De cember 2 006 • Vol. 14, No. Vol. 006 • 6 AWA Ice on Sheep River (N. Douglas) NATURAL AREA STEWARDS UNITE PASSION AND VIGILANCE, PART ONE / 4 WHOʼS IN CHARGE? THE SECRET STANDOFF IN CFB SUFFIELD / 12 TAR SANDS MINING WILL DESTROY MCCLELLAND LAKE FEN / 19 WAR ON PINE BEETLE MAY SACRIFICE CARIBOU, PROTECTED AREAS / 22 Editorial Board: Shirley Bray, Ph.D. CDECEMBERONTENTS 2006 • VOL. 14, NO. 6 Andy Marshall Joyce Hildebrand OUT FRONT UPDATES Printing by: 4 STEWARDS UNITE PASSION 29 AWA JOINS CARIBOU MOUNTAINS Colour printing and process is AND VIGILANCE IN CARE AND COMMITTEE sponsored by Topline Printing PROTECTION OF NATURAL AREAS, IMPLICATIONS FOR WATERSHEDS IN PART 1: THE GOLDEN YEARS 29 THE CASTLE 10 VIVIAN PHARIS: DEEP LOVE FOR WILDERNESS SPRINGS FROM PROFILE SUMMERS ON RANCH 30 CARDSTON ARTIST DOES MUCH ALBERTA WILDERNESS WATCH MORE THAN “SCRATCH THE SURFACE” 12 WHO’S IN CHARGE? THE SECRET Graphic Design: ASSOCIATION NEWS STANDOFF IN CFB SUFFIELD Ball Creative 19 MCCLELLAND LAKE WATERSHED: 31 OPEN HOUSE PROGRAM “MAKE HAY WHILE THE SUN Wild Lands Advocate is SHINES!” SAYS PETRO-CANADA 31 ANNUAL LECTURE AND AWARDS published bimonthly, 6 times a year, by Alberta Wilderness 22 WAR ON PINE BEETLE MAY SACRIFICE CARIBOU, PROTECTED Association. The opinions AREAS expressed by the authors in this publication are not 26 ARE PARKS VALUABLE FOR LOCAL COMMUNITIES? necessarily those of AWA. The editors reserve the right 27 YELLOWSTONE’S GRIZZLY to edit, reject or withdraw RECOVERY A GOOD LESSON FOR articles and letters submitted. ALBERTA © Colleen Yuill Please direct questions and comments to: Shirley Bray Phone: (403) 270-2736 Fax: (403) 270-2743 © Colleen Yuill [email protected] Box 6398, Station D, Calgary, Alberta T2P 2E1 Ph: (403) 283-2025 Toll-free 1-866-313-0713 www.albertawilderness.ca AWA respects the privacy of members. Lists are not sold or traded in any manner. AWA is a federally registered charity e-mail: [email protected] and functions through member and donor support. Tax-deductible donations may be made to AWA at Box 6398 Station D, Calgary, AB T2P 2E1. Ph:(403)283-2025 Fax:(403) 270-2743 E-mail: [email protected] www.albertawilderness.ca SUPPORT ALBERTA WILDERNESS BECOME A LIFETIME AWA MEMBER $25 SINGLE $30 FAMILY SUBSCRIBE TO WILD LANDS ADVOCATE $30 WILDERNESS FOR TOMORROW SUPPORTER Forty-one years ago our founders struggled with the reality of WILDERNESS CIRCLE $2500+ diminishing wilderness. They became champions of habitat for the PHILANTHROPIST $1000 wildlife they respected and relied on. They flew to Edmonton to speak SUSTAINER $500 with the politicians, held public meetings, shared stories of Wild Alberta ASSOCIATE $100 and helped others learn. They knew what we know today: our very SUPPORTER $50 existence, well-being and personal health depend on wilderness. OTHER $ The passion of our founders burns as strongly today as it ever did. WILDERNESS PARTNERS We are challenged with how to prevent inevitable losses, how to achieve Donate on a monthly basis through direct debit a wilderness legacy, and how to secure the protection of wilderness. Mny or credit card payment. years later, using traditional methods of confrontation and collaboration, I would like to donate $_______ monthly. we also seek new paths to protecting wilderness for tomorrow. Here is my credit card number OR my voided Above all we strive to remain relevant. To know our role and the cheque for bank withdrawal. Monthly donations mandate we have from members and supporters; to have an impact on are processed on the 1st of the month. and be an important part of present-day society and the far-reaching (minimum of $5 month) decisions being made about Wild Alberta. WILDERNESS LEGACY CIRCLE Our programs this year addressed the inextricable links among Make Wild Alberta your legacy by designating water, wildlife and wild lands. We have covered every corner of Alberta, your bequest directly to AWA or AWAʼs Wilderness on foot, in the air, in cars and buses, and on horseback. We have grown and Wildlife Trust Fund managed with the Calgary our membership to represent 167 communities throughout the province Foundation. Please call for more details on and we have learned more about Wild Alberta. We have cooperated planned giving. with other ENGOs and developed strategies together. We have invited industry colleagues to discuss concerns and practices, collaborating PAYMENT INFORMATION where possible and confronting when necessary. We have represented the public interest. The work is as hard as it comes. The outcomes are CHEQUE VISA M/C AMEX not always significant in the measure of land conserved or wild species saved, but we know we are making a difference. AMOUNT $ The staff and Board are a formidable force and work as a team. Our vision for the future is clear. We are dependent on our members CARD # and supporters for their assistance financially and for advocacy and leadership. None of our accomplishments