Volunteering in Waterton Lakes National Park
June 1, 2019
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Wild Lands Advocate article by: Dianne Pachal
The tradition of volunteering in Waterton Lakes National Park, the Canadian portion of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park World Heritage Site, is almost as long-standing as the park itself. Waterton is Canada’s fourth national park, established in 1895. You too can get up close with the park, work behind the scenes with Parks Canada staff, meet new people, and make a difference in protecting this special place.
Volunteers share ideas, knowledge, talent and skills through the volunteer program to help achieve Parks Canada’s mandate to protect and share national parks, national historic sites and marine conservation areas. There are more than 700 people on Waterton’s active volunteer list. In 2018, they generously contributed 7,300 hours of their time in a diverse array of projects. There are opportunities year-round, with the majority occurring from April through early October.
The annual volunteer season kick-off is held the last Saturday of May in conjunction with the spring flower count. That count contributes to tracking climate-driven changes in the number of plants flowering in the park, as part of an Alberta-wide snapshot compiled by the Alberta Native Plant Council.
Families, individuals, area residents and first-time visitors can all find rewarding volunteer activities in Waterton. Any organized group, from youth groups to family reunions or companies looking for a team building day in the outdoors, can contact the program to book a group project. For example, the Johansen family, who have connections to the park since the early 1900s, have taken on a volunteer project for decades as part of their family reunions held every three years in Waterton.
Opportunities include citizen science projects, involving scientists and everyday volunteers working together on projects such as biological inventories and long-term monitoring. The goal is to generate meaningful, useful data that contributes to scientific understanding. In 2019 we will host the 20thanniversary of the annual Butterfly Count on Friday, July 19. The calendar year will wrap up with another citizen science project, the 43rdannual Christmas Bird Count on Sunday, December 15th.
Without question, volunteers support Waterton Lakes National Park. Salamander Byway Restoration and Clean Sweep for Wildlife took place in spring 2018 as a response to the aftermath of the 2017 Kenow Wildfire, which burned 39% of the park. On September 21, as part of the 2019 Waterton Wildlife Weekend, we will again do some habitat improvement work for salamanders focussed on providing escape and egg laying cover for the long-toed salamander; this species is listed as special concern in Alberta.
The Kenow Wildfire destroyed the functionality of the salamander byway system by burning the 750 metres of directional fencing. This led the long-toed salamanders, other amphibians and small mammals to four tunnels under the Waterton townsite Entrance Road. In 2018, volunteers installed temporary fencing in time for the spring movement of salamanders to the lake to breed and lay their eggs. Then in August and mid-September, volunteers removed the temporary fencing and all burned debris from the original fencing. Parks Canada salvaged guardrail compromised by the wildfire and installed it as permanent fences leading salamanders to the wildlife crossing tunnels. In April 2019, volunteers returned to doing annual maintenance by filling any gaps the spring run-off caused under the fencing.
With the Clean Sweep for Wildlife project, volunteers picked up the glass, metal and other debris exposed by the wildfire, while also recording and leaving in place anything of potential historical or archeological value. Project managers for the post-fire conservation work and archeology team provided an orientation for the volunteers and worked alongside them. In the spring of 2018, volunteers picked up more than 680 kilograms of debris after decades of accumulation along the Red Rock Parkway, Bertha Lake and a portion of the Waterton Lakeshore trails. In April 2019, volunteers completed the sweep of the Red Rock Parkway, collecting another 340 kilograms of debris and recording more than 30 sites for further investigation by the archeology team.
Other popular volunteer opportunities are planting whitebark and limber pines, wildflowers and native grasses as part of the park’s restoration projects. Volunteers assist the restoration crew with reclaiming old borrow pits used for road building materials, where together, the Agency will be planting wildflowers and grasses this September.
Limber and whitebark pines are an endangered species. The biggest threat to their survival is white pine blister rust, an exotic disease, which killed many trees in the park and elsewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Parks Canada is working to substantially increase the number of seedlings planted in order to achieve true conservation value in replacing individuals lost to blister rust.
Nature waters the new seedlings so there may only be a few days or a week’s notice for volunteers about the planting dates. Plantings are scheduled before precipitation is forecasted. Those interested in planting can email the park volunteer coordinator to be added to the contact list (see email address below).
The most popular volunteer activity in Waterton is helping the Parks Canada restoration crew controlling invasive species. Parks Canada anticipates developing future projects to help aquatic ecosystems as the park enters its second year of a new conservation and restoration project focused on aquatic and riparian ecosystems.
This is only a sample of what’s awaiting you in 2019. So take a break, check out the volunteer webpages at www.parkscanada.gc.ca/waterton-volunteerand plan on joining fellow volunteers and Parks Canada staff for project that sparks your interest or desire to help your national park while enjoying it too! You can sign up to be on Waterton’s volunteer contact list from our website or by emailing pc.wlnp-volunteer.pc@canada.ca. You are also welcome to phone toll-free at 1-888-773-8888.
Dianne Pachal now pursues her lifelong passion for wild spaces in Alberta as a Public Outreach Education Officer in the Waterton/Bar-U Field Unit of Parks Canada.
