Riparian Conservation (2009)

Project Leader: Cam Stevens (Riparian Team Lead), Mike Uchikura (Beaver and Todd creeks), John Hallett (Beaverlodge River), Marco Fontana (Bearberry Creek), Diana Rung (Battle and Red Deer rivers), and Ed Kolodychuk (South Heart River-Lesser Slave Lake).
Primary Staff: Mike Uchikura (Beaver and Todd creeks), Brad Taylor (Beaver and Todd creeks), John Hallett (Beaverlodge River), Marco Fontana (Bearberry Creek), Kelly Hooey (Bearberry Creek), Diana Rung (Battle and Red Deer rivers) and Ed Kolodychuk (South Heart River-Lesser Slave Lake)
Partnerships: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Alberta Agriculture Food and Rural Development, Alberta Environment, Alberta Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture, Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society (Cows and Fish), Alberta Stewardship Network, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, Beaver Creek Watershed Group, Canfor, ConocoPhillips, County of Grande Prairie No. 1, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Grey Wooded Forage Association, High Prairie Riparian Action Team, Lacombe County, Mountain View County, Olds College, Pacific Regeneration Technologies Inc., Ponoka County, Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration, Red Deer County, Red Deer River Watershed Alliance, Rocky Riparian Group, Southwestern Alberta Conservation Partnership, Stantec, Todd Creek Watershed Group, Trout Unlimited Canada, Woodmere Nurseries

Introduction

Intensive agricultural practices may threaten downstream water resources in drainage basins of Alberta (Stevens et al. 2006; Marshall et al. 2008). Agricultural activities, such as cattle grazing, often result in changes to riparian vegetation, affecting stream temperatures, hydrology, channel stability, stream bank erosion and sediment transport (Marshall et al. 2008). High phosphorous concentrations are often present in runoff and contribute to cultural eutrophication, greater algal production (Carpenter et al. 1998), and changes to the structure and function of fish communities (Stevens et al. 2006; Marshall et al. 2008). Importantly, intact riparian areas can remove the majority of sediment and phosphorous from farm runoff (Lee et al. 2003).

The primary goal of Alberta Conservation Association's (ACA) riparian program is to restore (or improve) degraded riparian habitat and protect a network of functioning riparian habitats in problem drainage basins through collaboration with landowners, watershed groups, government and industry. There are potentially many regions that require conservation programming; however, we, in consultation with ASRD, focus conservation efforts where both significant areas of riparian cover may have been converted to agriculture and where fisheries may have declined over the past decades. For example, the Beaverlodge River is a focal system because we documented severe riparian habitat degradation for the mainstem and two of its tributaries and a once thriving Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) fishery is at risk of collapsing (Lucko1995). Since 1999, focal drainage basins of our riparian program have been: Beaver Creek, Todd Creek, Red Deer River, Bearberry Creek, Battle River, Beaverlodge River and the South Heart River-Lesser Slave Lake system.

Since 1997, we have completed approximately 43 riparian 'on-the-ground' projects on almost 100 quarter sections in Alberta. For our province-wide program, the long-term goal is to be either the lead agency or a supporter of a watershed group (or similar agency) in conservation programming that results in the restoration and protection of up to 80% of the shoreline length within focal drainage basins. Systems that have less than 80% intact riparian areas may be impaired (Fitzpatrick et al. 2001). Our objectives for 2008/09 were to: 1) conduct community and educational outreach events for landowners and interested members of the public, 2) initiate and maintain partnerships with landowners, industry, government and local watershed groups, 3) complete on-the-ground riparian conservation projects (i.e., enhancement or restoration projects) through collaboration with landowners and other stakeholders, and 4) implement monitoring of riparian conditions at project sites and also of aquatic conditions at downstream locations, as part of a long-term monitoring program.

Findings

We delivered six new riparian restoration projects with landowner agreements (e.g., livestock exclusion fencing, off-site watering structures, bank stabilization); three at Beaverlodge River, two at Bearberry Creek and one at Battle River. In addition, we planted over 23,708 seedlings at project locations along the Beaverlodge River.
We partnered with over 28 agencies to deliver conservation programming across the province.
We have remained very active in community outreach and educational activities, particularly in central and southern Alberta. Riparian landowners and nearby residents have, in general, responded in a positive manner to our conservation messages. Examples of our most recent successes have been highlighted in local newspapers.
We posted several advertisements in local newspapers soliciting landowners for riparian projects (i.e., Ponoka News, Rimbey Review, Beaverlodge and District News), but failed to receive responses and new landowner partnerships from this initiative.
Results from aerial low-level videography (LLV) of Pigeon Lake indicated that approximately 65% of the shoreline was highly impaired.

