State of the River 2004-2005
Athabasca Rivers,
Jasper National Parks, Alberta
Out of the Ice
Designated 1989
The Athabasca River corridor is a defining feature of Jasper National Park for the vast majority of park visitors, from its headwaters at the Columbia Icefield, to the sand dune-scapes of Jasper Lake. Modern transportation features and visitor nodes retrace historic and pre-historic trade routes, and offer abundant opportunities to experience this Heritage River. Due to high visitor use and infrastructure placement the health of the Athabasca River valley is highly indicative of ecological integrity within the Park.
The aesthetic virtues of the Athabasca River in Jasper National Park remain undisputed; at the same time, our understanding is growing that past management practices including the development of transportation infrastructure has affected natural processes and imposed stress on the aquatic ecosystem. One of the main ecological concerns related to this infrastructure is fish habitat fragmentation created by highway and railway culverts. Culverts which may be functional in terms of water passage are not necessarily functional in terms of fish passage. Undersized culverts increase water velocities to levels which may be impassable to fish. Improperly placed “hanging” culverts (those with a waterfall on their downstream end) offer no access to fish. Ecologically this may be resulting in an overall loss of fish habitat required for spawning, juvenile rearing or over-wintering life stages. Jasper National Park is currently conducting an inventory of all its culverts to determine their overall affect on fish habitat and to identify opportunities for restoration.
Sewage treatment for the Community of Jasper continues to be the primary management concern for water quality in the Athabasca. Construction of a new Jasper community sewage treatment plant began in May 2002 and is scheduled for completion in December of 2002. To measure the ecological response of the river biota to reduced nutrient levels Parks Canada will be conducting a biological monitoring program.
Progress has been made in delivering on some of the Key Actions from the 2001 Park Management Plan related to aquatic systems. After extensive public consultation Jasper National Park has proposed a series of fishing regulation changes which would increase protection of native fish in the Athabasca River. The primary revision would provide native Athabasca fish complete protection from angling pressure during spawning periods. In addition, Mile 9 Lake located adjacent to the Athabasca River downstream of the Jasper townsite will be closed to angling in order to study native Northern pike populations. Pending regulatory approval these regulation changes will come into effect during 2002. Opportunities for angling non-native fish elsewhere in the park have been expanded.
No spills or leaks related to transportation and utility infrastructure along the Athabasca River corridor occurred this past year. As reported in 2001, Trans Mountain Pipelines had identified places where the constantly-shifting river channel might cause problems in future. In 2002, Trans Mountain Pipelines applied for and received regulatory approval to armour a section of Athabasca River bank at a crossing location where erosion was endangering pipeline integrity. The project was subject to a full environmental review process to ensure appropriate protection measures were in place.
Jasper National Park is currently working jointly with its Foothills Model Forest partners to develop and implement an aquatic / fisheries GIS linked database. This database will increase the parks ability to store, share and communicate aquatic information including water quality, flow regimes, hydrology data, fish distribution and habitat analysis, much of which relates to the Athabasca River and its major tributaries.
For information, contact Ward Hughson, Aquatic Specialist, Jasper National Park
780-852-6205; www.parkscanada.ca/jasper
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