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This Community Conservation Plan for Chaplin,
Old Wives and Reed lakes was prepared as part of Saskatchewan's Important
Bird Area (IBA) Program. In this program, special areas are awarded an
Important Bird Area designation for conservation purposes if the areas
are used by large concentrations of birds, if birds present are at risk,
or if the sites represent intact biomes and their natural bird inhabitants
with restricted ranges.
The IBA Program was launched initially by
BirdLife International in the UK. Today there are BirdLife Partners in over
100 countries. In Canada the national partners are the Canadian Nature
Federation and Bird Studies Canada. In Saskatchewan, the conservation
component of this program is being delivered by Nature Saskatchewan.
Funding partners of the Community Conservation Plan for Chaplin, Old Wives
and Reed lakes include Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development Saskatchewan (CARDS), the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM) and the Canadian Millennium Partnership Program. An IBA dedication ceremony for Chaplin Lake took place in Chaplin on 9 June 2000, as part of Chaplin Tourism Inc. social event. Similar ceremonies are planned for Reed and Old Wives lakes.
Chaplin, Old Wives and Reed lakes lie in a
roughly 16000 km² Wood River watershed in southwestern Saskatchewan.
These lakes and many hundreds of ponds mark the edge of the Missouri Coteau
upland. The diverse aquatic systems ranging from freshwater to saturated
saline water are critical in the lives of many species of shorebirds,
waterfowl and terrestrial species. Shorebirds use the sites briefly to
refuel while en route from their South or Central American wintering areas
to Canadian Arctic breeding grounds. Changes in water quantity and quality
influence this semi-arid ecosystem. In years with average snow and rain,
the characteristically modest precipitation and high evaporation leads to
an alternating wet and dry cycle. In this process invertebrate animals are
available to shorebirds in the shallow waters in which they wade, and in
the soft mud at water's edge.
Chaplin, Old Wives and Reed lakes satisfy the
IBA 'congregatory'and 'threatened' criteria. The lakes are 'globally
significant' for nine species, 'nationally' significant for three and one
'threatened'. In addition to these, there are 12 species for which the site
is prominent. The three IBAs are covered in a combined plan because their
ecosystem is similar, they support similar bird species, they lie in the
same watershed no more than 40 km apart, they face similar conservation
opportunities and challenges, and they have an overlapping community of
people interested in their conservation.
Promising conservation opportunities include a
Bird Trails and other nature tourism initiatives, the Chaplin Lake
Interpretive Centre, the on site operation of Saskatchewan Minerals,
and the range management on Crown and some privately-owned lands. Threats
include year-round survival of the migrating birds involved, water levels,
water quality, botulism, trampling by cattle, predation, invasion by exotic
species, accidents and disturbance.
The objectives that are specified in this plan draw attention to the
importance of these lakes for birds, the objectives discourage any
disruption of the ecosystem,they recognize that these lakes have little
economic value apart form salt mining and brine shrimp harvest, but are
critical for wildlife. The plan brings stakeholders together to chart a
future course and to intervene in the event of future threats. Specific
recommendations involve:
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maintain or enhance native grasslands or other permanent cover and their sustainable uses around the lakes
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strive for equitable distribution of Wood River water flow for
Chaplin and Old Wives lakes, recognizing the urgency of sufficient water for shorebirds at
Chaplin Lake
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use available strategies to maintain or
improve water quality in the Wood River and its tributaries
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facilitate and manage the sustainable
tourism potential in the watershed
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assists schools and other organizations
in quality nature-related education
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continue or increase monitoring of bird
numbers and reproduction, and related ecosystem parameters
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conduct research in those specific areas
that satisfy information needs or relate to future management and potential
threats
INTRODUCTION
This community conservation plan focuses on
Chaplin, Old Wives and Reed lakes, in the mixed-grass ecoregion of
south-central Saskatchewan. Soils in the semi-arid gently undulating
plain are primarily brown soils typical of grasslands, called Chernozems,
a Russian word for the dark-coloured soil of grasslands. The soil parent
material is sandy to gravely loam origionally re-arranged by moving water,
or loam to clay loam glacial till. The watershed subunit includes the Wood
River draining into Old Wives and Chaplin lakes. Primary land use on uplands
is cereal crop production and grazing.
Important bird resouces that
occur on the lakes include large congregations of waterfowl and shorebirds,
and the nationally and provincially endangered Piping Plover (Charadrius
melodus). Beacause of their rich bird resources and urgent conservation
needs, all three lakes are considered globally significant.
Given the critical role which Chaplin,
Old Wives and reed lakes play as a feeding site for migratory birds, the
lakes' ability to provide this function should be protected for bird
conservation. The birds' use of these areas is not an accident. If this
environment is seriouslty altered, the consequences will be most severe
for species that use the lakes for feeding and safety during migration,
and will also negatively affect breeders.
Currently, the lakes provide moulting,
roosting and feeding opportunities for waterfowl, and breeding, roosting
and feeding shorebirds. Effcetive conservation will require considerations
of water levels, land use and ecological monitoring of potential changes
in surrounding areas. Also, naturally occuring outbreaks of botulism
threaten birds and this factor must be studied and managed.
The people of the Wood River watershed exhibit
a apttern of lifestyle and use that is an outcome of complex forces which
often change over time. Such forces include personal choices, social and
economic necessity, and regulations and incentives. Despite an intensively
used agricultural landscape within the watershed, some important portions
of the ecosystem are still shared with the birds - after all, the birds are
still there today.
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