would be possible without EXPIRY DATE: support from members and donors and others in the foundation, corporate, and government sectors. NAME: As we go to print with the final issue of the Wild Lands Advocate ADDRESS: for the year 2006, we look forward to 2007 with a promise of commitment and dedication to the protection of Albertaʼs wilderness. CITY/PROV: POSTAL CODE: PHONE: Richard Secord, President E-MAIL: SIGNATURE: Christyann Olson, Executive Director Send payments to: P.O. Box 6398, Station D Calgary, AB T2P 2E1 or donate online @ www.albertawilderness.ca 1-866-313-0713 STEWARDS UNITE PASSION AND VIGILANCE IN CARE AND PROTECTION OF NATURAL AREAS, PART 1: THE GOLDEN YEARS By Shirley Bray If you measure it by the current environmental jingles like biodiversity, wildlife corridors and endangered spaces, my skinny little island doesnʼt seem like it has much to offer. But oh, the hours that Iʼve spent enjoying it. And not only me. Some residents may not have time to spend with it – but their children do. Paddling around it, exploring on it, climbing the old birch trees and exulting in a beautiful little world temporarily all their own, they build warm memories where wilderness has its special place. And this is the crux of it, you know. First and foremost, wilderness must have its special place in our hearts and in our souls. Because if it is not in here, then it wonʼt be out there. – Chel MacDonald, volunteer steward for Antler Lake, Albertaʼs smallest Natural Area. From: Partners in Preservation, Winter 2004 The life of a caring and speeding semis transporting farmersʼ The County apologetically said determined Volunteer Steward is well- grain and for huge RVs heading to Pine it wasnʼt in their jurisdiction anymore illustrated through the tales Dorothy Lake. At the Innisfail NA, vegetation and they could do nothing about it Dickson tells of her years looking had been allowed to grow in the ditch except warn the province of the danger. after the Innisfail Natural Area (NA) between the boundary and the road. Parks staff said the brush in the ditch southeast of Red Deer along Highway Dangerous accidents happened when was not actually in the NA, so they 590. During the 18 years Dickson deer – and sometimes moose, coyotes, could not cut it. The local Public Lands spent as steward for “this innocuous and geese – leaped unexpectedly from land manager, to whom stewards were little quarter-section that RDRN [Red the bushes onto the road. directed to take their concerns initially, Deer River Naturalists] asked me to When the road was a County road, was told to go to the Department of look after,” Dickson did what many she explains, a transport staff person Infrastructure. O stewards do. saw that the brush was kept trimmed. Dickson argued for three years UT F She and other volunteers worked When paved roads became a provincial with various levels of government RONT to get an access control fence erected; responsibility, the Department of before she finally got a utility company she monitored changes in the site over Infrastructure and Transport contracted crew, who were cutting under their time and made inventory lists of flora out road maintenance. But the contract transmission lines, to cut the whole and fauna. She connected with other people told Dickson this particular job width of the ditch at the NA. But she residents and users in the area, sent wasnʼt in their contract. points out that the brush will just grow her reports in to the NA Program (now S. Bray Parks and Protected Areas) staff to help them “get a better handle on the WLA December 2006 • Vol. 1 Vol. December 2006 • WLA value of the area,” and was lauded by those same staff for her efforts. She was one of “the eyes and ears of the government,” which allocated only a few people to look after hundreds of areas. But NAs often have pressures and problems that cannot be solved by a lone steward; their resolution can seem 4 insurmountable for those with limited , No. fortitude and persistence. “Because of staff cutbacks, and changes in attitude 6 due to changes in senior staff, we donʼt get the backup we need,” says Dickson. 4 She launches into the tale of how a simple task at the Innisfail NA turned into a monumental one. During Dicksonʼs years in Innisfail, Highway 590 changed from Typical signs placed by volunteer stewards at Natural Area entrances and provided a quiet rural road to a throughway for by government. These signs request that users refrain from certain activities, although legally some of those activities may be allowed. up “and weʼre going to go through Dickson says the VSP started as a early sixties when Public Lands field the rigamarole again.” Thatʼs the partnership between the staff and inspectors, evaluating land for sale or sort of thing the Volunteer Steward stewards with everyone working disposition, recommended that certain Program is really excellent for, she toward the same goal.