How do You Love your Waterbody? Presentation and Panel Discussion

• Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 – 18:30 to 21:00
• Location: Eckhardt-Gramatte Hall, University of Winnipeg - 515 Portage Ave., Winnipeg MB

Join the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation and three other speakers for a panel discussion focusing on Canada Water Week’s 2013 theme “I Love my Water Body”. Event is hosted by Canadian Water Resources Association (CWRA) – Manitoba Branch & Manitoba Water Council (MWC). Details and registration information can be found here http://canadawaterweek.com/event/92.

Hope to see you there!

Don’t live in Winnipeg? Check here for an event in your area: http://canadawaterweek.com/events

In this 3 minute video, Darren and Brian Hefty from Ag PhD make a simple case for keeping riparian areas healthy and in permanent cover.

via Riparian Areas #777 Air Date 2/24/13 – YouTube.

Riparian Notes » Texas Riparian Association

Here you’ll find links to interesting riparian and watershed related articles of local, national and international significance. Check out the rest of the website for details of local programs, as well as information on riparian ecological function, health assessment and management.  The website is constantly updated so be sure to return often. Questions or comments? Drop us a line…we’d love to hear from you. Enjoy your visit!

Gray wolf. Credit: G. Kramer; Source: US Fish & Wildlife Service National Digital Library.

The complex, interdependent relationships between ecosystem components can be an immensely fascinating topic to some people (including the administrator of this website). However, an understanding of how these relationships interconnect is an essential piece of knowledge for developing sound landscape management practices. Scientific research can lead us to this knowledge.

This is not to say that local, observational or anecdotal knowledge is of no value. It is certainly better than no information at all, and often aligns well with scientific understanding.  However, there are so many intricate factors and complex processes at work in a functioning ecosystem – soil structure, soil organisms, soil erosion, hydrology, plant roots, plant litter, herbivory, canopy micro-climate, predation…just to name a few. If we want to find reliable and effective management practices that restore and sustain riparian ecological communities, we must take into account these many interdependent factors. To better understand how we, as humans, directly or indirectly affect riparian area health, we must be aware that the effects of our actions, both intended and unintended, often proceed in unpredictable ways.

Bull elk. Credit: R. Hagerty; Source: US Fish & Wildlife Service National Digital Library.

Take, for example, this study by Kristin Marshall, N. Thompson Hobbs and David Cooper out of Colorado State University (2013) entitled Stream hydrology limits recovery of riparian ecosystems after wolf reintroduction. They look at the relationships between wolf and elk populations and the health and sustainability of riparian willow communities in Yellowstone National Park. The elk populations have soared there because wolves had been eradicated from the park a long time ago. Wolves eat elk which helped to keep the elk populations balanced. Too many elk have led to over-browsing of the willows, which reduces their ability to grow, survive and reproduce and which also impairs their ability to perform important riparian functions. The health of riparian zones in the park has declined.

One might expect that simply reintroducing the wolves into the park will reduce elk numbers and take some pressure off of those poor willows. However, the researchers suspected that it wouldn’t be that easy.

Beaver with willow branch. Credit: S. Hillebrand; Source: US Fish & Wildlife Service National Digital Library.

You see, there also used to be beavers in the historical ecological picture. However, when the elk over-browsed the willows, this  meant that there was not enough willow material for beavers to do their business, which drove them away. The researchers wanted to find out if and where beavers fit into this ecological equation.

The researchers tested whether reintroduction of wolves alone would be enough for the riparian willows to recover (more wolves → fewer elk → less browse → more willow). For willow communities to recover and become sustainable, plants need to be about 2 m high so the elk can’t reach them. The researchers also simulated beaver activity by flooding some study areas. They did this to compare the effects of 1) reducing browse alone, 2) beaver flooding alone, and 3) the combination of flooding and reducing browse by elk on the recovery of the willows.

The researchers found that, indeed, the combination of both reducing browse and elevating ground water (beavers!) was necessary for the riparian willow community to fully recover. It turns out that the beavers and the willow had an understanding. Beavers would build dams using the willows, which floods the area and elevates local water tables. These higher water tables mean that water in the soil is more accessible to the plants, which enables the willows to grow. The beavers use these willow to build dams which floods the areas and…well, you can see how this cycle continues. (It is worth it to note that there may have been some additional factors that led to the beavers closing shop in this area.)

So we can see from this story that, when it comes to ecosystem processes, nothing acts in isolation. They are called a systems or a reason! The health of riparian areas rely on a gigantic number of interrelated features and processes to be in balance. Many of these we do not understand nor can we predict. However, research can help us to see them a little more clearly.

This study article is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. A new release regarding this study can be found here.

For more information about the Ramsar Convention and World Wetlands Day or 2013 United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation, please visit www.ramsar.org.

The idea of the “personal watershed” is the immediate watershed(s) that each person influences as part of his or her daily activities. We make many decisions every day that can affect the health of our personal watersheds. These include the soap we use to wash our cars, whether or not, what types and what quantity of fertilizers or pesticides to our lawns, or leaving pet waste instead of picking it up and placing it in a trash can. By interconnection, these decisions affect the greater watershed as well.

These impacts may seem minute when we consider the entire watershed, and especially compared to the contributions by larger-scale industries. However, what is distinct and what is significant about these decisions is that they involve contributions over which we have direct control.

Each of us benefits from a healthy watershed and each has a responsibility to protect it. Let  us each do our part.

This article reminds us about all of the reasons why we need to take care of these areas. I believe this article is featured in news publication from Bangalore in India, but aside from a few species names, it would apply most urban areas around the globe.

Read the full article here: Ecology & the city.

This is a trailer for a documentary about protecting the Verde River and it’s riparian corridor in Arizona. This film by Hugh Denno is being screened at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival being hosted by the Arizona Wilderness Coalition.

Viva la Verde- Film Trailer – YouTube.

Riparian zone in Calgary – Prince’s Island Park.

It sounds like the City of Calgary has compiled a report for the health of riparian zones along waterways in that city. They found only 5% of riparian zones were in a healthy condition – which means that they are expected to be performing nearly the full range of ecological functions.

The categories they have used are “healthy”, “healthy with problems” and “unhealthy” so they have likely used a version of riparian health field assessment for streams and small rivers developed by Cows and Fish in Alberta.

What is possibly more alarming is that a full 44% of the areas are considered “unhealthy”. Many riparian zones in developed regions of the prairies show signs of degradation, but to be categorized as “unhealthy” (as opposed to “healthy with problems”), this means that there is considerable impairment of function. It also means that significant changes in management, and perhaps considerable restoration efforts, must occur for the rehabilitation of these areas and to begin to restore their ecological functioning capacity.

The City of Calgary is to be commended for recognizing the value of riparian zones and taking the initiative to assess their function. Performing a riparian health assessment is required in order to focus management in these areas that will restore and protect their ecological function while maintaining their recreational value.

Read the full article here: Just 5% of Calgary riparian zones deemed ‘healthy’ | Metro.