By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

Conservation effort

Busy year for Nature Conservancy of Canada

Dec 15, 2019 | 10:11 AM

Red Deer, AB – Another productive year is in the books for the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), which undertook several projects in the central Alberta region in 2019.

Time in 2019 was spent on many initiatives, including the management of other invasive species like Canada Thistle, which is all over, and the common buckthorn, which was picked and bagged with the help of volunteers at a property near Buffalo Lake.

Team members put a bow on the calendar in Red Deer this month selling blue spruce trees uprooted from a property near Pine Lake. The species is not native, and therefore is unhealthy to have growing near the native white spruce.

“With thistle, the stem gall flies were released in early July. This biocontrol species will lay their larvae in the stem of the plant, feed in the shoots, and as a result a gall is formed causing stress to the plant,” explains Delaney Schlemko, natural area manager for central Alberta. “A gall is a round-like growth forming on the shoots of the plant. In September, the sites had up to seven galls per metre squared.”

Sites will be revisited in 2020 in hopes of finding a population of stem gall flies was successfully maintained for future weed maintenance.

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As for fauna, the NCC gathered data on a number of species, including birds such as the Loggerhead Shrike (threatened), the Sprague’s Pipit (threatened), and the Horned Grebe (special concern). In September, a Western Tiger Salamander, also threatened, was spotted. Designations are given by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.

“This summer, beavers established their lodge on a wetland along our south boundary causing undesirable flooding on our neighbour’s property,” Schlemko recalls. “We worked together with the help of Cows & Fish to come up with a solution to co-exist with the beavers, who are known as ‘ecosystem engineers.’”

The team installed two exclusion fences, with further work needed to manage how many trees the beavers cut down, as they are along two boundary fence-lines which keep cattle in.

There was also monitoring of past restoration work and ecosystem health, as well as five conservation volunteer events which happened in the Red Deer River Natural Area. More than 70 volunteers participated this year, including with the removal of two kilometres of older-style fencing dangerous to wildlife.

“For the most part, Albertans are very receptive to the work of the Nature Conservancy of Canada. They value the landscapes and wild spaces that make Alberta so beautiful and recognize that we have a responsibility to protect the land that they call home,” says Keltie Manolakas, engagement manager.

“I think they care more than they realize sometimes. If you care for your family or even just care for yourself, it isn’t hard to see the important role that nature plays in your well-being.”

The Nature Conservancy has seven conservation easements in the Red Deer area, an has conserved 5,209 hectares in central Alberta over the years. According to the NCC, the highest concentration of native northern fescue in the world and parkland habitat in Alberta is located within the Red Deer River Natural Area.

Major ongoing NCC conservation efforts in our province are also happening at:

-Beaver Hills, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve east of Edmonton

-the Jim Prentice Wildlife Corridor in Crowsnest Pass

-Birch River Wildland Park in the province’s northeast

-Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park where the Greater Sage Grouse Release takes place in collaboration with the Calgary Zoo

For more information on these projects or about volunteering with the NCC, email alberta@conservationvolunteers.ca or visit NatureConservancy.ca.