Sage grouse fading away as Canada proves once again to be an environmental backwater

Billboard in Calgary sponsored by the Alberta Wilderness Association
The media is beginning to pick up on the story of the Greater Sage Grouse being driven from Canada's sagebrush habitats. Here is the lead fromrecent piece published in the Edmonton Journal.

A new billboard campaign in Edmonton and Calgary flags the disappearance of the province's greater sage grouse, a bird whose grasslands home is compromised by industrial development in southeastern Alberta.

A nation that dredges "ethical oil" from the boreal forest and thumbs its nose at a world concerned about climate change, and where all levels of government approve a pipeline to send tarsands oil to Texas, is not going to blink when its last breeding Sage Grouse disappear, driven out by the same lies of "sustainable resource development".

In this case it is sour gas and oil development, cutting up the remaining critical habitat for sage grouse into small chunks, introducing roads and vertical structures that give predators an advantage, ponds that breed West Nile virus-bearing mosquitoes, and in general making such an industrial clamour that the grouse are unable to communicate and breed in peace.

I could not find a good satellite or aerial image of what Southwestern Saskatchewan and Southeastern Alberta gas fields, but here a shot from Wyoming to give you an idea of what Sage Grouse habitat looks like once it has been given over to gas and oil development:



This kind of destruction of sagebrush habitat and native grassland has put the
American population of sage grouse in peril, but things are far more dire with the Canadian population, which now is down to fewer than 50 birds (all in Saskatchewan and Alberta).

And yet American conservation agencies appear to be doing a lot more than their counterparts in Canada. At least they have begun a program to protect the species' breeding grounds.

Here is a recent article from the New York Times, entitled "SAGE GROUSE: Wyo. 'core area' concept could provide blueprint for BLM conservation strategy."

Will no one in Canadian government face up to the gas industry and strongly advocate that we must protect our critical habitat for this iconic species of the wild prairie?

Biologists are predicting that in two or three years our last Sage Grouse will be gone. What does this say about Canada, about the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta?

Marketing grass-finished beef

[banner from the Bite Beef website]

It would be wonderful to live in a world where something as good for us and as good for the environment as grass-finished beef would just sell itself and catch on like, say iPhones. Truth is, grass-finished beef needs marketing. Unfortunately, people who raise cattle are not often good at marketing (and the inverse is true too). And while meat from animals that only eat grass can be as tender and tasty as the best grain-fed beef--some would say better than--sometimes it is tough and it almost always requires the cook to take a different approach.

American grass-fed beef producers are ahead of us in Canada in the marketing department--five years ago it made the cover of Time--but we are starting to see some interesting efforts here too. From Alberta recently I heard a story about a couple of young women who have launched something they are calling Bite Beef. They are promoting the health benefits of grass-finished beef and working with local producers to get something ready for market this fall. Their website is quite sophisticated and it looks like they are hoping to sell a high-end boutique beef product to the urban foodie and restaurant markets. Here is a video and article about the two women, Nicole Lamb and Carli Baum, in the Calgary Sun. Hard to tell if they have any native grass in their operations but they refer to alphalfa a lot in their material. Ultimately, we need processing and marketing systems that will bring grass-finished beef from pasture to the supermarket at prices people will pay for food that is healthier for themselves and for prairie ecosystems.

In the meantime, any cattle removed from the industrial feedlot system and finished on grass--whether it is native or otherwise--is at least an improvement over the grain-and-drugs system most cattle are pushed through to put meat on our plates. I hope the Bite Beef people can make a go of it and show Albertans that beef raised entirely on grass is tasty and healthy.


left to right, Bite Beef's Nicole Lamb and Carli Baum

An interview with Ian Tyson on CBC Radio One last year ended with him holding out hope for the prairie if people can make the switch to grass-finished beef. You can listen to the podcast here (scroll down to hour three on the Sunday Edition when it was replayed on Jul10 this year.)


from Ian Tyson's official website

"The cowboy life is fading, and there's only a few places left where it's the real deal," Tyson said. "But if grass-finished beef can make the cover of Time magazine, who the hell knows what's going to happen? They'll need cowboys if they're going to raise grass-finished beef. They're going to have to have guys to chase them on horses."

