Waterton Lakes National Park to Open Backcountry Hut This Winter

This past June Parks Canada announced approval for the Alpine Club of Canada (ACC) to operate its first facility in Waterton Lakes National Park. The Parks Canada warden cabin at Cameron Lake will be converted to an ACC backcountry hut providing overnight accommodation during the winter.

The ACC is widely respected for the consistently high quality of its system of backcountry huts and cabins throughout Canada’s mountain national parks. The Cameron Lake Cabin will provide accommodation for up to six guests in an area that is easily accessible by people of all ages on snowshoes or skis. Renovations for this project, which will protect the oldest surviving backcountry cabin in Waterton Lakes National Park, will be fully funded by the ACC.

The approved 2010 Waterton Lakes National Park Management Plan identified the Cameron Valley as a focal point of visitor use during the winter months. The plan further calls for enhanced and expanded winter recreational opportunities, and identifies the renewal of overnight backcountry accommodation as an important objective. The project was well received by the public during a consultation held earlier this year.

The cabin was renovated over the summer to accommodate up to six guests, and will operate only between December 1 and April 30 each year, starting this December. The Cameron Lake area of Waterton has some of the deepest snow pack in Alberta, receiving between 3 and 4 metres (10 to 13 feet) annually.



Jeff
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Elk Reduction Program Begins Saturday in Grand Teton National Park

The 2015 elk reduction program begins Saturday, October 24 in Grand Teton National Park. Authorized through the park's enabling legislation of 1950, the program allows for the proper management and conservation of the Jackson Elk Herd.

The legislation directs Grand Teton National Park to jointly develop this program with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, and for the Governor of Wyoming and Secretary of the Interior to approve the annual plan. Respective Federal and state biologists and administrators have reviewed available biological data and concluded that the 2015 program is necessary for the proper management and protection of the elk, including keeping the herd at or near the population objective.

The areas open to the program, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Elk Hunt Areas 75 and 79, are generally located on the east side of the park, and north of the Gros Ventre River. The Snake River Bottom, between Deadman's Bar access road to Ditch Creek west of US Highway 26/89/191 is closed to the program.The Antelope Flats area is closed to the program after November 30, and the entire program ends December 13. The areas remain open to park visitors, and the wearing of orange or other bright colors is highly recommended during this time.

The park's elk reduction program is an important management tool that differs somewhat from other elk hunting programs in the region.Participants in the program must carry appropriate state license, conservation stamp and permits, use non-lead ammunition, and are limited in the number of cartridges they are able to carry each day. The use of archery, hand guns, or other non-center fire ammunition rifles is not permitted, nor is the use of artificial elk calls. In addition, participants, regardless of age, are required to carry a certified hunter safety card, wear fluorescent orange and carry and have immediately accessible bear spray as a non-lethal deterrent for use during potential bear encounters. Information packets accompanying each permit warn participants of the risk of bear encounters and offer tips on how to minimize the probability of human-bear conflicts.

The need for this reduction program stems partly from an intensive management framework that includes annual winter feeding programs on the National Elk Refuge and in the upper Gros Ventre Drainage. Feeding sustains high numbers of elk with unnaturally low mortality rates. A majority of elk that are fed during the winter on the refuge also summer in Grand Teton National Park or use migration routes across park lands. The reduction program targets elk from three primary herd segments: Grand Teton, southern Yellowstone National Park, and the Teton Wilderness area of Bridger-Teton National Forest.

Park rangers will intensively monitor and patrol elk reduction areas to ensure compliance with rules and regulations, interpret the elk reduction program to visitors, and provide participants with information on local conditions associated with this wildlife management program.

An information line for the 2015 elk reduction program is available at 307.739.3681. A brochure on elk ecology and a map showing locations open to these special permit hunters is available online.



Jeff
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Is the Smokey Bear Ad Campaign Effective?

So I was listening to late night radio the other night when I heard the latest Smokey Bear PSA for the umpteenth time. For some reason the tagline phrase at the end of the commercial, “9 out of 10 wildfires are started by humans”, stood out for me this time. We’ve all heard that statistic a million times, but have you ever considered that this is basically the same stat that’s been cited since the launch of the Smokey Bear campaign?

In 1944 the Smokey Bear campaign was launched with the mission of creating and maintaining public awareness of wild fires. The campaign's original catch phrase, "Smokey Says – Care Will Prevent 9 out of 10 Forest Fires", was proclaimed on the very first campaign poster (seen on the right). According to the Smokey Bear website, “Fire prevention was a real concern since 9 out of 10 wildfires were human caused during the period 1946 to 1950.”

However, that same statistic continues to be cited today in current Smokey Bear commercials, as well as on the NPS Fire and Aviation Management website, the Insurance Information Institute website, and various national forest websites. According to a graph published by EcoWest, using data from the National Interagency Fire Center, the percent of human-caused wildfires has remained fairly constant between the years 2001 and 2012 (red line):


So the question that came to mind while lying in bed that night was how is it, or why haven’t we seen a significant decrease in the number of human-caused wildfires since the Smokey Bear campaign was launched more than 70 years ago? No doubt the campaign has been highly successful in raising awareness of the issue over the years. According to the Ad Council (which runs the Smokey Bear campaign), “96 percent of U.S. adults recognize him, and 70 percent are able to recall his message without prompting.” That's an incredible statistic – one that every marketer in the world wishes they could claim! But why haven’t we seen an improvement in the number of human-caused wildfires over the last 70 years?

In defense of the Ad Council, they also state on their website that “Most importantly, the average number of acres lost annually to wildfire has decreased from 22 million in 1944 to an average of 6.7 million today.“ A quick glance at annual wildfire data published by the National Interagency Fire Center would seem to confirm this claim. However, at the bottom of that report, it notes that annual wildland fire statistics

“is provided through Situation Reports, which have been in use for several decades. Prior to 1983, sources of these figures are not known, or cannot be confirmed, and were not derived from the current situation reporting process. As a result the figures above prior to 1983 shouldn’t be compared to later data.”

