Alberta Wanderings

[cohan]

full album of this section:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111492944361897930115/AlbertaRockyMountainsMay312011KHeadingHomeward

.. Then we move into and  through the montane zone and Kootenay Plains- an area I've posted images from in the past-- a rather broad area between mountains, with a couple of rivers and rather dry grassy plains; Due to  low precipitation (variably, depending on exposure etc) and the open grassy areas (and the rivers, no doubt!) this has been an important area for wildlife, esp in winter when they can come down from  harsher/snowier higher elevations and find grass for grazing with generally shallow snow cover if any. The concentration of wildlife (and easily traversed plains) made the area important to Native peoples as well, and there are still large chunks of land in the region managed by aboriginal people. There was an early attempt at farming/ranching by European settlers in the area which failed (I don't know the history of it, but suspect low precipitation/fragile plant communities in some sections- the grassy areas that presumably would-be ranchers were drawn to- probably made agriculture a dicey proposition!).. now most of the land in the plains is protected...



   



more to come from this day, including a stop at my favourite site in the plains... but not tonight!

[Lori S.]

Nice to see the black bear, Cohan!  We only tend to see black bears down at road elevations too; we see grizzlies (though not often) up where we hike.  Interesting that it has an ear tag... it's been marked for some sort of study purpose.  

[cohan]

Often on these dashes through the mountains we have not seen much more than deer (which we usually see many of between Rocky Mtn House and Nordegg especially (for those who don't know the area as Lori does, that's through the 'pre'foothills to the beginnings of the mountains); this trip we saw sheep by Abraham Lake, moose ( I forget where, but of course we see them not rarely at home) and this bear..
I guess if it's going to hang around within a short distance of the park boundary and kiosk, it's looking to be tagged and studied..lol

[Jandals]

Cohan - seeing the black bear reminded me that the only one I have seen was also in the Kootenay area . I had a great time driving from Astoria OR to Canal Flats , following the river where I could . Really enjoyed the scenery , the plants and that I could buy a Moro bar in Canada . Seeing all the dead trees in the Roger's Pass area was a bit heartbreaking . Got as far east as Banff .
Keep the pictures coming bud

[Lori S.]

Sorry to temporarily divert your thread, Cohan, but I had to look up "Moro bar".
http://www.cadbury.co.nz/Products/Chocolate-Bars/Moro-Bar.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moro_(chocolate_bar)

(They are not so common here that I even knew what it was!    The basic one without nuts sounds Mars bar-ish though.)

[Jandals]

Swweeeett!!! You have Mars bars too . I'm coming back

[Lori S.]

Yes, no shortage of those here.  In addition to the regular chocolate bars, stores selling fresh hand-made chocolates have sprung up on every street corner in recent years in the bigger centers.  Do let us know when to expect you so that we can lay in a supply! 

[Hoy]

The bear was very close to the road, near the eastern boundary of Banff National Park, and seemingly dining on dandelions-- maybe that's what we need around here

The bear or the dandelions?

I have seen a lot of wild animals but no bear yet

[Jandals]

  Do let us know when to expect you so that we can lay in a supply! 

Will be in the Wenatchees in June . The lure of chocolate would probably be enough to get me across the border

[cohan]

I'd never heard of Moro bars, either, but Mars is a staple
No hand-made chocolates in my neck of the woods (I suppose someone might be doing it in Red Deer, but I haven't noticed....), but I used to visit a place that had them in Toronto- along some nice things like little Italian corn meal cookies.. one advantage of that sort of place is prices that keep you from over indulging 

There are actually two areas with the name Kootenay -I've looked up the reason in the past and forgot already  but I assume its something to do with the home range of the Native tribe of the same name.. the (I think) larger and better known area is the mountain park etc, in British Columbia, west of Banff National Park.. seems a beautiful area- I've been through as a child, we had relatives on Vancouver Island and went through the mountains many times with my grandparents, but I have not been there in recent years;
 The area I was in is the Kootenay Plains, in Alberta, in the eastern edge of the Rockies, not that far from home, probably a much drier place, though I don't know all the ins and outs of the other Kootenays!