Cattle on native grass, cowboys on horses herding them--it's an old dream but a worthy one.

French-frying the Ancient Prairie: Alta. Re-opens Potatogate

Will it be this . . .

. . .or this?

When the Alberta government tried to sell 16,000 acres of native grassland in the Bow Island area to a large potato farming corporation last September (see original posting on this story here), a public outcry put an end to the deal by Christmas (link to posting here).

As the story unfolded in the media, it became known as “Potatogate,” because it seemed to many observers that, for reasons one can only guess, the Ed Stelmach government really wanted this particular potato corporation (SLM Spud Farms) to get the land in question.

As every defender of wildness knows too well, however, any victory is merely a victory for today. The forces of darkness do not go away; they just regroup and come back in disguise. By February this year, the Stelmach Government had a new scheme to sell off provincially-owned grassland. They would unload 84,000 acres of tax recovery land, much of it unbroken native prairie, to counties and municipal districts for a dollar a quarter section. That way, the local authorities would be free to turn around and sell the land off to the highest bidders, without having to worry about annoying little obstacles like provincial regulation and public input.

Again, the Alberta Wilderness Association (the AWA, who should win some kind of award for perseverance) swung into action and got the word out. Letters and emails started to arrive at the Alberta Legislature from people concerned about public land being sold off without any public accountability.

Now, however, the exact same 16,000 Bow Island acres are being put up for sale again--this time in a bid process (here is the official “opportunity notice from the Alberta Government) and after doing a “wildlife survey,” but once again without due public process. Hard to believe but in another way not hard to believe. When you can get away with re-branding tar sands oil as “ethical oil,” why would you not try to sell some endangered species habitat to an industrial potato farming operation?

Here is a Canadian Press article on the story, “Grassland selloff: Alberta seeks to convert native prairie to irrigation land.” And here is an article in the Medicine Hat News showing that after failing in its first attempt to buy the land last year, SLM Spud Farms hired a lobbyist to massage Alberta MLAs and get them to see the light (this is a big potatoe operation but hiring a lobbyist? Makes you wonder if a french fry or potato chip manufacturer is really footing the bill.)

Meanwhile, Alberta is in the midst of a leadership race for the Tory party, in effect determining who will be the next premier. In recent days, one by one the leader candidates are distancing themselves from the boondoggle and questioning what appears to be a rush to sell the land before a new premier gets into power. Here is a Calgary Herald article ("Tough to Find a Tory who likes sale of grassland") on the topic.

According to Cliff Wallis, VP of the AWA and one of the greatest advocates of prairie wildness in this country, the wildlife survey is suspect. It was not done by a professional biologist, but by a practitioner with limited skills in species at risk. Perhaps most damning, no plant work was done during the survey. Apparently, but again not surprisingly, the species at risk survey and report were not prepared for the government but for SLM Spud Farms, who also had the irrigation study done that is included in the bid package materials. Gee, isn’t that handy? The corporation that really wants the 16,000 acres helps the government get all the stuff it needs to initiate the RFP. Well, I guess it’s all one big family in Alberta, so ordinary rules of propriety and governance don’t really apply.

What does it take to convince people that these 100 quarter sections of native grass matter? According to a release on the AWA website , two active burrowing owl nests were found on the lands posted for sale. There is also a breeding pair of the endangered ferruginous hawk, and several pairs of North America’s largest shorebird, the long-billed curlew, a species of special concern. This region is particularly important to female pronghorn antelope, who use it as a fawning ground where they can hide their fawns safely in the native vegetation.

The people who want to convert this ancient and venerable piece of native grassland into irrigated cropland have most of the economic and political force on their side. On the other hand, those of us who would defend such places have most of the science, media opinion, and moral high ground on our side. We need to find more ways to use them--get scientists to make strong public statements, engage more people in the media, and always, always speak from a position of defending those who cannot defend and speak for themselves, i.e. the wild species who depend on these last large remnants of native grass.