Methods

The following description is a general summary of our approach to riparian conservation in the above-mentioned drainage basins. Additional details can be found in the sub-sections described below. In brief, we used a combination of educational outreach and on-the-ground enhancements (e.g., exclusion fencing, off-channel watering structures) to improve the condition of streamside vegetation and offset environmental impacts from grazing and hoof shear. We maintained long-term relationships and commitments to landowner partners, as part of a strategy to successfully complete on-going projects and improve riparian conditions on private lands. It is important to note that we provided only technical advice and support as part of a larger team for conservation work being led by other agencies in Beaver Creek and Lesser Slave Lake drainage basins. In all focal areas, we worked with stewardship groups to implement on-the-ground riparian improvements. We promoted conservation work through various media outlets, including interviews with local newspapers. Also, we placed advertisements in local newspapers soliciting landowners to become involved in riparian projects. We donated and installed 'recognition signs' for landowners who practiced good riparian stewardship. It is anticipated that such efforts will enhance local interests in our riparian conservation programming. Photographs were taken of 2008 activities and related project sites and housed on our internal server.

Importantly, our riparian program is conducted under an adaptive management (or conservation) framework. This framework is a systematic process for continually improving conservation practices by learning from the outcomes of existing projects and operations (through monitoring, evaluation, review and reporting of progress). Thus, monitoring of riparian conditions at project sites and also of water resources at downstream locations is a critical component of our riparian program. At new project locations, we contracted Cows and Fish to perform riparian health inventories (RHI; see www.cowsandfish.org). In cases where Cows and Fish were unavailable and for a subset of our existing projects, we conducted 'short-form assessments' of riparian conditions (Fitch et al. 2001). Short-form assessments are done on a bi-annual basis for existing project sites. We also conducted qualitative assessments of shorelines, riparian vegetation and enhancement structures at all project sites. Information collected from these surveys has been stored on our internal server for future evaluation of the riparian program. To quantify riparian conditions at the watershed-scale, we used low-level aerial videography (LLV) as a monitoring tool. Specifically, we collected riparian data at Pigeon Lake by filming the shoreline from a helicopter and analysed the data using the 'Lentic Riparian Health and Integrity Scorecard' (Walker and ACA 2006). We selected this lake because it may be highly impacted by adjacent residential and industrial developments.

Results

Beaver and Todd creeks

We maintained communication with the Todd Creek Watershed Group (TCWG) and Beaver Creek Watershed Group (BCWG) throughout the summer of 2008 by means of phone conversations and meetings with group representatives. Partnering with TCWG and BCWG has provided us with a means of contributing to projects that can have large-scale benefits for aquatic and riparian health. We also organized and attended meetings with other stakeholders, including Cows and Fish and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

As part of the process of initiating new landowner agreements and new projects, we held two events to engage the community in conservation activities. We held a barbeque for TCWG at the Willow Valley Schoolhouse (May 15, 2008). We also held electrofishing demonstrations (July 10, 2008) as part of a tour of conservation projects and for landowners adjacent to Todd Creek (September 5, 2008; Figure 1). These community events were well-received by both watershed groups (B. Taylor, personal observation). The need for fencing material was expressed by both groups (pasture fencing, fencing around developed springs).

Figure 1. An electrofishing demonstration held as part of a tour for the Todd Creek Watershed Group and shoreline landowners. (Photo: Mike Uchikura)

We did not complete riparian assessments (Cows and Fish short-form method; Fitch et al. 2001) at existing project sites along Todd Creek during 2008. These surveys are planned for 2009/10. However, we completed fish sampling at 11 sites (i.e., 150 - 500 m transects) during June along Beaver Creek and its tributaries, Five Mile Creek and Nine Mile Creek. We collected fish via standard electrofishing methods using Smith-Root backpack types 15 and 12B electrofishers. We identified six species of fish in the Beaver Creek watershed (Table 1). Longnose dace was the most common species found at 63% of the sites sampled. Cutthroat trout was present at only two sites in the upper reaches of Beaver Creek and was the only fish species present at these locations (i.e., 100% of fish catch). Downstream from cutthroat trout sites, fish assemblages were dominated by long-nose dace (36%), followed by white sucker (25%), fathead minnow (20%), lake chub (12%) and long-nose sucker (7%).

