Landscapes of the Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area: a Natural History
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Retrieved from DalSpace, the institutional repository of Dalhousie University https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/handle/10222/79576 Version: Post-print Publisher’s versionPatriquin, David. 2010. Landscapes of the Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area: A Natural History. Keynote presentation to AGM of Woodens River Watershed Environmental Organization, Feb. 17, 2010. 2 3 •5 •7 UIV\,oIscet-pes oftVte • •10 11 F~ve f;y~oIge Let~es 12 ,.13 W~LoIeYv\'ess ,.15 Ayeet 17 , ,. A N C1tuyCI L f-tL.stOYl::J 2D 21 22 23 2. 25 2. 27 2. 2. 30 31 32 blufftrail.cajwrweo.ca fivebrldgestrust.ca 1 When we enter the Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area (FBLWA) , perhaps via the Bluff Trail or the Old St. Margarets's Bay Road, or paddling a lake, we encounter a varied landscape of lakes, streams, rivers, drumlins, erratics, mixed, deciduous and coniferous forest, bushland, rocky barrens, swamps, fens and bogs. The description of 3 this landscape and the interpretation of "how it came to be" is the business of "natural history". This set of web pages provides a brief •5 overview of the natural history of landscapes of the FBLWA. •7 The Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area lies about 20 kilometers west of downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. It encompasses almost 10,000 ,• hectares of Crown land located in the centre of the Chebucto ,. Peninsula between highways 103 and 333. Efforts have been made 11 since the mid-1990's to protect parts or all of the crown lands in the 12 FBLWA. These efforts came to fruition in October of 2009, when the 13 Minister of Environment for Nova Scotia declared the Five Bridge ,. Lakes Wilderness Area to be a candidate Wilderness Area under the 15 Nova Scotia's Wilderness Protection Act. The final designation ,. occured in October of 2011. ,.17 The photographs and diagrams in these pages were assembled for a 19 presentation at the AGM of the Woodens River Watershed 2. Environmental Organization in February of 2010. 21 22 I thank Richmond Campbell, Ralph Weadon, Beth McGee, Nick Hill 23 and Dr. Ian Spooner at Acadia University for contributing in various 2. ways to my understanding and appreciation of the Five Bridge Lakes 2S Wilderness Area. Any errors are mine. 2. 27 - David Parriquin 2. 29 Use of the Materials: 3. 31 Please see Creative Commons License 32 blufftrail.ca/wrweo.CiI fivebrldlilestrust.CiI The Five Bridge Lake Wilderness Area is a horseshoe-shaped area in the centre of the Chebucto Peninsula. For orientation, here Five Bridge Lakes are some reference points: Wilderness Area • Hubley Big lake in the northwest shoulder 1 • Frederick. Cranberry lakes and - - 2 the trail head for The Bluff Trait towards the northeast; - • Big Five Bridge lake in the armpit, if you will; • the Trout Ponds (Upper and lower) •5 in the southwest arm ; Roads and Trails • lakes of the Nine Mile River. - Artariol; HI4>waY 7• Prospect River systems in the -~R_ southeast arm. --~"- • R~orNIicn:.t.boodono<! •10 Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) owns -- Roo< - .. T~:T'''''' 11 most of the land within the horseshoe 12 which, we expect, will eventually be 13 Included in the FBlWA. ----OJ""'" "3 (l'I'Ol""O'I) 1'rnpoM<I~- ,. -- 15 The major trails are: """'~I-'9<_"" T.... 16 • the four loops of The Bluff 17 Wilderness Hiking Trail towards the ,. northeast; ,. • the Old St. Margaret's Bay Road ~~~~f'"et's. 20 (labelled Old Coach Road on the NSE 21 map) cutting across the horseshoe; 22 • the Fire Road which provides access 23 to the Old St. Margaret's Bay Road LJ Five BOOge La~el Wilderness ArU 2. from the northwest. (Ralph Wheadon 2S told us it was built with "a dozer, some sticks of dynamite and a drill" in "27 1966.) 2. 2. These trails are, for the most part, not 3D passable in a vehicle, but the Old St. Map Source: 31 Margaret's Bay Road and the Fire Road are Nova Scotia Environment 32 used by ATVs. (ATVs and bikes are not Map forthe FBLWA (2011) allowed on The Bluff TraiL) Five Bridge Wilderness Heritage Trust recently published a walking guide to the Old St. Margaret's Bay Road. blufftrall,ca/wrweo.ca fivebrldgestrust.ca LA~S~'P'SDf tJ1e f'tve 'Bonvlge Ullus wtldeyv.,.ess Aye~ The Four Major Watersheds 1 2 3 The FBLWA encompasses portions of four major watersheds and includes 26 Lakes, I!l nine of them only partially. S Headwater lakes for the watersheds are , marked by red stars. Seven of those lie 7 entirely within the FBLWA, three partially; ten are outsIde of the FBLWA. • •10 The mouths of the four watersheds lie outside 11 of the FBLWA in coastal areils where there is 12 some settlement. Some of the headwater 13 lakes for the Woodens, Nine Mile River and ,. Propect watersheds lie within lS settled/Industrial areas. Hence critical areas 16 of the watersheds lie outside of the FBLWA 17 and will require other sorts of management to ,. protect water quality, aquatic habitat and ,. movement of migratory fish (eel, gaspereau, 20 some trout, salmon). 