And, of course, take a minute to write a letter or email to your Premier and to his Minister of Sustainable Resource Development. Here are the addresses:

The Hon. Ed Stelmach
Premier of Alberta
Room 307, Legislature Building
10800 – 97th Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6
Email: premier@gov.ab.ca

Honourable Mel Knight
Minister of Sustainable Resource Development
Alberta Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
T5K 2B6
Phone: 780 415-4815
Email: srd.minister@gov.ab.ca

Grassland birds of the Carden Plains IBA

Carden Plains Important Bird Area, near Kirkfield, Ontario (image courtesy of Bruce Wilson)

Nature Canada and Bird Studies Canada have been moving forward strongly on their Important Bird Areas program, working with local naturalist organizations and birders to conserve the ecosystems and monitor the birds on some of Canada's most critical pieces of avian habitat. Here in Saskatchewan and in other provinces, local naturalists are signing up to be volunteer caretakers for the IBA in their part of the country.

One IBA I hear a lot about is the Carden Plains in Ontario. Among naturalists in that province, there seems to be a fair bit of pride in the remnant populations of grassland birds at what many simply call the "Carden Alvar." What is an "alvar" was my first question. I hope to get to see the Carden Alvar some day, but while I was on Pelee Island this spring I visited a small alvar there and learned that it is a rare landscape on a base of limestone or dolostone that gives it a distinctive character and matrix of plant and animal species. Amazingly, Ontario is home to 75% of all North American alvars.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) considers the Carden Alvar to be "an internationally significant natural area." Carden is even more imporant because it hosts rare and endangered species, including the Eastern Loggerhead Shrike and several declining species of grassland sparrows.

Bruce Wilson, a birder friend from Barrie, Ontario, recently agreed, after minimal arm-twisting, to write up a piece for Grass Notes explaining a bird banding project he has undertaken at Carden, along with his banding trainer, Nigel Shaw.


Bruce Wilson


Nigel Shaw

Their work caught my eye because they are taking advantage of the high number of birders who come to Carden by fitting banded birds with an additional plastic alpha-numeric band that can be read either in a spotting scope or digital photo. With this approach, any subsequent sightings of individuals will help Bruce and Nigel find out more about nest site fidelity, movement and distribution of the birds they band. Seems like a good idea to me, and it is always heartening to hear of people giving up their time and spending money out of pocket to gather data on our declining grassland birds.

I will let Bruce give you the full details on the project. Here is the report he graciously wrote up for me to post. (All bird photos by Nigel Shaw.)


The Carden Plain Important Bird Area near Kirkfield, Ontario, less than two hours northeast of Toronto, is southern Ontario’s premier area for grassland birds. It is a rare alvar habitat that supports a number of grassland birds including a breeding population of the endangered Eastern Loggerhead Shrike, as well as Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Upland Sandpipers, Sedge Wrens, Eastern Bluebirds, Eastern Towhees, and Brown Thrashers. The typical grassland sparrows, Vesper, Savannah, Grasshopper and Field as well as Clay-colored also breed in the area as do Golden-winged Warblers.

The majority of land in the area is privately held with the exception of some areas that have come under the control of the Couchiching Conservancy. Major acquisitions are the Cameron Ranch, Windmill Ranch and Bluebird Ranch totalling some 5000 acres. These properties will eventually become an Ontario Provincial Park thus preserving portions of this unique area. The Couchiching Conservancy is also working with landowners in the area to encourage conservation of important habitats.

It is well-known that many species of grassland birds have declined rapidly over the past few decades. Once common species such as the Bobolink are now listed as threatened by COSEWIC. The decline of the grassland bird species is of concern.

Although some data are collected by means of annual point counts carried out on the Cameron and Windmill Ranches, typically in late May and early June, there are no data with respect to the ages of birds and the number of birds returning to nest each year. To obtain additional data Nigel Shaw licensed master bird bander from Alcona, Ontario and Bruce Wilson of Barrie, Ontario have undertaken a banding study with the permission of the Couchiching Conservancy and the Ontario Ministry of Natural resources. In particular they are focusing on several of the grassland species known to nest on The Ranches, namely: Upland Sandpiper; Clay-colored Sparrow; Savannah Sparrow; Vesper Sparrow; Grasshopper Sparrow; Bobolink; Eastern Meadowlark and Horned Lark.


