A NATURAL VIEW
By Ken Larsen
It's sometimes pointed out that only 5% of the area of the mountain parks is developed, leaving people to conclude the other 95% is left for wildlife. This is ecologically ignorant or a deliberately misleading way of stating the facts.
Only 5% of the 6,600 sq km of Banff National Park is the montane zone; the zone that provides the best habitat for the greatest number of animal and plant species. 77.9% of that small montane zone is in the Bow Valley and there is development right through it. This leaves the Howse Pass as one of the largest single blocks of undeveloped montane zone left in Banff National Park. Howse Pass is directly west of the Sunpine FMA. Currently the Rocky Mountain House area and the Howse Pass are contiguous so that animals like ungulates, wolves and bears range back and forth.
The Howse Pass area is the western end of a crucial montane eco-zone, which forms a corridor extending eastward outside the Park to Kooteney Plains and westward into the Blaeberry River valley. The Howse Montane Eco-Zone contains critical breeding and winter range especially for elk and their predators.
"As urban life becomes increasingly stressful and we become more and more dominated by the technological and electronic age, we need our wild spaces more than ever. Even when we are not able to visit them on a regular basis we need to know that the forests are there, living, breathing and able to sustain biodiversity."
-Citizen's Action Group on the Environment
"Ask the Provincial Department of Forestry about a species inventory for the logging area and, with embarrassment, they'll have to refer you to a survey conducted by Western Canada Wilderness Committee and University of Alberta's Dr. Jim Butler. They found 123 species, 23 mammal species and 13 species of orchid."
-Dr. Tim Grier
Let's go on a quick tour of the Howse Valley and see it as the wildlife do- a living corridor through a hostile environment.
After leaving the Saskatchewan River bridge on the Banff-Jasper Highway and crossing the rather intimidating Mistaya River, we enter the montane area formed by the junctions of the Mistaya, Howse and North Saskatchewan Rivers. Here we find rolling, rather sparsely vegetated areas interspersed with open woodland and a few sloughs. There is plenty of evidence of elk and sheep; ducks are nesting on the ponds. On the wet river flats, several patches of Marsh Felwort and a rare gentian are found (only the sixth find in Alberta according to "Flora of Alberta", Moss and Packer 1983).
The trail then runs through the old growth forest. The forest isn't overly dense because of the deadfall. It supports a good understory for cover and nesting sites. Even on a wet day, one can see or hear about 20 species of bird in this valley, including grouse, warblers, thrushes, Steller's Jays, loons, Golden Crowned Kinglets and Rufous Hummingbirds.
Further up the valley, the montane meadows are home to goats. One can find tracks of moose, elk, coyote, wolf and bear sign on sandy patches near the river.
The berries on both sides of the Howse Pass are astonishing: strawberry, raspberry, current, gooseberry, cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, buffaloberry and common bearberry.
This is good bear country and the berries aren't the only reason. The deadfall provides snug denning sites when it's covered by thick blankets of snow.
Clearings down the mountain sides show the area is prone to avalanches. These slopes provide good feeding places for bears when they emerge from their dens in the spring. The bears here are well away from human interference since very few people use the valley except in mid summer.
The valley supports a wide variety of montane zone plants, which continue right up into the Pass. It's possible to count nearly 40 species of flowering plants on a short walk to Lagoon Lake. This is one of only three places in Alberta where the lousewort, Pedicularis racemosa may be found (again according to the "Flora Of Alberta").
On the B.C. side of the Pass there are attractive grassy meadows with sloughs on which one finds occasional flocks of Northern Phalaropes. These birds are considered coastal birds. Presumably, they stop to rest here during their migration from their Arctic breeding grounds to their wintering sites on the west coast. Since Howse Pass is one of the lowest in the Rockies (1527m), it's probably used by other migrating bird species.
After the gentle slopes of the Alberta side, the steepness of the terrain in the Blaeberry watershed is surprising. The Blaeberry River rushes down a rather narrow, high walled, heavily forested valley and is joined by several strong side streams, one of which joins via a high waterfall.
Eventually, the trail meets up with the logging roads which stretch into the Blaeberry Valley from the Trans Canada Highway near Golden.
This route was first used in 1807 by David Thompson who got stuck there in late June "impatiently waiting the melting of the snows!" The area was extensively used for hunting by the Kooteney Indians. There are 11 pre-1775 Indian sites near Saskatchewan Crossing and several more near Howse Pass.
Because of the steep walls of this valley, it forms the major wildlife corridor for animals passing between the Howse Valley in Banff Park and the wider valley lower down the Blaeberry. The thick rain forest certainly provides good cover, while the rough, steep trail and stream crossings help prevent the poaching that occurs in the more accessible areas of Banff Park.
The Sunpine FMA is part of an important buffer zone protecting the unique wilderness values of Howse Pass. Our National Parks are already under stress from other developments. The impact of Sunpine's clearcut logging will extend far beyond their FMA.
By Ken Larsen is a member of the Red Deer River Naturalists