Species	Taxonomic Name	No. of Sites Present (of 11)
Cutthroat trout	Oncorhynchus clarki	2
Longnose dace	Rhinichthys cataractae	7
Lake chub	Couesius plumbeus	6
Fathead minnow	Pimephales promelas	6
Longnose sucker	Catostomas catostomus	3
White sucker	Catostomas commersoni	5

Table 1. Summary of fish species captured during electrofishing in the Beaver Creek basin in June 2008.

Battle River and Red Deer River basins

We worked with stewardship groups to implement on-the-ground riparian improvements. Groups included the Alberta Stewardship Network (ASN), the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance, the Alberta Environmental Farm Plan Company and the Vermilion River Flow Advisory Committee. While attending annual meetings, we promoted ACA's riparian program using displays and promotional items such as brochures and publications.

We were very active with ASN, remaining a member on their board of directors and attending six general meetings. We participated on the ASN Stewardship Grant committee, which is funded by Alberta Environment's 'Water for Life Strategy'. We also participated in the planning and implementation of the sixth annual 'Stewards in Motion Workshop' on June 11, 2008. ACA assisted with hall rental and speaker costs; 80 people attended this event. We also participated on the ASN Stewardship Recognition Committee, which acknowledges exceptional accomplishments by stewardship groups, individuals and stewardship projects. We partnered with numerous agencies to create the 2009 Environmental Stewardship Calendar, which contains photographs and environmental stewardship facts. The calendar was distributed to 1,900 recipients throughout the province.

In the summer of 2008, an advertisement was posted in two newspapers (The Ponoka News and The Rimbey Review) for two consecutive weeks soliciting landowners to become involved in riparian projects. However, these newspaper advertisements resulted in no new contracts.

Importantly, a new restoration project was completed on the Battle River near Vermilion (ACA site identification code = GL02_Wi; Table 2). Exclusion fencing (2.4 km) was installed at this site. A riparian assessment was completed at this location and vegetative photograph points were collected for future evaluations (Fitch et al. 2001).

We also completed five riparian assessments at existing project sites (Table 2). Furthermore, we completed a qualitative survey of all previously-completed restoration projects in the Red Deer River and Battle River basins.

ACA Site Code	Health Rating (%)*	Riparian Health Description
BR99_Mc	88	Healthy
GL02_Wi	72	Healthy with problems
BL05_Be	66	Healthy with problems
BL07_Sp	48	Unhealthy
RDR07_Ab	27	Unhealthy
BR08_Hu	78	Healthy with problems

Table 2. Summary of riparian assessments conducted in 2008.

Results from our videography surveys at Pigeon Lake showed that 65% of the shoreline was highly impaired, 11% was moderately impaired and 24% was healthy (see Figure 2). A 'User Guide to the Pigeon Lake Shoreline Video' is in final draft and will be distributed to watershed groups and municipalities upon completion during 2009/10.

Figure 2. Photograph taken during the low-level aerial videography of Pigeon Lake in June 2008. (Photo: Diana Rung)

Bearberry Creek

To facilitate the establishment of a new partnership, we made a presentation on riparian conservation projects to Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) head office in Calgary in April 2008. The details of this new partnership are currently in development. We also developed a proposal and met with Pembina Petroleum in November 2008 to acquire future funding for 2009/10.

We promoted conservation work through various media outlets, including an article in the Mountain View Gazette on June 10, 2008, contributions to the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance’s State of the Watershed report (www.rdrwa.ca), displays at both the Ranching Opportunities Conference at Olds College in July 2008 and the Cows and Creeks Workshop in Caroline in August 2008, participation in the Sundre parade in September 2008, and a presentation to a high school environmental education class. We attended quarterly meetings of the Rocky Riparian Group. We worked with Mountain View County to coordinate landowners interested in riparian protection projects and utilized the East Slopes draft guidelines (Fontana and Judd 2007) to negotiate project designs and determine funding.

Due to the small number of existing projects, we postponed a demonstration site tour in favour of supporting a Bearberry Creek promotional evening event at the Bearberry Hall on February 28, 2009, which included riparian presentations, cowboy poetry, music and comedy.