Grasshopper Sparrow, just after banding

Banding studies have shown that many birds show a site fidelity and return to the same breeding area each year. The Carden IBA study will help determine if the same is true for the target species on The Ranches. The banding program will provide additional knowledge about movements of birds and will help determine the dynamics of the population trends of some of the typical grassland bird species by assessing the numbers of breeding birds and production of young. One advantage of carrying out a study on The Ranches is there are a large number of birders who frequent the area and will be able to report sightings of banded birds.

The study will be carried out over a number of years to collect the data necessary to better understand the breeding populations on The Ranches. The birds are attracted with audio lures and captured using conventional mist nests. When a bird is removed from the nets it is banded, wing chord measured made, weighed, moult patterns recorded, photographed and released. The birds are tagged with the standard bird bands as well as a plastic alpha-numeric band such that each bird will have a unique number. Studies of Green Finch in Europe using the same type of bands show the band numbers can be read with a spotting scope or by examination of digital photographs.


Adult Field Sparrow, showing alpha-numeric band

The program got off to a late start this years due to having to wait for delivery of the bands from overseas. On July 25 Nigel and Bruce went out to the Windmill Ranch hoping, given the late time, to be able to get a few birds but were pleasantly surprised with the results. In about 5 hours time they managed to band a total of 13 birds of which 10 were the target species. Although there were not many birds actively singing they responded well to the audio lures.


Clay Coloured Sparrow, just after banding

Target species banded:

Grasshopper Sparrow 2 adult, 1 hatch year
Clay Colored Sparrow 3 adult
Savannah Sparrow 1 adult, 1 hatch year
Vesper Sparrow 1 adult
Field Sparrow 1 adult

Other species

Yellow Warbler
Gray Catbird
Song Sparrow

An Upland Sandpiper responded to the call by coming into the net are but flying over. This bird was a different one than one heard a few minutes earlier.

Based on the results the birds will still respond to the audio lure despite the apparent lateness of the season. This bodes wells for work next year.

Next year's early efforts will focus on areas that lead to the various point counts on the Ranches hoping birds trapped there will be more likely to be seen again.

This is an interesting project and it is hoped it will give us more information about the little brown jobs most people do not give a second thought to.

Ducks need grass too

Drake Ruddy Duck displaying in late July near Grasslands National Park, Sage Herriot

This wet spring and summer has made for as ducky a breeding season as I can remember. There are ponds and sloughs everywhere on the prairie and in late June and July every one of them seemed to host a brood of mallards, wigeon, scaup or redhead.

I often report alarming and discouraging statistics in this space, but here are some we can all celebrate. According to an outdoor column I read today, U.S. Fish & Wildlife waterfowl surveys are estimating 45.6 million breeding ducks in the North American population this year. That means they believe we will have 11 percent more ducks than they estimated last year (40.9 million) during the spring survey. They have been keeping data on this since 1955 and this year’s estimate is 35 percent above the long term average! In fifty-six years, the estimate has exceeded 40 million only five times. (See below for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife estimates on the common duck species that breed on the northern Great Plains.)

According to this same column, the aerial pond counts in the United States and Canada showed 8.1 million ponds, a 22 percent increase from last year’s estimate and 62 percent above the long-term average. Only one other time in the history of the survey has the figure gone beyond 8 million.


Redhead landing at a dugout near Lanigan

As terrific as these figures are (you knew I would have something to qualify all the good news), they would have been even better if our wetlands were surrounded by wider margins of grassland. Too many of our sloughs are cultivated right up to the water’s edge. Ducks don’t ask for a lot of grassland habitat, but many species need to have some upland grass beyond the water’s edge to nest in.

