Throughout history, humans have interacted with grassland ecosystems causing change. For thousands of years before European settlement, the grassland ecosystems provided food, clothing, fuel, and shelter for aboriginal people. From the 1800s through the 1900s, the grasslands provided forage to support livestock for growing communities and the building of BC’s ranching industry. Today, pressures from population growth are impacting our remaining grasslands.
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Development
An additional 70,000 individuals are predicted to move into the Central Okanagan over the next 20 years. Steady growth is also predicted for the North Okanagan, Thompson and Nicola regions. As communities grow, they expand onto adjacent remaining grasslands. Housing and development results in loss of the grassland land base, and fragmentation of remaining grassland parcels impeding wildlife travel and isolating populations. Urban sprawl is only part of the problem - fragmentation of grassland for development of recreational properties, resorts or other tourism developments also impact grasslands. Along with community growth and development on the grassland, comes increased recreation on the remaining adjacent grassland parcels.
Mapping currently underway by the GCC will show the location and extent of remaining priority grassland areas. With development pressure on remaining natural ecosystem being intense and increasing, this mapping information will be of use to local governments struggling to find a balance between managing growth and protecting natural values. The majority of land use decisions in areas of human settlement are made at the local government level, and local governments have been empowered in recent years to enact legislation to protect sensitive ecosystems within their jurisdictions.
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Recreation
The grasslands of BC offer great opportunities for recreation, from bird watching to all terrain vehicle (ATV) use. In more recent years, mountain biking through grasslands near communities has increased. For all users that travel off trails, or build new networks of trails, impacts on the grassland ecosystem are realized. Soil disturbance and trampled microbiotic crust lead to erosion, weed infestations, and reduced forage production. Some recreational uses have minimal impact on the grassland ecosystem, but heavy foot or mechanical traffic can cause changes to the cryptogrammic crust, individual plants and animals, and ultimately threaten plant communities.
Grassland recreation is becoming increasingly popular as more people settle in grassland communities. Well-managed recreational activities can minimize impacts to sensitive grasslands and the species they support. In order to ensure that grasslands are used in a sustainable manner, recreationists must take responsibility for grassland stewardship and adopt appropriate management practices. The GCC in partnership with the Ministry of Environment developed the Best Management Practices for Recreational Activities on Grasslands in the Thompson and Okanagan Basins document. Developed with input form more than 40 organizations, this comprehensive code of practices was created by the user, for the user.
Agriculture
Cultivation of the native plant communities in grasslands results in loss of natural values and long-lasting modification of soil and plant ecosystem function. In the later 1800s and early 1900s, significant acreages of grasslands were cultivated by European settlers. Many acreages remain in hay production throughout the 1900s to support the ranching industry by producing winter feed. Increasing agricultural pressures on the remaining grassland parcels throughout the Southern and Central Okanagan is realized for orchard and vineyard production. Much of the grassland landscape dominated by antelope brush in the South Okanagan is known to be also ideal for grape production. Most remaining grassland parcels in this region are fragmented, limiting their values for threatened wildlife populations.
Fire
Fire, or the absence of fire, has affected the extent of BC grasslands. First Nations peoples used fire to remove brush for improving travel and attracting wild game to new growth. By the late 1960s, the BC Forest Service had effectively began to control large wildfires. With the absence of fire the forest vegetation is creeping into the grasslands and replacing the bunchgrass with Douglas fir and lodgepole pine.
Before European contact, interior forests and grasslands experienced frequent, low intensity fires, possibly every five to 20 years, many probably set by the native inhabitants. In the twentieth century, preventing fires was taken more seriously because of the economic value of forests, ranches and the increasing threat to public safety.
The GCC supports a balanced approach to restoring and maintaining grassland and dry open forest ecosystems. The GCC’s position with respect to fire as a management tool is as follows:
Fire science should continue to improved our understanding of the historic role of fires in BC and simulate as much as feasible, its past role in restoring and maintaining our grasslands and dry open forests.
To learn more about ecological systems, click a link below.
Plant Response to Grazing
Plant Communities
Grazing Animals
Grassland Monitoring
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