One landowner used our demonstration watering system during summer 2008 (Figure 3) and expressed interest in a cost-shared purchase, which we undertook with the landowner. We purchased a second system for future demonstration purposes. As part of new landowner agreements, we provided funds toward the purchase of a portable, solar-powered, off-channel livestock watering system and toward the installation of a riparian fence. In addition, we constructed a bank stabilization project incorporating approximately 50 m of wattle fencing, 30 modified brush layers and 300 m2 of live staking (Figure 4).

Figure 3. ACA's portable, solar-powered, off-channel watering system in use on Bearberry Creek. (Photo: Chad Judd)

Figure 4. Before (left) and after (right) photos of the bank stabilization project completed in 2008. (Photos: Kelly Hooey)

We contracted Cows and Fish to perform riparian health inventories at three sites: a project site and two non-project sites, including one that is relatively pristine and one that is degraded. Results of these riparian health inventories are summarized in Table 3.

Site	Date	Overall health rating (%)	Riparian health description
‘Impaired’ non-project site	12-Jun-08	70	Healthy with problems
‘Healthy’ non-project site	11-Jun-08	88	Healthy
Project site (treatment)	10-Jun-08	75	Healthy with problems

Table 3. Summary of riparian health inventories conducted along Bearberry Creek during summer 2008.

Beaverlodge River

In spring 2008, we delivered a presentation on riparian conservation to the County of Grande Prairie and the Aboriginal and Community Engagement Coordinator with ConocoPhillips. ConocoPhillips is an industrial stakeholder in the Wapiti River drainage basin and is interested in habitat improvement programs. Later in the year, we successfully received funding from the ConocoPhillips Community Investment Funding Program for restoration work to be completed during 2009/10.

In spring 2008, we also posted an advertisement in the Beaverlodge and District News for three consecutive weeks soliciting landowners to become involved in riparian projects. Two existing landowner partners received recognition signs (30 x 36 inch) for good stewardship (site codes = BLC07_Sm and BLC08_To; Table 4). We hope that such recognition will encourage more interest in riparian conservation.

Also in spring 2008, we directed Alberta Agriculture Food and Rural Development (Peace River office) to apply to our Grant Eligible Conservation Fund. Their goal was to plant donated seedlings at our riparian restoration projects along the Beaverlodge River. In partnership with the County of Grande Prairie, they received and planted approximately 24,000 donated seedlings from private tree nurseries (Table 4; Figure 5). Next Generation Reforestation Ltd., from Beaverlodge, planted the trees ($0.455 per tree) during May 2008. In addition to these seedlings, our employees planted approximately 200 willow whips (cut from willows along the Peace River) at various pre-existing project locations. On August 25 and September 18, we inspected the planting sites because the Beaverlodge area had experienced drought conditions during the summer, and therefore tree mortality was a concern. In general, spruce survival was high (ranging from 70 - 95%) and pine survival was moderately high (60 - 80%), but aspen had 100% mortality (John Hallet, personal observation).

Site	Aspen	Spruce	Pine
BLC05_Ca (10.6 acres)	440	675	1,800
BLC07_Sm (16.4 acres)	1,253	6,225	3,600
BLC08_To (2.5 acres)	0	0	3,240
BLC08_Da (7.8 acres)	0	2,520	0
BLC08_Al (4.2 acres)	0	1,785	1,080

Table 4. Numbers of tree seedlings planted at Beaverlodge River project sites in 2008.

In June 2008, a water well on a landowner property (site BLC06_Ja) was drilled and cased by McAllister Drilling to provide off-channel watering as part of a partnership agreement initiated in 2006; Encana Petroleum was a key partner on this project. Also, the landowners at site 'BLC08_To' completed their riparian fencing in 2008. A total of approximately 840 m of fencing has been installed on the property. Importantly, a new project agreement was signed with a landowner to complete fencing around a lotic wetland at site 'BLC08_Al'. The landowner will supply materials and labour in exchange for us purchasing spruce trees to be planted at two riparian locations in 2009-2010.

Figure 5. Photographs of tree planting project, including volunteers ‘in action’ (left) and a spruce planted on the ‘BLC08_Al’ site four months after planting (right). (Photos: John Hallet)

All of our existing riparian projects on the Beaverlodge River drainage were inspected during summer 2008. We did not complete Cows and Fish riparian short-form inspections (Fitch et al. 2001), as these were done in 2007 and are typically done on a bi-annual basis.

