Just north west of Fort St John, BC,  lies Charlie Lake. From the southern tip of this lake runs Fish Creek. Fish creek is a small creek that runs approximately 14 km, flowing first south east and then turning northeast to flow in to the Beatton River. I have chosen to observe a roughly 2.5 km section of the creek about 3/4 of the way along it’s path towards the Beatton River (Google Maps, 2019). The above measurements are very rough estimates.

In the area I have chosen for study, Fish Creek snakes its way through a rather steep gully. I visited the area on 19-11-17 at approximately 1510 until 1630. It was unusually warm for November at 9 degrees Celsius. It was quite windy (I guessed it was 30 km/hr gusting 50 km/hr out of the south west) but sunny. I will try to remember to bring my Kestrel next time to get a more accurate weather reading.

On the south facing bank of the gully itself the flora is predominantly grassy with some smaller shrubs, most likely Prickly Rose (Rosa acicularis). At the top of the slope on that south facing side there stands mostly Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides). Behind that lies farmed crop fields (these fields will not be included in my study as they are private land). At the bottom of both sides of the gully, directly adjacent to the creek, there are flat, sort of swampy areas with Prickly Rose and what I am pretty sure is Blue Wildrye (Emlymus glaucus), though it is hard to tell at this time of year, and a “willow” shrub that I do not know the name of, though it has been on my list of plants to learn for a while now. What I do know is that moose love it as a forage. I have observed in many other locations the tops of this shrub neatly snipped off by the big mammals.  The north facing slope is predominantly a stand of mature White Spruce (Picea glauca) with the odd Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) and Trembling Aspen. The under story is mostly Blue Wildrye and Prickly Rose (making it somewhat unpleasant to walk through). There are pockets of Trembling Aspen stands on mid slope benches. At the top of the north facing slope there is a band of mixed trees, though most are Trembling Aspen. Behind this there lies a golf course. I will be including this grassy course in my study area as I access the Fish Creek gully (which is Crown Land) via the public path through the golf course. I access the lower part of the gully via a pipeline right of way that runs straight down the north facing bank and then up the south facing bank on the far side. The right of way is open grass with some White Spruce regeneration.

One observation I noted was the difference in apparent slope instability between the north facing and south facing slopes. There is fairly abundant evidence of slides and slope instability on the south facing slope at all levels. On the north facing slope, there is considerably less, though still some evidence down low. Perhaps this has to do with the north facing slope having a gentler pitch and mid level benches? Perhaps the presence of White Spruce provides better stability? Maybe because snow melts faster due to sun exposure on south facing slopes (Williams, 2018) the slope becomes saturated and is more prone to slide? I would be very curious to look in to the relation between the south facing slope and its apparent instability.

I saw one Common Raven (Corvus corax), but no other live animals. I have seen many Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) in the general area and was therefore surprised to not see any on this visit. I find these little squirrels very endearing and will be keeping an eye open down there for them. What do they do in the winter in this area? Do they prefer the White Spruce to the Trembling Aspen? Do they prefer the slopes or the flat lands? I imagine that they go in to hibernation for the winter months, but I do not actually know that for a fact.

In the grass land up top, I observed (and have many times in the past while in the area walking my dogs) heavy traffic by Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus), as evidenced by their hoof prints in the snow. I was expecting to follow their trail all the way down the pipeline right of way to the bottom of the gully and then along the creeks edge. They did not appear to go all the way down though, and I am not sure at which point they veered from the right of way. This is a question that I am very interested in researching. What are the winter traffic patterns of Mule Deer in the area? Where do they bed down? Where do they feed? Do they prefer the open south facing slopes to the flat golf course? How does snow pack affect their behavior? I chose my area of study knowing that Mule Deer frequent the area and will likely base my research on their patterns in this area, where man-made field meets forest and gully.

I also noticed several Canine tracks in the snow on the pipeline and down at the bottom of the gully. There were many sets of tracks, traveling along the creek’s edge and crisscrossing it. There appeared to be different size of tracks. Perhaps Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) or Coyote (Canis latrans)? I am confident they are not some one’s dog as the area in the gully has no paths or human traffic (aside from me) evident. I am interested to understand more about these canine’s travel patterns though the area. It would be interesting to find out if they prefer to run over the frozen creek (when it does freeze), or on the flats beside the creek. Does snow depth or slope have an effect? Does the presence of these canine’s affect the Mule Deer in the area?

I have started these observations at a good time of year as the season is shifting from fall to winter. I will be using this seasonal change to help me focus my study.

Sources:

Google Maps. (2019). Retrieved November 20, 2019, from https://www.google.com/maps/@56.278364,-120.8526553,7633m/data=!3m1!1e3

Williams, D. (2018). Differences Between North- and South-Facing Slopes. Retrieved November 20, 2019 from https://sciencing.com/differences-between-north-southfacing-slopes-8568075.html