Managing Aggressive Deer in the Community

Visitors enticing deer can contribute to aggressive deer behaviour © Parks Canada

While Waterton has a long history of deer in the community actively protecting their young-of-year during fawning time, the level and period of this bold behaviour has been increasing. The unusual concentration of deer has also attracted carnivores like cougars and bears into the community.

Parks Canada and community members are working in partnership on a Community Deer Advisory Group, with several initiatives already implemented and assessed, as well as testing new adaptive approaches. The park began by raising public awareness using caution signs, community bulletins, street theatre, publications, website content and media stories. Some deer were marked with coloured paint and those marked twice were relocated to a remote area of the park. This approach was not as effective as hoped, with many of the deer returning to the community.

Waterton Lakes National Parks initiated a pilot project to determine if trained dogs could reduce human-deer conflicts. Specially trained handlers and their dogs are gently hazing deer from the community during the spring fawning season, thereby reducing the potential for conflict. The aim is not to eliminate deer from the community, but to re-establish a more natural and safe situation where everyone can enjoy watching the deer.

Northern Leopard Frog Reintroduction

Juvenile leopard frog in Waterton Lakes NP
© Parks Canada

Once the most widespread frog in North America, the northern leopard frog began to decline in the mid 1960s and have not been seen in Waterton Lakes National Park since 1980.

In April and May 2007 and 2008, park staff re-introduced northern leopard frog eggs to the park. Later in the summer, a minimum of 70 small frogs in the project area were counted. This was a first step toward re-establishment of a self-sustaining population of this frog in the park.

Now, we are monitoring to see if we have breeding frogs calling for mates. Using special listening technology, we are optimistic we’ll hear the croaking sound of success. This project is part of wider interagency initiatives in Alberta relative to the northern leopard frog as a species at risk.

Cooperative Conservation Champions

Staff and researcher work together on salamander project © Parks Canada

The Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is near the centre of a large ecosystem known as the "Crown of the Continent". Plants and animals grow, winds blow and waters flow in and out of the two national parks. As a small park, decisions made by individuals and organizations beyond park boundaries can have significant effects on the plants and animals found in Waterton Lakes National Park.

In turn, decisions made by park managers can affect others in the surrounding region. To successfully meet the environmental, social and economic goals of the region, Waterton Lakes National Park works with its neighbours to maintain the health of the park and surrounding area. The key to achieving these goals effectively is through cooperation.

Collaborative efforts include:

Improving Wastewater Treatment and Re-Use

Resource technicians monitoring northern leopard frog eggs © Parks Canada

Constructed in 1977, Waterton Lakes National Park’s original sewage wastewater treatment plant was designed to meet 1976 Environment Canada effluent standards. While state-of-the-art at the time, the need to improve the treatment and reuse of water in the park became apparent as the facility aged. One of the key objectives of the 2000 Waterton Lakes National Park Management plan aimed to eliminate effluent discharge into the Waterton River and to divert treated effluent to golf course irrigation.

The upgraded plant, completed in 2009, uses treated effluent which allows the golf course to stop taking water from Blakiston Creek and has also eliminated the discharge of treated effluent into Middle Waterton Lake.