Restoring Fire, Wolves, and Elk in the Rockies

A message from Earthwatch Chief Scientist Dr. Cristina Eisenberg following the conclusion of last year’s field research and data analysis in the Canadian Rockies:

Thank you for supporting us afield in 2016 on our research project, Restoring Fire, Wolves, and Elk to the Canadian Rockies. As you know, our work takes place in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, and an International Peace Park. This park lies in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem, one of the most intact landscapes in North America. It contains all the ecological elements present in the early 1800s, except for free-ranging bison. You can think of this ecosystem as a three-legged stool. The “legs” are keystone ecological forces: fire, predation by wolves, and bison herbivory. European settlers eliminated all of these in 1880, but today this system is gradually being rewilded.

Wolves returned on their own in the early 1990s. In 2003 park managers began setting prescribed fires, including since 2008, large fires in two sites: the Y-Camp and Eskerine Complex. But according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), fire and wolves are not enough to stabilize our ecological three-legged stool. Accordingly, a bison reintroduction is underway in Banff to the north, and is being planned by the Iinnii Initiative for the Badger-Two Medicine area and Chief Mountain, just south of our study site (“Iinnii” is the Blackfoot word for bison). All of this creates an exciting opportunity for us to study the ecological impacts of restoring fire, wolves, and bison. However, this involves collecting a huge amount of data—and that’s why Earthwatch volunteers are essential!

The large, high-quality dataset our volunteers helped us collect enabled the preliminary analyses in this field report. Our data show many interesting things, such as that elk continue to be ten times more abundant than deer in this system and that the park has a thriving wolf population that produced pups in 2016. Together we learned that the 2015 Y-Camp Prescribed Fire stimulated vigorous aspen sprouting and consumed many standing dead trees. Our most astonishing find was that elk browsing on these aspen has plummeted since the last fire, likely due to a variety of factors, including risk of predation by wolves. The data collected helped us confirm that a shorter interval between fires would be more beneficial. Volunteer mapping efforts in the Eskerine Complex also showed that aspen stands have indeed been expanding in size, but that a significant amount of intact prairie remains—which provides high-quality bison habitat.

This year we launched the Kainai First Nation Community Fellows Program. We were delighted to have teachers and community members from the tribe join us as Earthwatch team members. They shared important Traditional Knowledge insights on our research. This program is growing significantly next year. Until next field season, our heartfelt thanks to each of you for all you contributed to our project.

Sincerely,

Dr. Cristina Eisenberg
Earthwatch Chief Scientist

Want to learn more? Follow the link below to read the full results and conclusions of the 2016 research season. And remember - you don't just have to read about this research from afar... you can be at the center of the action as an Earthwatch research volunteer! Visit the expedition sign up page to see which teams are accepting volunteers for 2017 and 2018. 

Thank you again for your generosity and commitment to rewilding North America!

With gratitude,

Heather Wilcox
Director of Annual Giving & Advancement Services
hwilcox@earthwatch.org
978-450-1208 

Links:

• 2016 Fielding Season Data Analysis & Conclusions
• Restoring Fire, Wolves and Bison Earthwatch Expedition Page