Parks Canada

Whitebark pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) is an introduced pathogen affecting whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis). Whitebark pine is an endangered species protected under the Federal Species at Risk Act (SARA) and Limber pine is designated as an endangered...

Fire plays an important role in restoring health to our forests and maintains biodiversity by creating a mosaic of forest stands of varying age structure. Forests in the Montane and Subalpine ecoregions have become overgrown and dense. Fire history studies have suggested that fire use by First...

Fire plays an important role in maintaining health of forests and grasslands, and maintains biodiversity by creating a mosaic of varying age structure. The fescue grasslands of the Foothills Parkland Ecoregion were historically maintained by fire, both from natural causes and by First Nations....

Benthic macro-invertebrate diversity, stream hydrology, water chemistry, climate, geology, and landcover are collected at randomly selected sites using a standard protocol for the assessment of stream condition and are being monitored both at reference and impacted sites. The overall scope or aim...

Non-native plants have invaded most low-elevation habitats and physically disturbed sites in Waterton Lakes National Park (WLNP). Parks Canada devotes substantial resources annually to efforts to control or eradicate the most invasive and persistent non-native plants. A Non-native Plant Condition...

In Waterton Lakes National Park, grizzly bears are used as an umbrella species representing wildlife that are sensitive to human disturbance, whereas the status of secure habitat is used as a surrogate measure for assessing cumulative effects. The status of grizzly bear habitat is therefore...

Motion-detection cameras are a cost-effective and non-invasive tool used in Waterton Lakes National Park for sampling mammal populations and estimating species occurrence. Occupancy modelling, which uses detection/non-detection data from cameras, provides a useful and flexible framework for...

Freshwater fishes are some of the most imperiled taxa worldwide as evident by the number of threatened and endangered species. For example, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife (COSEWIC) in Canada has listed bull trout (BLTR, Saskatchewan - Nelson Rivers populations) as “threatened”...

Lakes and ponds are a significant aquatic feature in Waterton Lakes National Park. Due to the extreme topography, many of these water bodies were fishless prior to historic stocking. Historic stocking practices have highly altered fish communities. In many locations the presence of nonnative fish...

Long-term population data on birds can provide information on population trends, particularly for species of concern, but it can also provide information on ecosystem structure and function. Monitoring grassland birds is an effective method for assessing the condition of grassland ecosystems,...

Amphibians are vulnerable to an array of environmental changes because of their permeable skin, a complex life history, and a dependence on moist terrestrial or wetland habitats. These attributes make them excellent indicators of the health of aquatic ecosystems. Amphibians can indicate problems...

Birds are the most diverse of land vertebrates and are an important indicator of ecosystem health. Large protected areas, such as Waterton Lakes National Park, provide important habitat for a wide range of bird species. Data collected can provide a number of ecological indices; for example, used...

This program, led by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), is part of a larger national program serving to describe spatial and temporal patterns in water quality on many major rivers in Canada. In Waterton, physical and chemical variables are measured at water quality sites located on...

Elk are by far the dominant ungulate in Waterton Lakes Naitonal Park, with a population large enough to influence park ecosystems, particularly in the montane and aspen parkland ecoregions. As important grazers, they help to maintain grassland health by preventing woody plant encroachment, but...

This project aims to capture population trends by estimating absolute abundance of American Black Bears (Ursus americanus) every 2-3 years and relative abundance of three forest mammals (American Black Bear, Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) and Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus ssp.)) annually. Forty...

From the point of view of ecological integrity and the responsibility of the park to protect and maintain a biotic community naturally associated with the ecoregion, we are primarily interested in the extent of two land cover classes, the old-growth forest, which should not decrease in the park,...

This program aims to monitor migratory shorebird abundance, distribution and use on sandy beaches of the Long Beach Unit as an Ecological Integrity condition measure and to monitor the effectiveness of management activities directed at increasing the rate of compliance with domestic animal...

This program monitors the extent of three shoreline (dune) plants that are either endangered (Pink Sand-verbena (Abronia umbellata)), threatened (Silky Beach Pea (Lathyrus littoralis), also known as dune sweet-pea, and grey beach peavine), or the obligate habitat of an endangered species (Yellow...

This program focuses on capturing the abundance and structure of groundfish communities typical of nearshore kelp forests including Black Rockfish (Sebastes melanops), Copper Rockfish (Sebastes caurinus), Kelp Greenling (Hexagrammos decagrammus) and Sea Perch: Kelp Perch (Brachyistius frenatus),...

This project monitors water quality at 14 sites (streams and lakes) within the Long Beach Unit of the Park. A total of 46 water quality parameters are recorded at each site twice per year (spring and fall), including concentrations of nutrients, metals, and physical properties. The thresholds...