Cypress Hills Refugia
Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA), along with a host of experts and other ENGOs [1], visited Cypress Hills Provincial Park on the weekend of June 6-8 to conduct a bioblitz.[2] The photos/audio clips from the survey are being uploaded to a project page on iNaturalist [3] to aid identification and for data analysis. The goal is to create a publicly accessible report of the current biodiversity that can be found in the Alberta section of the park.
Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park
Located in SE Alberta/SW Saskatchewan
As the Executive Director of AWA, I feel that it is vitally important for our organisation, and our staff, to have some field time. The work we do can be extremely challenging, particularly considering the current government of Alberta policies that put economic gain at the forefront, despite their impacts to the environment. Being in nature reminds us why we fight to protect it.
The event included four presentations from experts:
Cypress Hills Natural History and Ecology (Cam Goater and Kevin Floate)
Geology of Cypress Hills (Dale Leckie)
Invasive Species (Kallum McDonald)
Native Bees (Ilan Domnich)
These talks were all appreciated by the participants.
Ruiping Luo, Lindsey Wallis and I represented AWA.[4] We also hired Cameron Hunter [5] to do some photography/videography for the event to ensure we had sufficient media content for our report.
On Sunday we held several hikes for the public and a tabling event which included information from AWA, Alberta Native Plant Council, Alberta Native Bee Council, Dale Leckie, Alberta Community Bat Program, and Cam Goater (including a display of zombie ants). Despite the cold weather on Saturday and very windy conditions on Sunday, it was a very successful bioblitz. At the time of my posting, more than 1000 observations had already been uploaded to the project page.
I would like to thank Alberta Parks who provided our experts with access and accommodation within the park for this important initiative. A big thank you also goes out to all the experts that attended, uploaded images and/or helped out with identifying species. AWA hopes to have a completed report published by the Spring of 2026.
[1] See the AWA page for Cypress Hills here: https://albertawilderness.ca/issues/wildlands/areas-of-concern/cypress-hills/
[2] A bioblitz is a rapid and intense survey over a (generally) short period (24-72 hours) that aims to identify as many species as possible within a prescribed area. It creates a snapshot in space and time of the biodiversity of the region surveyed.
[3] Cypress Hills Bioblitz 2025 - https://inaturalist.ca/projects/cypress-hills-bioblitz-2025
[4] https://albertawilderness.ca/about-us/staff-and-board/
[5] Cameron Hunter - https://www.cameronghunter.ca/
