Landscape Flooding in the Landscape Flooding in the Mackenzie Bison - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Landscape Flooding in the Landscape Flooding in the Mackenzie Bison - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

May 12, 2023 219 likes •547 views

Landscape Flooding in the Landscape Flooding in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary Josh Thienpont*, Peter deMontigny, Joelle Perreault, Mike Pisaric, Terry Armstrong, Steve Kokelj, ik i i k lj Sjoerd van der Wielen, Wayne Condon, Sonia Wesche, Jules

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Landscape Flooding in the Landscape Flooding in the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary

Josh Thienpont*, Peter deMontigny, Joelle Perreault, ik i i k lj Mike Pisaric, Terry Armstrong, Steve Kokelj, Sjoerd van der Wielen, Wayne Condon, Sonia Wesche, l l i i d i d h S l Jules Blais, Linda Kimpe, and John Smol

*joshua.thienpont@queensu.ca

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Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary

  • ~150 km SW of Yellowknife

150 km SW of Yellowknife

  • East of the community of Fort Providence
  • >10,000 km2 protected wildlife reserve
  • Home to between 2000‐3000 wood bison (Bison

bison athabascae)

  • Contains wetlands, thousands

Contains wetlands, thousands

  • f small ponds and several

large, shallow lakes

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1984‐08‐02

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1986‐09‐09

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1988‐07‐12

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1990‐08‐03

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1992‐09‐09

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1994‐08‐30

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1996‐07‐18

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1998‐08‐09

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2000‐09‐23

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2002‐09‐13

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2004‐08‐09

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2006‐09‐16

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2008‐08‐05

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2009‐08‐16

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2010‐08‐09

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Falaise Lake Falaise Lake

Year: 2000 Year: 2010

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Caen Lake Caen Lake

Year: 2000 Year: 2010

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Caen Lake

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Implications for Bison Management p g

  • The MBS herd are naturally disease (tuberculosis and brucellosis)

free unlike some other populations (such as in WBNP) free, unlike some other populations (such as in WBNP)

  • Interaction between the MBS herd and infected animals could

i t d id d introduce widespread infection into the MBS herd

  • Expanding lakes are

encroaching on wood bison habitat, encouraging the habitat, encouraging the bison to migrate out of the core area of the MBS, towards the diseased herds towards the diseased herds

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Multiple Sources of Knowledge / Methods

1 Timeline of water level changes

  • 1. Timeline of water level changes

T diti l / T diti l / Natural Archives Natural Archives Traditional / Traditional / Local Knowledge Local Knowledge Remote Sensing Remote Sensing

Distant Past

(100s‐1000s yrs)

Mid‐range past

(40 200 yrs)

Recent past

(40 yrs) (40‐200 yrs)

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Traditional & Local Knowledge

2 Causes of water level changes?

Traditional & Local Knowledge

  • 3. Impacts on people in the community?

4 How to plan for future changes?

  • 2. Causes of water level changes?
  • 4. How to plan for future changes?

Traditional / Local Knowledge

Mid‐range Recent

Present Future

past

(40‐200 yrs)

past

Present Future

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Traditional Knowledge Component

S W h D t f G h U i it f Ott h @ tt

  • March 2012:

C i k h d i i i i f di i l

  • S. Wesche, Dept. of Geography, University of Ottawa, swesche@uottawa.ca

– Community workshop and initiation of Traditional Knowledge component

  • October 2012:

– Community visit (S. Wesche) – 7 interviews conducted 7 interviews conducted

  • Next steps:

l – Interview transcript analysis – Community workshop: February 2013

  • Preliminary results presentation and community feedback

– Collaborative discussion about ongoing research and application of results

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Tree Ring Analysis ( d h l ) (Dendrochronology)

Th idth f l i i

  • The width of annual rings in

trees is related to climatic factors such as temperature factors, such as temperature and precipitation

  • Changes in width can be used

l to reconstruct long‐term climate over the last few h d d hundred years

deMontigny et al. in prep

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Fort Providence tree ring chronology Palmer Drought Severity Index

Tree rings suggest climate in the area has become wetter since 1915 Tree rings suggest climate in the area has become wetter since 1915

deMontigny et al. in prep

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Lake Sediments: Environmental Archives Lake Sediments: Environmental Archives

Present‐day

Close‐interval sectioning

Pre‐disturbance Pre disturbance

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Falaise Lake – Mercury

?

**Note these values are below the Canadian Sediment Quality id li f h Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life (170 ng/g dw) Perreault et al. unpublished data

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“Jackie” Lake – Mercury

  • Air photo analysis to be

p y conducted for this lake

  • Field observation suggests

some recent expansion (drowned terrestrial

**Note these values are below the Canadian Sediment Quality

vegetation observed)

Sediment Quality Guidelines for the Protection of Aquatic Life (170 ng/g dw) Perreault et al. unpublished data

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Conclusions and Future Work

  • Proxy records indicate the region is wetter than the early

20th 20th century

  • Lake expansion may be mobilizing mercury in aquatic

t systems

  • Future research will focus on tracking the cyclicity of

(any) past lake expansion and assessing mercury in the (any) past lake expansion and assessing mercury in the aquatic food web of impacted lakes

  • We will continue to work with community members and
  • We will continue to work with community members and

leaders to identify ongoing research needs and how these results should be applied pp

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Acknowledgements

  • Deh Gah Gotie Dene Band (Fort Providence)
  • Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program
  • NSERC
  • Polar Continental Shelf Program
  • Aurora Research Institute
  • Aurora Research Institute
  • Great Slave Helicopters