News/Reports
Goosegrass Creek Purpose Statement
See the Full Purpose Statement in this PDF file: Gooseer_ps
The primary role of Goosegrass Creek Ecological Reserve is to protect
a sizeable undisturbed watershed within the southern interior of the province. The ecological reserve is one of only three protected areas in the 120,000 hectare Big Bend Trench Ecosection and contributes to over 35% of protected area representation in this ecosection.
Beyond providing an excellent opportunity to monitor old growth forest ecology and watershed hydrology, the ecological reserve protects a diverse transition between three biogeoclimatic zones. These include low elevation old growth spruce forests to higher levels, where alpine tundra prevails.
Large carnivores, ungulates, small mammals and birds utilize many of these areas and the remote location of the ecological reserve aids in minimizing the effects of human encroachment.
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Known Management Issues |
Response |
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Remote setting and difficult access restricts number of site visits by Parks staff to determine accurate use/ impacts on the ecological reserve. |
Combine trips with Cummins Lake Provincial Park. Reinstate an Ecological Reserve Warden. Interagency liaison (over flights of the area). |
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Potential illegal hunting. |
Check hunting use adjacent to the ecological reserve with appropriate agencies (Conservation Officer Service). Install boundary markers in strategic locations. |
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Adjacent logging has the potential to impact wildlife population/movement (fragmentation). |
Maintain liaison with forest tenure holder. Review forest development plans. |
Representation -ecosection
The majority of the ecological reserve (85%) is situated in the Northern Kootenay Mountains Ecosection with the remainder (15%) in the Big Bend Trench Ecosection. 1 of 3 small areas contributing to the representation of the BBT (0.91% protected province wide). Goosegrass Creek is a major contributor to the protected areas system representation of the BBT ecosection (37% of overall representation). Representation of the NKM is predominately by Glacier (84%) and Mt. Revelstoke (16%) national parks. Goosegrass Creek is a minor contributor to NKM (1.3%).
Diverse representation
within the ecological reserve. Predominately ATun and ESSFwc2. Other subzones are ESSFwcp2, ICHvk1, ICHwk1, and negligible water (4 ha). The ecological reserve’s contribution to each of these ecosystem units is minimal. ESSFwc2 and ICHvk1 representation within the BBT ecosection is exclusive to Goosegrass Creek. Only 13% of ESSFwcp2 is protected province wide. Goosegrass Creek represents 0.37% of this total.
Old growth forest habitat supports grizzly bear (blue listed), wolverine (blue listed)
mountain caribou (red listed). Assessments for other rare values not done.
Suitable for study of forest ecology/hydrology, population dynamics/predator-prey relationships.
Eastern tip of ecological reserve boundary is 4 km from Cummins Lakes Provincial Park (across Kinbasket Reservoir). Potential wildlife corridor.
See the Full Purpose Statement in this PDF file: Gooseer_ps