would be an Mackenzie County, which includes both and restoring woodland caribou habitat example of optimizing a range plan for FMUs.
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