Man as an Instrument of Landscape Change

Fires, Floods, and National Parks in the Bow Valley, Alberta

Bibliographic Data

ID4488464
AuthorsJ G Nelson, A R Byrne (0000-0002-4072-4615), Adam Byrne
Year1966
Volume56
Issue2
Pages226
Publication date1966-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeographical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0016-7428 • E-ISSN: 1931-0846
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/212880
OpenAlexW2328106404
LanguageEN
Citations received9

ITTLE is known of the early landscape history of the Canadian National Parks, and hence of the effects of park policy and park development on hydrologic and other physical processes. Recent studies of changes in the landscape of BanffNational Park, Alberta, are therefore worth discussing, for they suggest that the vegetational changes introduced under park policy have played some part in flood reduction in the Bow River valley. In addition, these studies illustrate man's short memory where his own effects on landscape are concerned. In Banff National Park the Bow Valley cuts across massive mountain terrain, composed chiefly of folded and faulted limestones, dolomites, and quartzites. The mountains nowhere exceed 12,000 feet, though many of the peaks reach 9ooo-10,000 feet. Major river valleys, such as the Bow, generally lie about 4000-5000 feet below the surrounding summits. The heavy effects of glaciation are evident in the cirques and aretes of the upper slopes and in the broad terraces and other drift deposits nearer the valley floors. As in other mountainous areas, the climate is highly variable. Although climatic data are relatively few,' the higher ranges probably receive more than fifty inches of precipitation a year, and possibly more than a hundred inches, most of which falls as snow. Lower intermontane valleys in the east probably receive less than twenty-five inches a year, much of which falls in spring and summer as rain. Of the three main vegetative divisions-coniferous forest, grassland, and tundra-forest is the most widespread. Engelmann spruce, white spruce, and alpine fir are common, as are lodgepole pine and aspen. The last two are pioneer species and generally follow fires. Large stands of lodgepole pines, usually of the same age, occur throughout the Bow Valley and provided a strong part of the motivation for the research reported in this paper

Archaeology · Geography · Hydrology (agriculture · National park · Physical geography · Environmental Science · Fire effects on ecosystems · Geology · Soil erosion and sediment transport · Tree-ring climate responses

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