Interestingly, the number of fires reported before 1983 is far greater than the years that follow, though the number of acres burned is comparatively constant (the data only goes back to 1960). From my point of view, the claim from the Ad Council appears to be an “apples to oranges” comparison, and therefore isn’t valid. Moreover, it appears the Ad Council is comparing one year – 1944 – to the most recent 12-year average, which isn’t a statistically valid way of comparing the two time periods. As you can see in the chart below (published by the Insurance Information Institute), the total number of acres burned each year fluctuates widely (graph shows number of acres in millions from 1980 to 2014):

It’s very possible that 1944 was an outlier year. An average from that time period, with valid data using the same collection methods and from same sources as used today would be the only correct way to measure this claim. Which brings me back to my original question: why haven’t we seen an improvement in the number of human-caused wildfires over the last 70 years?

Is it possible that our collective conservationist ethic hasn’t improved, or is less now than in years past? It would seem unlikely, but I don’t have any data to support or refute this assertion.

Is it a generational phenomenon? In other words, is it a lesson, or an awareness issue, that each generation has to learn as they come of age? A review of the statistics on the ages of all the human-caused wildfires over the last 70 years would prove (or disprove) that theory. Unfortunately I don’t have access to those statistics, but they would be interesting to see, and would be the only logical reason why we haven’t seen an improvement in this problem over the last several decades. Indeed, it does appear that the Ad Council tries to target younger people, especially when you consider the campaign tactics that have been used over the years. However, can you really say that the campaign has been successful when the needle hasn’t moved in 70 years?

What are your thoughts? Is there another reason for the problem that I'm overlooking? Is there a more effective way of dealing with the issue? Is the Ad Council wasting our federal tax dollars on a problem it hasn’t fixed?



Jeff
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Teton Rangers Rescue Hiker After Fall

Park rangers rescued an injured hiker in Avalanche Canyon Monday evening, and transported her from the area to a local medical facility.

Millie Jimenez, 24-year old female from Moose, Wyoming, was returning from a hike in Avalanche Canyon with a friend late Monday afternoon, October 12. Jimenez lost her footing as she descended a rock slab area. She tumbled approximately 25 feet, and then fell another 20 feet, landing on a steep and rocky slope.

Jimenez's hiking companion called Teton Interagency Dispatch Center from the scene at approximately 3:45 p.m. Park rangers were flown to the area and determined that Jimenez sustained multiple serious injuries. Rangers acted quickly to stabilize Jimenez and prepare her for aerial short-haul transportation to Lupine Meadows and ambulance transport to St. John's Medical Center in Jackson.

Hikers and climbers recreating in Grand Teton National Park are encouraged to utilize established routes and trails, and have appropriate route finding skills. Rangers remind park visitors that day-light hours are decreasing, as well as staffing levels in the park. Recreationists should not assume that an aerial rescue is always available.



Jeff
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House Natural Resources Committee Approves Paddling Legislation in Yellowstone and Tetons

Last Thursday the House Committee on Natural Resources approved legislation that would allow the National Park Service to open up more than 450 miles of streams to paddlers in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks.

If the legislation introduced by Rep. Cynthia Lummis is signed into law, the Yellowstone and Grand Teton Paddling Act would:

...direct the Secretary of the Interior to promulgate regulations to allow the use of hand-propelled vessels on certain rivers and streams that flow in and through certain Federal lands in Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, and for other purposes.

The bill also states that:

The regulations promulgated under this section shall not apply to waters that are within the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park south of a latitudinal line anchored at Wilcox Point and west of an approximate north-south line that generally defines the base of the mountains following the western shores of Jackson, Leigh, Jenny, Bradley, Taggart, and Phelps lakes, and extending to the southern Grand Teton National Park boundary at the base of Apres Vous Peak.

The bill also states that:

(1) NO EXPANSION OF USE. — The regulations issued under this section shall not consider any expansion of commercial use of hand-propelled vessels in the parks.

(2) SAVINGS PROVISIONS. — Nothing in this Act shall be construed as authorizing the commercial use of hand-propelled vessels.

The National Parks Conservation Association is opposed to the bill. In a press release dated on the same day, the NPCA states:

The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is disappointed that the House Committee on Natural Resources today chose to advance legislation that stands to have far-reaching, negative impacts on Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, two of our country’s crown jewels. The Yellowstone and Grand Teton Paddling Act would force the National Park Service to open up 450 miles of waterways in these parks without study or public comment. As written, this legislation could aid the spread of invasive aquatic species, damage native trout habitat, and serve to disrupt prime habitat for endangered grizzly bears.

Here are a few quotes from a press release published by Wyoming Representative Cynthia Lummis last week:

"The new rule would then replace regulations, in place since 1950, which prohibited paddling in both parks to curb overfishing. These outdated regulations have tied the hands of the Park Service from even considering proposals from the paddling community."

"The NPS will retain full management over paddling in the parks and will retain discretion on whether to go through a rulemaking to open additional waterways as it sees fit. Backcountry lake paddling management has proven that the NPS is up to the task of managing paddling on waterways while protecting natural resources."

"If passed, the end result will align Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park with other national parks across the country that offer this low-impact way for the public, and especially America’s youth, to have truly unforgettable experiences. "

To become law the measure will have to be approved by both the House and the Senate, and then signed by the president. What are your thoughts? Is this a positive measure to open up parks to a broader range of users? Or will this truly have a significant negative impact on wildlife and other natural resources? If the answer to that last question is yes, then why isn't this an issue in other parks?



Jeff
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