The Alder Grove Regional Park - Essay Example

The Alder grove Regional Park Abstract This poster provides an insight into the geology and geomorphology of the Alder grove Regional Park (ARP) located in the heart of Fraser Valley. An overview of the regional glacial and ground water history of the park is also highlighted. Also emphasized is the Pepin Brook water channel, its flow characteristics including the velocity and type of channel pattern. The poster gives information on the origin, size and volume of the big rock in the Alder grove Regional Park. The Alder grove Regional Park The Alder grove Regional Park (ARP) is located in the middle of Fraser Valley straddling the municipal boundary of the City of Abbotsford and Township Langley. A range of recreational opportunities are provided by the park and the main one is, the opportunity of hosting overnight events. The ARP preserves significant cultural resources, supports conservation and research projects for endangered and threatened species and provides a wetland habitat along the Pepin Brook corridor. In 2012, ARP hosted 342,000 visitors and the main attraction was the 11.8km of trails which are common for jogging, walking, equestrian and cycling use. A recreational section in Aldergrove Park Alder Grove Park consists of 280 hectares of secondary growth forests, meadows, wetlands, and fields. The current program and facilities of ARP have evolved over time. This evolvement is in response to the demand of the public for basic access, influences like community initiatives, pre-existing amenities, and gravel extraction. A management process was initiated in 2011 to clarify the program of the park, its services, conservation and priorities for development for a period of 20years. Geomorphology The rural setting, with a surrounding landscape dominated by active farming interspersed with recreational, industrial and residential land uses characterize Alder Grove Regional Park. Mushroom barns, livestock operations, annual crops, berry crops, pasture, and vineyard are dominant on the landscape. Industries situated in the vicinity of the park include; soil medium operations, waste transfer site, the former landfill and gravel extraction operations. The rich agricultural landscape located in the watersheds of Pepin, Fish trap, and Bertrand Creek give way to suburban and urban areas of the City of Abbotsford and Township of Langley. Pepin Brook is a noteworthy figure in Alder Grove Region Park but its prominence on the park’s landscape is lost at the boundary where it is ditched on the southern side of the Canadian border while its upper reaches are impacted by land uses. Visual connections from the mountain backdrop of the southern Cascade Mountains Mount Baker being included and the North Coast Mountains to the upper plateau define the sense of place inside the wider scenery. Sweeping views from the Nooksack prairie to the southern slopes emphasize the border between the farmed lowlands and forested uplands. This makes apparent the motive behind the Aldergrove community being branded ‘The Place Between’. The Pepin Brook Creek The Pepin Brook Creek cuts across the park and offers rearing and spawning habitat for fish like threatened Nooksack dace, salmonids and endangered Salish sucker. The most heavily used parks are the Aldergrove Bowl and Day-use area. The Pepin Brook Creek is important to Pepin Brook’s health, the health of associated wetlands and its tributaries. Pepin Brook contains the biggest section of intact riparian forest, a big number of the aquatic habitat and spawning riffles that are not subjected to low oxygen in summer. The lower section of Pepin Brook is dominated by reed canary grass which has reduced habitat values due to their high competitive nature in comparison to native plants. Flow Characteristics of Pepin Brook Stream Pepin Brook is a second order stream located in Fraser Valley and flows into Nooksack River (Pearson and Healey 2003 pp. 765). Its base flow (mean August discharge) is 0.171 0.035 m3.s1 (mean SD). The mean January flow exceeds 1.5 3. s1. In summer, Pepin Brook is mainly fed by the groundwater and the water temperatures hardly surpass 16C or fall below 2C. The stream has a mean depth of 1.2m, 2m wide an approximate current velocity of 10 cm. s1. At the downstream end of the marsh is an approximately 45m by 30m single open water pond with thick vegetation and submerged macrophytes. Downstream and upstream of the marsh, the creek runs through a swamp and water reaches a depth of 100cm. According to Pearson and Healey (2003) the flow of the water is slow and is occasionally locked up by beaver dams; cattails and grass are replaced by thick tree cover. Pepin Brook in Aldergrove Lake Regional Park Deglaciation Glaciers began melting about 12000 years ago and as a result meltwater ran off and at the bottom ice carried with it enormous amounts of gravel and sand deposits which were later left behind when the glacier’s margins retreated. The flow and ebb of deglaciation are the main reason for the great quantities of gravels that formed the south Aldergrove’s topography. About 15000 years ago the Aldergrove Park was covered with ice to a depth of 1.6 km. The Cordilleran Ice Sheet covers North America from Rocky Mountains west and from Puget Sound north to the Pacific Coast. Very useful ice flow direction indicators are the glacial erratic transport paths, crag and tail features, striated paths and drumlins. Geological History Biologist Mike Pearson views that the geological history of Aldergrove Park is not only by the rocks but also the fish that live in Pepin Creek. The critically imperiled Salish sucker and Nooksack dace are the Ice Age’s swimming relics. These fish thrived in the unglaciated area south of Puget Sound when the Lower Mainland was under ice cover. Retreat of glacier resulted in the small fish travelling to the north through the water from the melting glacier to Canadian streams. Currently, Salish Sucker world distribution is only in a small number of streams in the Aldergrove/Langley area. The Big Rock The Aldergrove Erratic or the Big Rock is an indication of the dynamic nature of the processes of the earth. Spurgeon and Turner (geologists) claim that the big rock moved with the ice’s movement from the Manning/Hope Park area and fell through the ice to its current location. This is believed to have happened during the deglaciation process.According to Turker and Spurgeon (2010) the big rock is 40feet by 36 feet (12m by 10.8m) at the base and 26 feet (8m) tall. The approximate weight of the rock is 3500 tons (3,175,130kg). The rock is situated in Aldergrove, British Columbia, approximately half a mile north of the border between US and Canada. The Big Rock is a conglomerate formation with rounded pebbles of igneous rocks. It is part of the Jack mass Mountain Group, and the main indicator of this source is the igneous pebbles in the conglomerate. The big rock in Alder grove Park References Christie, Jack,Find astronomy and more in Aldergrove Regional Park, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.straight.com/life/696121/find-astronomy-and-more-aldergrove-regional-park Mike Pearson& Hearley Michael,Life-History Characteristics of the Endangered Salish Sucker (Catostomus sp.)and Their Implications for Management. The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists,2003(4) pp. 759–768. Retrieved from: file:///C:/Users/East%20African%20Copper/Desktop/Pepin%20Brook%20River.pdf Turker Dave & Spurgeon Terry,The Aldergrove, BC, erratic, a.k.a. ‘Big Rock’ 2010. Read More