21 22 23 2. 2S 27 "2. 2. '0 31 , 32 1 ,2 • Geologically, most of the Chebucto peninsula is part of the South Mountain Batholith. This mass of granitic rock formed 370 million , years ago through processes similar to those , involved in volcanic eruptions. Molten magma that formed 20-40 km in the earth's crust • "boiled up" into the overlying rocks of the •10 Meguma Terrane, but did not reach the 11 surface (as in a volcano); rather it cooied 12 13 slowly, forming granite. Glacial & Interglacials ,. Glacial action over the last 3 million years 15 (and perhaps durlng earlier glacial episodes since 3 mya 16 also) cut away the softer overlying, mostly 17 sedimentary rock, exposing the harder rock ,. of the South Mountain Batholith. ,. Ice-free since 11,000 ya 2D The last great ice advance peaked about 21 18,000 years ago when Nova Scotia as we 22 know it today was completely covered by Ice. We have been completely ice-free for about "2. 11,000 years. 25 26 27 2. 2. 30 31 32 Bedrock GeoIc9v Source of the original r,gure: Envlronmentsl GeologV 0' Hsll'u snd SUr<ounds. EdGED FIeld Excu ....lon: Gul<!et>ook 20·21 A"lluot 2008. Uo.e<l with perml.o;on of the Atlantic Geological SocIetV (Mardi, 2010), blufftrail.cajwrweo.ca flvebrldgestrust.ca Post-glacial colonization of Nova Scotia by Plants, Animals and Microbes A: Ice Sneet 1.S.000 t1eays "go Post-glacial colonization of Nova Scotia -- "B.: Post-glac~"l coloV\.o~zat~oV\.o 1 Following retreat of the ice, plants. animals 2 and microbes colonized Nova Scotia by three <12·C c: 'PolltV\.o ttfPes § ablA.V\.oG:t"lI\.Ce ~V\.o 3 major rOutes: a coye fyOVIA. 'PeV\.onoyV\.o LQIru •5 1. via the Chignecto Land Bridge; 2. from Continental Shelf Refugia* and from AGS The Last Billion Years along the coastal plain from the Atlantic states of present day USA; 7 3 via the air, for some seeds. birds. C~r'l! '~.J 1 , Insects. 12-15·C • Pollen deposited in lake sediment5 provides a •10 15·18"C 11 history book of our flora. The figure at right >18·C shows the relative abundance of pollen for 12 - 13 particular groups of spedes and some 15,000 YU111<10: lee shU! MglMing to retrul •I D-15"C below individual species (balsam fir, red oak) in T~nrIrl ,. prneru, toldlrlll dry' Sea levels 150 m below pt"tsenl leVels' "CO cores from Penhorn Lake in Dartmouth. 15 dia F e t 16 ! 17 A tundra type flora developed quickly. The • I I I I first occurrence of red oak, abOut 11.200 ya, i- I I I I ,. marks the beginning of sustained warming ,. (with some ups and downs). ! 20 21 22 Essentially all major components of our - 23 present day Acadian forest were present by ----- 9600 years ago, ,. 2. O~k 25 26 *"""'S~ reI<JQla OCC\J,red In an archi~l"90 of Island. lI1at existed whffl sea level wasmlien lower. Thev are now 27 ~ , , '" '''' "EO, ,. .ubmerged. except ro< sable Island. Warmed by the Gulf . .. ...... .. ........ 2• Strum. lI1ese iolands appear to have remained k:e·rr"" 2. Ihrough at least part or lI1e la.t glaciation. AI least lI1at --"'-,"- 3D w.o. the prevailing interpretatlon un!ll recentlv (Oavden Pen horn Lake pollen record 31 et ai, 2010: Vasctllar nora or the Atlantic Marlli"'" Ecolone: some new """,pectives. In A......s""'nt of 32 Specie. Dive""ry In lI1e Atlantic EcolO",". Edired by D.F. McAlpine & 1.1'1. smith, NRC R~ard1l'rf>ss, auaw.., ---• c..rn><1<J. Pages 197·213). Source or rigur...: A: Natural H'-story of Nova 5aJrl8, Vol 1 (Derek David 80. Sue Browne, eds.), Nova Sodta Museum ..nd Nimbu. Publishing, 1997. p. 8l; B: modififll alter Fig, H,l.l, P 89 of th...."'" publicatlon, Used w1111 permission rrom Nova S<:olla Museum, April 2010. c: The Penh"'" LIIke Pollen diagram i. modified from a figure on p. 189 in The LltSt Billion Y&1 ...,A geologlc.ol ho"slory or the Maririme Prnvin<:es of Can..da, (Robert A, F..nsorne &. Graham L. Williams. oos.) Nimbus Publishing, 2001. Used will1 permission from the Atlantic Geol<>glaal soc..rv. March 2010, bJufftrall.ca!wrweo.ca r1vebrldgestrust.ca Three environmental factors have had especially important influences on the landsCilpes, habitats, plants and animals that we see today in the Five Bridge Lakes Wilderness Area: • gladal activity 1 • the rock type 2 3 • re<:urrent fires •5 • •,.