Unfortunately, nesting cover has been declining in both the Canadian provinces and the American states on the northern Great Plains. In the U.S., grassland formerly protected by the Conservation Reserve Program has recently been converted to cropland in response to high corn prices driven by federal subsidies for biofuel production. According to Ducks Unlimited, North Dakota alone has lost 22 percent of its CRP acres since 2007. They estimate that another 387,000 acres will be lost in 2010-2011 and more than 1 million acres will be lost in 2012-13. (For more on this concern about losing native grassland in the duck-breeding prairies of the northern states, see this excellent column by Minneapolis Star-Tribune writer, Dennis Anderson.)


Ring-necked Duck pair in early spring, beaver pond in Upper Indian Head Creek

All the water we have this year and are likely to still have in the next couple of years could produce even more waterfowl if Canadian and American governments would stop subsidizing biofuels and instead begin to subsidize carbon sequestration in perennial grassland.

Having said that, these reports of high duck numbers and pond counts are as encouraging as anything I have heard this year in conservation circles. Like many prairie naturalists, I'm feeling grateful for the recovery of our prairie waterfowl, and looking forward to seeing some large flocks this September and October as they begin to gather for the flight south.


Northern pintail near Strawberry Lake Community Pasture

Here is a breakdown of estimates for this year species by species:

Mallards — 9 percent increase compared with 2010 estimates; 22 percent greater than long-term average.

Gadwalls — 9 percent increase compared with 2010 estimates; 80 percent greater than long-term average.

Wigeons — 14 percent decrease compared with 2010 estimates; 20 percent less than long-term average.

Green-winged teal — 17 percent decrease compared with 2010 estimates; 47 percent greater than long-term average.

Blue-winged teal — 41 percent increase compared with 2010 estimates; 91 percent greater than long-term average.

Shoveler — 14 percent increase compared with 2010 estimates; 98 percent greater than long-term average.

Pintail — 26 percent increase compared with 2010 estimates; 10 percent greater than long-term average.

Redheads — 27 percent increase compared with 2010 estimates; 106 percent greater than long-term average.

Canvasback — 18 percent increase compared with 2010 estimates; 21 percent greater than long-term average.

Scaup — 2 percent increase compared with 2010 estimates; 15 percent less than long-term average.

Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Photo journal of Grasslands NP trip

yellow coneflower, by Sage Herriot

Last week I made a quick trip down to the West Block of Grasslands National Park and back to work on an assignment for Canadian Geographic. My second oldest daughter, Sage, a photography student at Ontario's Sheridan College, came along for the drive to take some photos. She had to use my camera, which is a bottom of the line Canon Rebel with a stock lens and a 100-400mm zoom (5.6), but even so many of the shots Sage took came out very nicely--mostly because she knows how to use a camera.

Here are the results--all of these shots were taken by Sage--except the fuzzy ones of the weasel and the prairie falcon.


Half way to the park, just as we were coming off the Missouri Coteau, we came across this abandoned farmyard swarming with hundreds of tree, bank, cliff, and barn swallows.


On the road into the West Block ecotour we found a number of Chestnut-collared Longspurs still in song and perching on rocks and fenceposts.


This shot Sage took of the Frenchman River shows how extensive the Yellow Sweet Clover is this year. Let's hope this introduced species does not become a permanent problem in the park.



This fledgling meadowlark sat still for a photo--mostly because it wasn't that confident flying yet.


Lark Buntings were easy to find outside the park on the return portion of the Ecotour road.



We spotted this fellow, a fairly large Western Painted turtle, along a road south of the West Block.


The park's buffalo were off in a remote coulee during our visit, but this small herd of longhorns was just west of the western edge of the West Block.


Here is my weasel photo. Again on a road outside the park, we found this Long-tailed Weasel trotting into the ditch carrying a Richardson's Ground Squirrel ("gopher") in its jaws.


This Prairie Falcon sat atop a prairie dog mound in the grey light of dawn. Here it is in flight:




Another view of the West Block. Sage took some landscape shots but, like most photographers, found the park's wide open landscapes challenging to shoot.


I think this is a young Krider's Red-tailed Hawk.

