Butterflies in the Bog

Photo Credit: Lynette Schimming

First of all, thanks to everyone who has written this week in congratulations and thanks for the new Ramsar designation.  I think we can all agree that it's a huge step forward for everyone: in Delta, in British Columbia, in Canada, and in the world.   And it wouldn't have happened without a lot of people, in and out of government, working together to achieve this goal.  Finally, the world recognizes what David Bellamy knew 17 years ago - Burns Bog is of international importance!

One of the people that wrote to us was noted biologist Crispin Guppy, who drew our attention to the remarkable butterflies that reside in Burns Bog.   According to Crispin, "the Mariposa Coppers (lycaena mariposa (= epidemia mariposa) in Burns Bog have a unique wing pattern compared to the rest of BC."  This something I've never had the opportunity to notice, but I will certainly look out for it on the next Bog tour!  "The differences can be summarized as the undersides of the wings being much paler and more lightly marked than other BC populations."  Whether or not the difference is unique to Burns Bog is still unknown; butterflies, despite their beauty, don't draw a lot of attention in British Columbia. 

Guppy was one of the first scientists to bring up the conservation issues facing butterflies in BC, in a 1994 report to the Committee on the Status of Wildlife in Canada.  According to environmental scientists, several butterfly species in south Vancouver Island are currently at risk, due to the overuse of the pesticide "BTk" (bacillius thuringiensis kurstaki) to kill gypsy moths.  This pesticide indiscriminately kills any and all butterfly and moth pupae. And unfortunately, the Species at Risk Act offers little protection for endangered butterflies; according to UBC, they are protected only within parkland.  That means that the unique butterflies of British Columbia are, for the most part, on their own.

Klinkenberg, Brian. (Editor) 2012. E-Fauna BC: Electronic Atlas of the Fauna of British Columbia [www.efauna.bc.ca]. Lab for Advanced Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. [September 27, 2012]

Arctic Melt and Ramsar

At the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder Colorado, warning bells have been going off. 

This year's figures have shown a record 18% decrease in Arctic ice compared with 2007. The knock-on effect for the northern hemisphere is huge. 

Julienne Stroece, an ice research scientist with the centre said,

"We can expect more summers like 2012 as the ice cover continues to thin. The loss of summer sea ice has led to unusual warming of the Arctic atmosphere, that in turn impacts weather patterns in the northern hemisphere, that can result in persistent extreme weather such as droughts, heatwaves and flooding," 

Other scientists in the field are predicting that within four years, Arctic ice will have disappeared. Human activity at sea is worsening the situation and we can no longer carry on ignoring the extent and speed of climate change. Sea ice plays a pivotal role in this, reflecting some of the sun's energy and helping to keep the earth's climate cool enough for life - ours and the plants and animals we share our planet with. 

Faced with this worrying trend, author and environmentalist Bill McKibben says,

"Our response has not been alarm, or panic, or a sense of emergency. It has been: 'Let's go up there and drill for oil'. There is no more perfect indictment of our failure to get to grips with the greatest problem we've ever faced."

Exactly. 

In more exciting news, Burns Bog has been given Ramsar designation as part of the newly renamed 'Fraser River Delta' site.

This from Ramsar's own site

"The government of Canada has vastly extended the Alaksen Ramsar Site, first designated in 1982, from 586 hectares to 20,682. The resulting Ramsar Site, now renamed "Fraser River Delta", is formed by six components (Burns Bog, Sturgeon Bank, South Arm Marshes, Boundary Bay, Serpentine, and the former 'Alaksen' Ramsar Site), all in the Metro Vancouver Region and part of the the most important river delta/estuary for fish and birds on the west coast of Canada."

This is something the Burns Bog Conservation Society has been hoping for for a long time. This gives international status to the conservation of the bog. 

Ozone - Let me Count the Cost Saved

Sunday, 16th September, was International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. I did my best to preserve it all day. Well, in all honesty as we all do every day without thinking about it.

So how does it come about that we preserve the ozone layer without thinking and how does it come about there is a day for it?

25 years ago, the Montreal Protocol was signed, and unlike many protocols since then, it has been successful and successful in a measurable way.
And success has been twofold.

Firstly, the ozone layer itself should have recovered from our wanton destruction by 2065 or shortly after. In human terms, this has saved millions of lives globally. But not everyone thinks in terms of human lives, or even globally.

In Canada, we are lucky enough, and caring enough, to have a nationally funded health care system. So it would be possible to put an actual dollar value on how much the nation's health care system has saved over 25 years, because of compliance with the Montreal Protocol.

Secondly, the chemicals which were banned in the protocol, because they destroy the ozone layer, are also greenhouse gases. So this has had a huge impact on climate change.

So my question is this....why can't we have a new protocol or treaty, that draws on the successes of Montreal, that protects peatlands?

