Elk behaviour project 

A University of Alberta project will study elk in Jasper this winter. The project will document how the behaviour of individual elk varies within elk herds, and the management implications of that variation. This study will increase our understanding of elk that become habituated to humans and present a risk to public safety and thus will focus on elk in the Three Valley Confluence, the area of highest potential for human-elk conflict. This project is the first comprehensive study of personality in any wild ungulate, and so may yield information useful for the management and conservation of other ungulates such as deer and caribou.  

The study involves determining whether an elk has a bold or shy personality by examining its behaviour. Passive observation, testing the elk’s  responses to pedestrians and using remote cameras to record which elk are bold enough to visit “novel objects,” are some approaches used to rate the elk on a bold-shy scale. Eight to 10 experimental sites will be set up in elk habitat surrounding town. While the sites will not be on roads and human trails, off-trail hikers may encounter one of the study sites. These sites will consist of a sealed container of hay that will attract but not feed the elk and an accompanying large object chosen to attract the attention of elk. The “novel object” might be a bright-coloured bike frame, a large blue recycling bin with flagging tape or a sawhorse with a flapping Canada flag. These objects will be surrounded by four fence rails with sticky tape and barbed wire to gather loose hair from elk pressing against the rails. This hair will be examined to determine variations in diet quality and stress hormones. These sites will be quite obvious and clearly signed, so please leave them undisturbed.

A final component of this study will include a structured experiment using the “hazing” methods Parks Canada staff currently uses to move elk out of town. University researchers will haze elk in and around the townsite and record individual elk responses to different hazing methods. Researchers involved in these hazing sessions will be using vehicles marked with both U of A and Parks Canada logos. While Parks Canada is supporting the logistics of this project, it is funded by the Alberta Conservation Association, Alberta Sport Recreation, Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Canadian Circumpolar Institute, Animal Behaviour Society, and National Sciences and Engineering Research Council. For more information, please contact PhD student and project leader Rob Found by e-mail at found@ualberta.ca

Youth Ambassador program recruiting

This past summer, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Parks Canada Youth Ambassador program was created as a legacy to commemorate the first visit to Canada by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. 

The Ambassador program will offer young Canadians the opportunity to meet and interact with people their age and share their excitement and interest for the environment, history, and culture, and to live new challenges not found anywhere else. They will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn new career-building skills and to visit some of Canada’s most interesting and beautiful places.

Parks Canada is looking for people who can share their experiences to create a national conversation about Canada’s treasured places. Interested applicants must demonstrate leadership, good citizenship, community involvement, and an ability to find creative and innovative ways to engage their peers. They will inspire other young people to discover the best that Canada has to offer.

The program will accept its first participants as full-time summer student employees in May of 2012 and a Canada-wide search has started to find the two young Canadians who will be the first-ever youth ambassadors for the world’s longest-running national parks service. 

Parks Canada is partnering with Global Vision to help recruit the first youth Ambassadors for this new flagship youth initiative. Global Vision is a respected non-profit organization which has been developing young Canadians into global leaders since 1991. They have an established record for engaging Canadian youth and supporting the development of these youth.

Youth who are interested in becoming a Parks Canada Youth Ambassador can visit www.globalvision.ca to learn more on the steps to becoming Parks Canada’s first youth ambassadors.