Botany Alberta #7 Goes to Lac La Biche

Iris No. 48 • Winter 2005 The Alberta Native Plant Council Newsletter Browsing the Boreal or Loitering in Lakeland: Botany Alberta #7 Goes to Lac La Biche by Patsy Cotterill erhaps it’s the great expanse of lake, the wide bers for feedback and ap- sweep of its open shores, or just the brilliance of proval, the organizing com- Pthe light reflected off the water on a sunny day mittee had finally settled on a that gives Lac La Biche its feel of a seaside resort. menu that could be realisti- Certainly there was an atmosphere of holiday expecta- cally catered to in the short tion among the 45 or so people gathered at the old Mis- space of a weekend. On offer sion on the fine morning of Saturday, June 19th, 2004. were four outings, to be re- They had come to take part in Botany AB number 7, peated on the Sunday, so that converging on this small promontory on the west side of participants could choose at the lake a few kilometres from the town. They came least two field trips. After a from both near and far afield, from a few blocks down day in the outdoors everyone the road, from Newfoundland and Vancouver, from was to return to the Mission Cold Lake and Canmore, from St. Paul and Red Deer, for a social evening on the from Vermilion and Edmonton. Lead organizers of this Saturday, ready to report on year’s ANPC field trip extravaganza were Tom the day’s events (a clever idea Maccagno, a former mayor of Lac La Biche (the town) this, guaranteed to sharpen and long-time aficionado and advocate of the area’s our observation skills and in- natural beauties, and Parks’ staff Ted Johnson and troduce a bit of competition Jennifer Okrainec, also passionate about their region. into the proceedings-for who The Lac La Biche Birding Society had also volunteered can resist a challenge to make their input. Musing for months over an ambitious smor the best story or compile the gasbord of field trips and running it past ANPC mem- longest list?). Elinor Lake I chose to join the large In this Issue... group accompanying leader Ted Johnson to Elinor Lake, Northern twayblade at Garner Lake Fen The roles of fungi in the boreal forest 4 some 25 kilometres or so Photo: P. Cotterill Puzzling pairs.................... 6 southeast of Lac La Biche Alberta Weed Species: (LLB) town in the province’s shore, creekside riparian, spring-wet Oxeye daisy................ 7 Lakeland region. We parked at a and dry ravine slopes, meadow-forest small resort on the southeast side of edge and black spruce-tamarack bog Alberta Native Species: the lake and took a trail that extends having both dry and wet sections. The Low whitlow-wort........... 7 northwards along the shore for sev- scenic and botanical highlight of the Wildflower seed mixes ............. 8 eral kilometres. It led us through a hike was undoubtedly the large col- Adopt-a-Plant ................... 10 variety of habitats common in the bo- ony of ostrich fern (Matteuccia stru- Nisku Prairie field trip ............ 10 real forest; although the canopy was thiopteris) luxuriating in a shady ra- Endangered Species Conservation predominantly of aspen, subtle varia- vine seep. Along the lakeshore were a Committee................ 10 tions in vegetation understory oc- number of young birch trees to which AIPC workshop .................. 11 curred in tandem with changes in to- I applied my quick field test (hairs in ANPC workshop ................. 12 pography and hydrology. We went on the vein axils on the leaf undersides to sample the flora of wet sandy lake- present = paper birch (Betula papyr- Iris 1 ifera), absent = Neoalaskan birch (B. neo- region in general. The Oblate Mission was of orchids of which northern twayblade alaskana)) and declared myself to be thor- established in 1853, Tom told us, and was (Listera borealis) and blunt-leaved bog oughly confused (either both species were moved to its present site in 1855–56. It fun- orchid (Platanthera obtusata) were most in present or else this diagnostic characteristic ctioned as a hub for transportation (mainly evidence on June 19 and 20th. The spring is not particularly helpful!). Unfortunately, by water, but also the first road cut in Al- itself occupies a large opening upslope and although Lakeland is known for its orchids, berta was one linking the Mission with the is filled with large tussocks of prairie sedge this was not to be our lucky day. Though Red River Settlement in Manitoba), a stag- (Carex prairea) interspersed with marsh Ted searched long and hard for spotted ing area for supplies to missions (its moni- marigold (Caltha palustris) and other wet- coral-root (Corallorhiza maculata) at a ker was l’entrepôt du nord), and as a centre land species. (Prairie sedge must surely be known location he turned up nothing; the for education and welfare helping the Métis the most mis-named