Durwood Zaelke, who is president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, says that Montreal was successful because everyone was on board because they consider it fair.

“They consider it fair because it fully implements the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility,’ by providing that the developed countries that first used CFCs start their phase outs first, followed by a grace period of ten years, before the developing countries have to start.” said Zaelke.

“These boots on the ground have made a tremendous contribution to the treaty’s success,” he said. 

So why is there so much resistance to changes now? Why, 25 years on, when we are far more aware of impending environmental disaster and the extent of it, do countries lack the political will to pull together?

Durwood Zaelke comments on the next phase in saving the ozone layer, which would yet again, have a real impact on climate change. 108 countries are supporting this measure, but two giants, China and India are not. 

He says, “The reluctance of these two countries is blocking the world’s single biggest and fastest bite out of the climate problem." 

I don't know what the answer is. I don't know why nations would block measures that will stop the collapse of ecosystems and ultimately our planet. 
But if those nations need dollar value, then that could be expressed fairly simply too. 

We know that Burns Bog, for example, stops flooding and filters air and water. Both of these have an impact on human health and both of these functions would have to be replaced somehow at a cost. 
The health system would similarly be over-stretched dealing with respiratory and other conditions that would result from the bog's disappearance. Burns Bog saves the Province's taxpayers money. So how much do all our natural resources save us? More than we can possibly imagine.

We humans have a lot to answer for. 
And a lot to pay for. 

Spectacular September

A dozen of us struck out Saturday morning for the Last Days of Summer tour, and the sun was certainly smiling down on us.   Led by our Education Coordinator, Janis Hindman, we journeyed through the Delta Nature Reserve, across the boardwalks lovingly built by Society volunteers.  Several of us were bog newbies, including myself, and were grateful for Janis' crash course on methods of identifying the useful, medicinal and edible native species to be found all around us.

Surrounded by salal and and labrador tea, and of course with  the spaghnum underfoot, this was a great opportunity to work on our tans while appreciating the natural beauty of Burns Bog.  We shared foraging techniques, learned for poisonous plants to look out for, and wondered what it would take to make skunk cabbage edible.  (Apparently, the answer is: a lot of work.  I think I'll pass on that one.)

 

While we tried to focus on an ecological investigation of our surroundings, the bustle of nearby Highway 91 did occasionally distract. An excellent question posed by one of the tourgoers was: when (and why) was Highway 91 built?  This one completely stumped me, but I am admittedly a little young to remember that the highway was built just in time for Expo '86.  (Now my historical curiosity is piqued; perhaps there will be more to come on this.) So my mind occasionally wandered, I confess... but the memorial benches which line the boardwalks helped to ground us, and reminded me to give thanks to the day.   

 Wandering through the groves of cedar and hemlock, we were often greeted by passerby; it was a bustling Saturday, with many dog walkers and cyclists also taking tours of their own.   I'm sure many were wondering what our large entourage was up to; though we did field many questions, about the possible presence of beavers or bears.  None were spotted this go around, but you never know about next time.   

Hopefully the Autumn tour in October is equally well-attended, and in equally glorious weather!   If you're interested in joining us and learning what Burns Bog is all about, we'd be glad to see you at 10am on October 20th.   Please get in touch with us at info@burnsbog.org if you're thinking of attending; the tour is only $5, and all proceeds go to supporting the work of the Burns Bog Conservation Society.  

Looking Back at the Summer

August went quickly. It was a month of day camps in the bog. What a superb team we had running them. I couldn't believe how amazing the counsellors were and the volunteers were fantastic too! The camps covered a number of different themes, but the children had fun and they learnt so much about the bog, and just enjoyed being in there.

But the summer also held some disappointments. Several times we had to pull benches out of the bog, it seems that there are people who just don't respect other people or the bog itself. This is such a shame. The trails are quite long and many people, young and old, need to rest before carrying on. And it's not that easy to pull a bench out of peat.
Another disappointment was when one of the day camp counsellors' bike was stolen. This seemed so targeted. The criminal had used a city garbage can to climb over the fence into the locked enclosure. He or she had taken one of three bikes and had  left  most of the counsellor's belongings in a pile.

But despite this, the bog itself never failed to thrill. In a little 'appendix' of Davies Creek, frogs would sit and sun themselves, waiting for bugs to fly close enough to catch. I once saw a Red-sided Garter Snake swimming around and around in this little spot, most likely looking for fattened-up frogs to devour.
Beavers had built a dam across the creek, and it remained there, changing slightly as sticks were added or floated away. The water level went up, but mostly down as August progressed with very little rain.

Birds became quieter as their chicks were fledged and the breeding cycle took a breather.
Sundew appeared along the boardwalk - I was pleased to see this, I feared it may have been trampled out of existence.

And the sphagnum slowly became drier.

And Wally's team of volunteers quietly kept on repairing the boardwalk so that everything that we take for granted in the bog can carry on as usual.