Then there is the one that got away. On the drive home we skirted the northern edge of Old Wive's Lake, which is a vast inland sea this summer, and I am pretty sure we had a glimpse of a Swift Fox. It trotted along the trail in front of us but when I stopped to try and get a photo it vanished into the cropland as I held the camera and watched the wheat sway to its hidden passage. If it was a Swift Fox--and I am not sure what else has a small fox body with a black-tipped tail--it was pretty far north. The recovery of the Swift Fox in Canada has been one of a few success stories in our grassland species at risk--thanks to the vision of Miles, Beryl, and Clio Smeeton early on, and the more recent efforts of the Environment Canada and the Calgary Zoo.

On the Sweetgrass Trail

In the warm, sweet days of midsummer it's hard to bring myself to the computer, which is why I have not posted in a few weeks, but here is a story of one of those fine days.

The most storied of native grasses to grow on this continent is Sweetgrass (Hierochloe odorata) and though it is locally common in our part of the prairie, I always have trouble finding it. We like to gather some every summer and braid it up to hang in the rafters of the cabin, so for the second year running Karen and I asked Rob, Cherry Lake's resident botanist, to take us on a Sweetgrass expedition and show us how to find it.

It was the last day of a weekend of celebrating and learning about ancient skills--people brain-tanning hides, starting fires with bows, flint-knapping, gathering wild foods, throwing the atlatl. A dip in the lake followed by a hike to find the sweetgrass that grows on the far end seemed like a good way to finish off.

It took us a while, but eventually Rob located it on the edge of a Bobolink's territory where its mature seed heads shined bronze in the sun amid sedges and wire rushes. For the next half hour we crouched to pick enough for a couple of braids and I did my best to learn how to identify the flower structure.


This Creative Commons image by Krzysztof Ziarnek

This is the grass whose very name evinces its role in the spiritual traditions that run deepest in this part of the world. Hieros is Greek for "sacred" or "sanctified", and Chloa is Greek for "grass." This sanctified grass is among the most important gifts of the Creator for indigenous people on the prairie. One Blackfoot account of its origins says that Sweetgrass once lived in the sky along with another holy plant, the prairie turnip, which we now call IndianBreadroot (Psoralea esculenta).

Morning Star became smitten with a young Blackfoot woman and brought her into the sky to live with him. She was happy there until she was tempted to pull the sacred turnip up, which Sun Chief had forbidden her to touch, because it was plugging the hole through which his son, Morning Star, had brought the young woman. Looking into the hole she saw below the prairie where she grew up, shining in the sun, and her people there in their lodges and she became homesick. Angered at her transgression, but showing his unending mercy, Sun Chief sent her back to her people, giving her the sacred turnip and sweetgrass, as well as a digging stick, to help guide the Blackfoot in their journey.

This story, an abridged conflation of a few different versions from Blackfoot tradition, reminds us that we are meant always to receive from the Creator in a spirit of humility and greatitude, and that when we take without proper gestures of respect and reverence, it is a transgression that brings repercussions, yes, but always within the wider mercy and compassion of the Creator.

Walking back from our picking expedition, and thinking about things like gratitude and what it means to really receive a gift, I stepped into one of the new mudflats exposed along the creek in this year's flooding. Immediately, I began seeing worked lithic materials, flakes at first, and then a small shard that could have been a scraper. Two more paces and I saw the outline of a sharpened point jutting out from the mud sideways, as though it had been dropped moments before. Here it is, made from a pinkish quartzite.



I am no expert, but comparing it to drawings in books and online, my best guess is that it is a point from what archeologists have named the Besant culture, which occupied this prairie from 2000 to 1150 before present. The Besant were considered to be among the most proficient buffalo hunters to ever live on the plains.

At the end of a weekend where we gathered with friends to imagine and rediscover the skills that allow for a more direct, less mediated engagement with the earth and all of its gifts, it felt like a small blessing to find this artifact left by the ones who first developed these lifeways and the ethics that moderated their use in the land.



Western Red Lily, another mid-summer blessing from the prairie (photo by Maia Claire Herriot)