South Heart River-Lesser Slave Lake system

We attended two meetings with the High Prairie Riparian Action Team (HPRAT), one on April 17, 2008 (12 members at meeting) and the other on December 11, 2008 (14 members at meeting). We also responded to approximately four public enquiries regarding support for a riparian conservation project. Unfortunately, we did not have our staff committed (full-time) to riparian conservation work in the South Heart River-Lesser Slave Lake system during 2008/09. Thus, we did not deliver new projects in this watershed during the past year.

Conclusion

We continue to lead riparian conservation activities in Bearberry Creek, Battle River and Beaverlodge River. For Beaver Creek and the South Heart River-Lesser Slave Lake system, we provided technical advice and support for work being led by BCWG and HPRAT. We delivered six new riparian restoration projects with landowner agreements (e.g., livestock exclusion fencing, off-site watering structures); three at Beaverlodge River, two at Bearberry Creek and one at the Battle River. Monitoring data collected during 2008 for these projects, as well as for pre-existing projects, have been archived for future evaluation of the riparian program. The riparian team agreed that a standardized monitoring protocol be developed during the upcoming year to assist our staff with evaluating riparian projects as part of an adaptive conservation strategy.

Communications

Bearberry Creek

We received a full front page photo and interview that was published in the Mountain View Gazette.
We developed a mock press release to meet the funding requirements of the Department of Fisheries and Ocean's Stewardship in Action Initiative.
We developed the 'Bearberry Creek Riparian Conservation Project Landowner Guide' for distribution.

Beaverlodge River

We received local newspaper (The Peace Country Sun) coverage on May 23, 2008 of tree planting at site BLC05_Ca by students from Grande Prairie Composite High School and volunteers from the Woodmere Tree Nursery.
County of Grande Prairie organized a public demonstration tour of selected Beaverlodge riparian project sites. Approximately 12 people attended the demonstration tour, including a newspaper reporter for the Peace Country Sun. Craig Johnson, a fisheries biologist (ASRD), talked about the problems in the river and John Hallett (ACA) talked about the riparian projects done thus far on the river. We presented a local family with a landowner recognition sign during this demonstration tour, and the landowner talked about her experience with the program. The Peace Country Sun published an article about this tour on October 24, 2008.

Literature

Carpenter, S.R., N.F. Caraco, R.W. Howarth, A.N. Sharpley, and V.H. Smith. 1998. Nonpoint pollution of surface waters with phosphorous and nitrogen. Ecological Applications 8: 559-568.

Fitch, L, B.W. Adams, and G. Hale (eds.). 2001. Riparian health assessment for streams and small rivers - field workbook. Cows and Fish Program, Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Program, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.

Fitzpatrick, F.A., B.C. Scudder, B.N. Lenz, and D.J. Sullivan. 2001. Effects of multi-scale environmental characteristics on agricultural stream biota in eastern Wisconsin. Journal of American Water Resources Association 37: 1489-1507.

Fontana, M., and C. Judd. 2007. East Slopes Riparian Conservation Program guidelines (draft). Alberta Conservation Association, East Slopes Business Unit, Cochrane, Alberta.

Lee, K.H., T.M. Isenhart, and R.C. Schultz. 2003. Sediment and nutrient removal in an established multi-species riparian buffer. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 49: 420-425.

Lucko, B. 1995. Assessment of the Beaverlodge and Redwillow rivers spawning run, spring 1994. Fisheries Management Report 118, produced by Alberta Environmental Protection, Fish and Wildlife Services, Peace River, Alberta, Canada. 32 pp.

Marshall, D.W., A.H. Fayram, J.C. Panuska, J. Baumann, and J. Hennessy. 2008. Positive effects of agricultural land use changes on coldwater fish communities in southwestern Wisconsin streams. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 28: 944-953.

Stevens, C., G. Scrimgeour, W. Tonn, C. Paszkowski, M. Sullivan, and S. Millar. 2006. Developing and testing of a fished-based index of biological integrity to quantify the health of grassland streams in Alberta. Technical Report (T 2006-001) produced by Alberta Conservation Association, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 50 pp.

Walker, G. and ACA (Alberta Conservation Association). 2006. Lentic riparian health and integrity scorecard. Scorecard produced by Alberta Conservation Association, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.