Banff National Park of Canada

Research and Monitoring Update 2007

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Elk Surveys

Large numbers of elk in the Banff townsite in the 1980's and 1990's resulted in high numbers of human-elk conflicts and visible ecological impacts. Since 1985 Parks Canada has conducted aerial surveys and roadside calf recruitment surveys to track the number and distribution of elk.

The 2007 winter and summer surveys found that the elk population had declined and stabilized in the broader Bow Valley as a result of wolf predation. However, elk numbers around the town of Banff had more than doubled from 93 animals in 2004 to 204 in 2007. A population increase in 2008 is unlikely due to unusually low calf-cow ratios (16%) last summer and the winter removal of 20 habituated elk.

Parks Canada is working with the Montane Advisory Group to develop management actions that will improve predator-prey relationships and ecological processes in the Bow Valley.

Main Sponsor: Parks Canada
Project Lead: Jesse Whittington

Ungulate Browse Monitoring "ShrubWatch "

Elk overabundance in the 1990's also caused overbrowsing of many shrubs and young trees, particularly aspen and willow. Overbrowsed forests are of uniform age with little or no regeneration and are prone to disease and insect attack. Degradation of shrub communities was followed by declines in associated species such as beaver and songbirds.

As a continuation of a longterm Parks Canada research project, volunteer 'Citizen Scientists' are monitoring the regrowth of young trees and shrubs in the Bow Valley. The ShrubWatch program helps park scientists learn more about the effects of management activities on the complex interrelationships between elk, wolves, fire, vegetation communities and people.

Main Sponsor: Parks Canada
Project Lead: Cliff White

Aquatic Connectivity

Like the human circulation system, the flow of streams, rivers, wetlands and lakes must be connected and unobstructed to be healthy. In the mountain parks, the flow of many streams and rivers has been impacted by the construction of roads and rail lines.

This inventory of the road-stream crossings of all seven mountain national parks found that most culverts presented some barrier to fish movement. For example, in Banff National Park, out of 188 culverts which had flowing water, 103 were a full barrier and 67 a partial barrier to fish passage. Culverts have been assigned restoration priorities and further fisheries investigations will be carried out. Culverts under the rail line are also being documented.

Main Sponsor: Parks Canada
Project Lead(s): Charlie Pacas and Shelley Humphries

Westslope Cutthroat Trout - a Species-at-Risk

Now quite rare throughout their range, Westslope cutthroat trout reach the northernmost limits of their natural distribution in the Bow River drainage of Banff National Park. COSEWIC (the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) has recommended that the trout be listed as Threatened in Alberta and a Species of Special Concern in BC. Major threats include angling, stocking of non-native species of fish (rainbow trout and brook trout), and habitat fragmentation from dam and road construction.

Baseline population studies in a number of lakes and rivers in Banff, Kootenay and Waterton Lakes National Parks are reassessing species distribution and abundance. The extent of native populations and genetic diversity between and within populations are also being investigated. The trout is now mostly found in isolated headwaters or stocked lakes.

The project is a collaboration between Parks Canada, the University of British Colombia (genetic analysis), and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Province of Alberta (DNA studies).

Main Sponsor: Parks Canada
Project Lead: Charlie Pacas

Alpine Lakes - Sentinels of Change

The eastern Front Ranges and their national parks provide water for personal and commercial use across the Prairie Provinces. Yet water quality and quantity are threatened by events that occur far beyond these headwaters. Research has shown that atmospheric pollutants and climate warming have impacted alpine freshwaters in other parts of the world.

This study is the first comprehensive assessment of a broad range of environmental disturbances across alpine lakes in Alberta. Research includes the reconstruction of a 300-year history of changes in water quality in ten naturally fishless alpine lakes in the mountain national parks.

Main Sponsor: University of Alberta, Biological Sciences Center
Project Lead: Rolf Vinebrooke

Contaminant and Common Loons

Despite their distance from pollution sources, alpine regions such as the Canadian Rockies are at high risk from airborne contaminants. Concentrations of contaminants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine compounds and mercury, are known to increase with altitude.

In the lakes of mountain national parks, fish-eating birds such as loons occupy the highest trophic level at the top of the food chain.

As a consequence, loons may be highly susceptible to contaminant toxicity. This study investigates contaminant levels in common loons and the geographical factors controlling those levels.

Main Sponsor: University of Alberta
Project Lead(s): David Schindler and Sarah Lord

Monitoring Songbird Survival

Populations of many of our migratory landbirds have declined considerably over recent years. The North American-wide MAPS program (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) is a cooperative effort to provide long-term demographic information for the management and protection of over 120 species of migrant landbirds.

Six times during the summer, birds are caught in mist nests near the Bow Valley Parkway, banded with a unique metal band and then released. Survival rates (birds recaptured from previous years) and productivity (number of young captured each year) help indicate on a continental scale whether population declines are a result of problems on breeding grounds or migration paths and wintering areas.

This collaborative program is coordinated by the Bow Valley Naturalists and has been running since 1999. Further information is available on the MAPS website .

Main Sponsor(s)  : MAPS and the Bow Valley Naturalists
Project Lead(s): Ken Symington and Peter Duck

"Parks Listens"

'ParksListens' is an Internet-based survey system that enables Parks Canada to conduct on-line surveys with a pool of willing participants who have visited one of our seven mountain parks. Visitors are invited to join the survey at the mountain park gates throughout the year. To date, approximately 10,000 online participants receive a new survey every 4 to 6 weeks and typically 2000 and 3000 participate in each study.

'ParksListens' has many benefits including accelerated and timelier research results, and increased flexibility to ask a broad range of questions at any time of the year with the appropriate visitor sector.

The 2006 pilot project has been extended annually and surveys conducted to date include:

1. Bears and Risk Perception (Nov 2006)
2. PEAKS Connection (August 2007 - revised)
3. The Camping Experience (February 2007)
4. Fire in National Parks (July 2007)
5. Mountain Pine Beetles in National Parks (September 2007)
6. Mountain Park Visitors - Focus on Camping (October 2007)
7. Bow Valley Parkway, Banff National Park (December 2007)
8. Banff East Gate (January 2008)
9. Bison in Waterton Lakes National Park (February 2008)
10. Communicating with our Mountain Park Visitors: Looking at the Parks Canada Mountain Guide (March 2008)

Main Sponsor: Parks Canada
Project Lead: Sylvanna Hegmann

Further Information

For further information or a list of all research projects, please see the Research in National Parks or contact Heather Dempsey at 403.762.1464 or heather.dempsey@pc.gc.ca

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