The Alpine Club of Canada's
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The Alpine Club of Canada’s State of the Mountains Report Volume 2, May 2019 Wildfires: Causes, Consequences, and Coexistence Page 4 Living and Breathing Change Page 14 State of the Mountains Report 2019 A Contents Foreword Lael Parrott, Zac Robinson and David Hik ....................................................................................................................... 2 Feature Essays Wildfires: Causes, Consequences, and Coexistence Lori Daniels ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Living and Breathing Change: A Southern Tutchone Perspective on Climate and Research Tosh Southwick and Kate Ballegooyen ..........................................................................................................................14 The Alpine Club Knowledge Highlights of Canada’s People and Mountains State of the Parks Canada Visitor Safety Program Focussed on Incident Prevention and Response Mountains Conrad Janzen .................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Report How Can Mountain Tourism Embrace Sustainability? ___________________________ Through Tourist-Operator Collaboration Volume 2, May 2019 Elizabeth A. Halpenny ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 Foundations, Past and Future: The Alpine Club of Canada’s Hut System The Alpine Club of Canada James Gudjonson ............................................................................................................................................................. 23 Box 8040, Canmore, AB Canada T1W 2T8 Rapid Loss of Perennial Alpine Ice Patches, Selwyn and Mackenzie Mountains, NWT Phone: (403) 678‑3200 Glen MacKay, Leon Andrew, Naomi Smethurst and Thomas D. Andrews ............................................................ 26 Fax: (403) 678‑3224 [email protected] Life in the Mountains www.alpineclubofcanada.ca Southern Mountain Woodland Caribou in Jasper National Park Layla Neufeld ..................................................................................................................................................................... 29 CANADIAN CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATIONS DATA Mammals of the Mountain Slopes The Alpine Club of Canada’s Jason T. Fisher and Alina C. Fisher .................................................................................................................................. 32 State of the Mountains Report Editors: Water Temperatures Matter to Migrating Fraser River Salmon Lael Parrott Mike Lapointe, David Patterson, Maxine Forrest, Kendra Robinson, and Angus Straight .................................. 34 Zac Robinson David Hik Mountain Pine Beetles on Rockies Eastern Slope Offer Improved Perspectives Design: Zac Bolan Felix Sperling ...................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Copy Editor: Lynn Martel Translator: Jean‑Phillippe Gravel Watermelon Snow: A Microscopic Serengeti ISBN: 978‑0‑920330‑74‑6 Casey B. Engstrom and Lynne M. Quarmby ............................................................................................................... 40 © 2019, The Alpine Club of Canada Physical Mountains All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be copied The Birth of a Mountain Range in the Appalachians of Newfoundland or reproduced without the John W. F. Waldron ............................................................................................................................................................ 42 permission of the author or the subject. Cover Photo: Nelson 2017. Photo: Adrian Wagner Studio Inside Cover: Evening light on the waterfall at the Hallam Glacier GMC. Photo: Mary Sanseverino B The Alpine Club of Canada State of the Mountains Report 2019 1 respond to changing conditions in Canada’s You can also read about the mountain mountainous regions. The 2020 State of the building and the birth of the Appalachians Mountains Report will feature more informa- in Newfoundland and the consequences of tion about the CMN, but you can visit their the loss of perennial alpine ice patches in the website for more details (http://canadian- Northwest Territories. mountainnetwork.ca). We hope that these summaries, together This 2019 State of the Mountains Report with the 2018 Report and future annual begins with a feature essay, by Dr. Lori volumes, will continue to provide a valu- Several recent global Daniels, one of Canada’s foremost experts able resource for learning about Canada’s on wildfire. Over the past two years, mul- mountains. assessments have tiple large wildfires have burned millions of hectares of mountain forests in western Lael Parrott, Zac Robinson, and David Hik documented the Canada. The resulting smoke smothered May, 2019 much of B.C. and Alberta for weeks during Lael Parrott is the ACC Vice-President for Access stressors facing the summer, and visitors to the Rockies and & Environment, Professor of Sustainability, mountains around the Columbias were left to only imagine the and Director of the Institute for Biodiversity, peaks surrounding them. The long-term Resilience, and Ecosystem Services at the world. effect of fire on these mountain ecosystems University of British Columbia, Okanagan. and mountain communities are profound, and Dr. Daniels summarizes the factors Zac Robinson is the ACC Vice-President for that have contributed to these large fires, Mountain Culture, and Associate Professor of Foreword including the decades long policy of fire history in the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and suppression and climate change. But opti- Recreation at the University of Alberta. The golden glow at home at the he Alpine Club of Canada (ACC), Canada’s national mountaineering organization, mistically, she also provides a road-map David Hik is a Professor in the Department ACC’s 2018 Hallam Glacier General is committed to providing accessible, current, and accurate information about the for learning to better manage fire, and to of Biological Sciences and Associate Dean Mountaineering Camp. Left to right: David Hik, Lael Parrott, forces that affect Canadian mountain places, ecosystems, and communities. This improve forest and community resilience to Photo: Mary Sanseverino T (Academic) in the Faculty of Science at Simon and Zac Robinson – 2018. annual State of the Mountains Report is produced by the ACC in collaboration with mountain present and future wildfires. Fraser University. Photo: Mary Sanseverino researchers, community members, and partner organizations. We are grateful to the many We also feature a follow-up contribution to experts who have generously provided their insights and perspectives this year, and to the last year’s feature essay, which described Royal Canadian Geographical Society and Canadian Geographic magazine for their con- the dramatic changes that occur when tinued efforts to help disseminate the report. retreating glaciers abruptly alter the flow of Canada’s diverse mountains define much May 2019, comprehensively summarized mountain rivers and their watersheds. Tosh of the country. Mountains provide critical the deteriorating health of the world’s Southwick and Kate Ballegooyen provide a natural and economic resources like ecosystems. Mountains play a key role in Southern Tutchone perspective on climate water, biodiversity, forests and recreational sustaining biodiversity and critical ecosystem and research in the southwest Yukon by opportunities. They’re also home for many services on which people and all other spe- describing how climate change impacts the Mountains provide critical people living in small and remote commun- cies depend. Organizations like the Mountain day-to-day lives of people living in remote ities. But both local and global changes Research Initiative (http://www.mountain- Indigenous communities and the relevance natural and cultural influence these places in ways that are still researchinitiative.org) promote international of Indigenous knowledge to understanding resources. not well understood. The ACC’s State of global change research in mountain regions, the impacts of these environmental changes. the Mountains Report is a contribution to by helping to improve global collaboration. The 2019 State of the Mountains Report con- compiling and sharing the best available Mountain research and education in tains ten more Knowledge Highlights. You knowledge about Canada’s mountains, from Canada will be receiving new resour- can read about biodiversity, from the very coast to coast to coast. ces, too. On 16 April 2019, the federal small (snow algae and pine beetles) to the Several recent global assessments have Networks of Centres of Excellence program very large (caribou and bears). How people documented the stressors facing moun- announced that the Canadian Mountain experience Canada’s mountains is the focus tains around the world. For example, the Network (CMN) will receive $18.3 million in of several other contributions, including Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform funding over five years (2019–2024). With the challenges of sustainable tourism, the on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services this new funding, CMN hopes to develop state of