Trond- we have plenty of dandelions already! I was thinking maybe we need bears to eat them- though we'd need an awful lot! Bears are rarely seen in my immediate area (I've never seen one here, though its not totally unheard of) but by the time you go about 30-40km west its quite possible- by that distance you are in the foothills forest (though not the foothills) which extends all the way into the mountains...

I'll try to post the next set of photos tonight if my internet connection is better (wonder how many tries it will take to post this...lol)

[RickR]

So...

Where does the Kootenay Agricultural Society come in?

Perennial Seed Germination Information:

      Kootenayseedgermdata.pdf (307.27 KB - downloaded 149 times.)

[cohan]

I had no idea (nice seed info, btw!)-- so I looked it up-- I knew it couldn't be Alberta- no agriculture on the Kootenay Plains! (some Native communities probably have some livestock, but I've never seen any of it!) and surely no one growing the range of plants in that seed guide!
It seems to be from Castlegar, British Columbia, a place I know we have passed through on family trips, but I don't know much about it- my impression is that its between the higher wetter western Rockies- and the lower drier Okanagan.. and quite far south, not so far from the U.S. border.. not that close to Kootenay National Park, either, but on the Kootenay River..
http://www.hellobc.com/castlegar.aspx?gclid=CNaagbmBqa4CFQ8CQAod5By6RA
map:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&cp=7&gs_id=s&xhr=t&rlz=1C2CHMA_enCA366&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=643&q=castlegar+bc&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x537cd4aa6992cd4b:0x13d762c0290350e2,Castlegar,+BC&gl=ca&ei=eWBAT5S7FajZiAKWg8TRAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=2&sqi=2&ved=0CD8Q8gEwAQ

Bet you could grow some nice alpines in those mountains- probably a few zones warmer than me...

here's a link to the Kootenay region in B.C.
http://www.hellobc.com/kootenay-rockies.aspx

And here is the Kootenay Plains, where I visited..
http://www.whereadventurebegins.com/kootenayplains.htm

[RickR]

Thanks, Cohan.  I googled it a tiny bit, too, but got rather confused with so many places with the same name in it.  That germination data is one of the sources that Tom Clothier used in his data compilation (not his Deno indexing, of course). 

[cohan]

It does seem 'The Kootenays' in B.C. covers quite a large area (I hadn't realised!) with a very long lake, a river, a park, etc- so there would be all sorts of uses of the name, and the area in Alberta is totally separate...
The search led me to look at various places in south eastern B.C.- many of which we used to pass through on family trips- but most of which I knew very little about..lol
Then, I was led to look at hardiness zones, which led me to this site, with some rather shocking updates to climate zones-- I find myself in zone 4A- when we'd thought of ourselves as 2/3! I shall need to be bolder
http://www.plantmaps.com/

[Lori S.]

Then, I was led to look at hardiness zones, which led me to this site, with some rather shocking updates to climate zones-- I find myself in zone 4A- when we'd thought of ourselves as 2/3! I shall need to be bolder
http://www.plantmaps.com/

Well, it's good that it's encouraging but it's always better to let the plants tell you what's hardy and what isn't, than someone's untested, assumed, or vague assignment of zone ratings!  (A lot more fun too!    )
(Arrghh, my apologies, but you know how I can't resist commenting on the unreliability of zone ratings...  )

Edit:   And now having looked at the map.... wow, it's bizarre!  The area west of Calgary is in a warmer zone than Calgary??  I doubt that people trying to garden out on acreages west of here would agree with that!    Oops, my mistake... the colours on the legend are hard to match up to the colours on the map, but on closer examination, I think it shows a warmer zone in Calgary than west of here, which makes sense directionally.