plant in the Canadian best we could do was find a couple of pale and Aboriginals adapt from a nomadic to an flora as, a wet-loving calcicole, it only oc- coral-roots (C. trifida), past their flowering agricultural lifestyle, given the extermina- curs in fens and fen meadows, not prairies. best, in the spruce bog. More heartening tion of the bison. Even its geographic distribution is not re- stricted to the prairie provinces.) Hillside springs are not uncommon, and Owl River Fen, another of our weekend venues, con- tains a spectacular example, also with prairie sedge. (Nevertheless, species composi- tion seems to depend on water chemistry. Springs at the south end of Long Lake, not too far southwest of LLB, are vegetated exclusively by Carex aquatilis, for example.) In finalizing his list after the weekend Graham noted that the tamarack-prairie sedge community close to the road ranked as a rare (S1) community in the Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre Pre- liminary Community Tracking List (May 2004). Graham further reported on an unusual form of hoary willow (Salix candida) with glabrous undersides to its leaves rather than the typical white indumentum, a variety or form that warrants further investiga- tion. It should be noted that this site was officially created as a provincial natural area (Garner Orchid Fen Natural Area) by Order-in-Council on July 28, 2004 (see Ostrich fern at Elinor Lake Photo: P. Cotterill report in Iris 47, Fall 2004, p. 6). After years of advocacy Tom finally got his wish were the cacophony of boreal chorus frogs Garner Lake Fen —congratulations to all concerned! and the plop-plopping of wood frogs as Still struggling to imagine what life they leapt in and out of puddles at our ap- might have been like 150 years ago (so Owl River Fen proach. (Those jumping out of the water changed now in human and landscape terms Elisabeth Beaubien reported next, com- were the smarter ones, because those pud- but possibly not so much floristically?), we plete with phenological details, timing of dles lay in the deep ruts created by quads, were called back to more familiar chrono- bud, flower and fruit being her area of re- seemingly the cottagers’ favourite mode of logical territory to begin our accounts of the search interest, on the major findings at transportation.) Our final tally of 129 (more day. Owl River Fen, a trip led by owner of the or less) plant species proved to be very Graham Griffiths reported on the trip to land and careful steward, Bert Arthur. Lo- comparable to counts from the other excur- Garner Lake Fen, guided by Tom. Graham cated some 20-odd kilometres north north- sions and is probably quite representative of subsequently compiled a list of over 130 east of LLB, but relatively close to the east- the northeast boreal flora, with only a few species found in the area they covered that ern shore of the lake, Owl River Fen boasts spring ephemerals and late-appearing spe- day. Situated just less than 4 kilometres a wonderful tract of old-growth white cies missing. Surprisingly, two common west of the crossroads in the village of spruce and black spruce-tamarack forest, as species, veiny meadow rue (Thalictrum Plamondon, the site gets its name from a well as the spring already mentioned. It is venulosum) and sanicle (Sanicula marilan- small lake south of the road and a black the scene of what is probably one of the dica) were not recorded: did we just over- spruce-tamarack treed fen that occupies the highest concentrations of white adder’s- look them? slope of a valley to the north. Flow from a mouth (Malaxis monophylla) in Alberta: Back at the Mission, Tom kicked off the large spring of mineral-rich (iron and cal- Ksenija Vujnovic and I could barely count evening’s social program with an introduc- cium) water creates the appropriate peaty them when we visited in the company of tion to the history of the Mission and the conditions downslope for great populations Bert and Tom on August 18, 2001. (I was 2 Winter 2005 also intrigued then by what I thought was Biche-St. Paul, who declared that his con- (This Society has been largely responsible, an unusual two-species community of tama- sciousness had thereby been raised, and in cooperation with the Alberta govern- rack and Sartwell’s sedge (Carex sart- who was given a Botany AB 2004 T-shirt ment, for the Mission’s designation as a wellii), forming a belt slightly upland of the by Tom for his sentiments. National Historic Site and a Provincial His- lakeside fen.) torical Resource in 1990, and for its The final vascular plant species loving preservation and restoration.) list for Owl River, when all reports were in after the weekend, and again Nature, History, Culture compiled by Graham, was Sunday dawned a much cooler, 127—very similar to Garner’s.

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