Waterton-Glacier Science and History Week

Grassland Ecology in Glacier National Park

Presenter: Nico Matallana-Mejia, Vegetation Monitoring Program, Glacier National Park; Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University

Millions of visitors come to Glacier Park to photograph its mountains and glaciers, but often in the foreground of their photos are large meadows of native wildflowers.

These grasslands contain one third of the park's floral diversity and provide critical habitat for the park's iconic wildlife, however important disturbances like fire and large mammal grazing have been removed or altered, and new disturbances such as human development have been introduced. We report how this has affected the park's grasslands over the past 20+ years, and explore what it might mean that bison, the largest native grazer in North America, have finally returned.

Iinnii Initiative: Cultural Adaptations to the Blackfeet Buffalo Program

Presenter: Termaine Edmo, Climate Change Coordinator, Blackfeet Nation

In 2009, the Iinnii Initiative was launched by leaders of the four tribes that make up the Blackfoot Confederacy (Blackfeet Nation, Kainai Nation, Piikani Nation, and Siksika Nation) to conserve traditional lands, protect Blackfeet culture, and create a home for the buffalo to return to. Join Termaine for an update on this program, focusing on cultural and climate adaptive projects such as harvesting traditional soil amendments, sustainable land usage, and the introduction of fire back into the landscape to regenerate culturally.

How Wildfires Can Impact Watersheds and Water Resources

Presenter: Uldis Silins, Professor of Forest Hydrology, University of Alberta

While wildfires are a natural component of healthy forest ecosystems, they have increased in frequency and severity over the previous two to three decades. This is raising concerns over how wildfires can impact watersheds. Watersheds regulate the amount and timing of flows, water quality, aquatic ecosystem health and downstream water supplies. This presentation briefly outlines the scope and longevity of some of these effects from long-term watershed research after the 2017 Kenow fire and the nearby Lost Creek fire in 2003.

Archaeology in Paahtómahksikimi

Presenter: Dylan Frank, Environmental and Cultural Resource Impact Assessment Officer, Parks Canada

Ever wonder why people choose to live where they do? How researchers stitch together stories of our past through artifacts? Uncover these answers and more with Dylan Frank, an archaeologist from Waterton Lakes National Park (Paahtómahksikimi in the Blackfoot language). Learn about the rich cultural history between humans and nature in this very special place.