SOUTHWESTIAN: Naturalist

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Saturday, June 14, 2025

Cypress Hills and Area Naturalist

GeoNotes Cypress Hills and area

Cypress Hills and Area Naturalist

Explore and appreciate the biodiversity in your local area. Become a citizen scientist contributing to biodiversity research by posting your wildlife photos and observations to iNaturalist.org. No degree required.

Topographic map of the Cypress Hills. Source: Cypress Hills Topo Map

Image Source: Treeosix Adventure Parks Download your copy of the Ultimate Map of the Cypress Hills, SK

Source: Cypresshills.ca

Check Road Reports:

Saskatchewan Highway Map

Alberta AMA Highway Map

Orchids

Get Started Resources:

Cypress Hills orchids: https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/ba121898-a1ad-4ce3-9de9-6bdc2b2c7e15/resource/cabd1e90-9ea7-4c84-95a6-b31a947ca577/download/cypress-hills-pp-orchids-checklist.pdf

Cypress Hills Orchids in Colour Images:
https://www.albertaparks.ca/media/6493053/cypress-hills-pp-orchids-checklist.pdf

Cypress Hills Plants:
https://www.npss.sk.ca/docs/2_pdf/Plants_of_Cypress_Hills_Provincial_Park.pdf

Cypress Hills Common Lichens:
https://biodiversity.sk.ca/Docs/Cypress.PDF

Saskatchewan Conservation Data Center (Biodiversity):
https://www.biodiversity.sk.ca/SppList.htm
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS): https://www.itis.gov/

Saskatchewan Wildlife (snakes, birds, insects, wildlife):
https://birdwatchinghq.com/?s=snakes+in+saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Wildflowers: https://www.saskwildflower.ca/native-plant-photos.html

Flora of North America: http://www.efloras.org/flora_page.aspx?flora_id=1

Saskatchewan and North American Insects: https://www.insectidentification.org/insects-by-state.php?thisState=Saskatchewan

Bumble Bees-Calgary: https://prism.ucalgary.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/10a75658-4cda-4570-a899-8ae70407c823/content

North American Bumble Bee Guide: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259460549_Bumble_Bees_of_North_America_An_Identification_Guide

Jeff's Butterfly Page: https://www.jeffpippen.com/butterflies.htm

Butterflies and Moths of North America: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/identify/region

Bug Guide: https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

Insect Identification: https://www.insectidentification.org/

Insects of Alberta: https://www.insectsofalberta.com/main.htm

Cornell Lab: All About Birds: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/

Cypress Hills Birds: https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/9972b06f-615d-4126-a764-6cb06b8fb63d/resource/549f2737-757c-467b-ace3-bf380b0ad3d4/download/aep-birds-cypress-hills-interprovincial-park.pdf

Warbler Cheat Sheet: https://95627.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/95627/Bird%20Academy/FALL%20Cheatsheetsx4%209-5-24.pdf? or try https://dl.allaboutbirds.org/fall-warbler-guide

Gulls and Terns in Canada: https://birdwatchinghq.com/gulls-in-canada/

Laws Gull ID Chart: https://www.johnmuirlaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Laws_Gull_ID.pdf

Gulls-Coastal BC: https://www.birdscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Adult_Gulls.pdf

Gulls: Eastern Canada: https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/eccc/documents/pdf/oiseaux-migrateurs-migratory-bird/eastern-canada-common-gulls-identification-guide-2019.pdf

Gulls-Saskatchewan: https://www.hummingbirdsplus.org/nature-blog-network/gulls-in-saskatchewan/

Cypress Hills Mammals: https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/0e05fd07-1fc7-44c0-a7da-a3c0dd4cb214/resource/43ea8b58-a833-4544-96d1-2eb02cd5c6fb/download/aep-mammals-cypress-hills-interprovincial-park.pdf

Sources:

AlbertaParks.ca; Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park; Orchids Checklist; cypress-hills-pp-orchids-checklist.pdf; Site accessed 6-25-2025.
Cypress Hills Grasslands Destination Area; Interactive Map « Map of CGDA; Site accessed 6-25-2025.
Topographic-map.com; Cypress Hills topographic map, elevation, terrain; Site accessed 6-25-2025.
Treeosix Adventure Parks; Download Map of Cypress Hill Saskatchewan; Map of Cypress Hills Saskatchewan – Treeosix Adventure Parks; Site accessed 6-14-2025.

Charles Kuss

2025

Upadated: 6-25-2025

Saturday, March 13, 2021

FLORA, FAUNA and Holocene (12,000 years to present) paleoclimates

GeoNotes Cypress Hills and area

Lodgepole Pine, Cypress Hills Photo by: Charles Kuss

FLORA, FAUNA

and Holocene (12,000 years to present) paleoclimates

The Cypress Hills cover an area of approximately 2500 sq km, rise sharply from the north and west, and gradually drop back to the plains towards the south and east. They form a divide where the southern slope drains into the Gulf of Mexico and the northern slope drains into the Hudson Bay. They are an anomaly on the flat plains with an average elevation of 760 m around Maple Creek and rise to 1467 m at their highest point at the “Head of the Mountain” in Alberta. This is the highest point between the Torngat Mountains at the northern tip of Labrador and the Rocky Mountains. The highest point in Saskatchewan is approximately 8 km WSW of Fort Walsh near the Alberta border with an elevation of 1393 m.

There are two natural regions in the Cypress Hills: a foothills climate variation similar to that of the Rocky Mountains, a fescue grassland, and a mixed-grass sub-region that includes wetlands consisting of ponds, marshes, swamps, and peatlands. The vegetation is about 50% grassland, 45% woodland, and 5% wetland. The northern hill slopes generally have more moisture than the drier southern slopes.

The Cypress Hills forest is an ice age remnant of an ambiguous Boreal Forest that once extended along the ice front from the plains to the Rocky Mountains roughly 14,000 years ago. As the climate warmed and became drier, grasses took over the plains, leaving an isolated remnant of the original forest in the higher wetter, and cooler elevations of the Cypress Hills.

An interesting research of the West Block nunatak questioned if any late Pleistocene biota relics survived the deep freezing of the Wisconsin ice age. It was surmised that the Cypress Hills flora and fauna came into the hills after the deglaciation, replacing the tundra vegetation that is now absent. However, the researchers did conclude, because of their very limited dispersal, that two species may be relics of the nunatak that served as a refugium. The two species are the land snail (Oreohelix strigosa stantoni Dall) and the ~3mm blind, wingless, and slightly pigmented rove beetle (Omalonomus relictus) that lives in the soil.

Paleoclimate researchers found the Cypress Hills of SW Saskatchewan and SE Alberta to be a key area for Quaternary (2.6 million years to present) research. The permanent lakes and coniferous forests provide abundant paleoenvironmental proxies that can be obtained and applied to the surrounding area where these proxies are not available. Examples of paleoenvironmental proxies are the growth rates in tree rings and the pollen in lake sediments that can be used to determine species composition.

The Holocene paleoclimate sequence for the Cypress Hills has been derived from sedimentary data from Harris Lake, about 10 km NNW of Fort Walsh, with a continuous 9120-year sedimentary record. Although the lake is in the West Block and the sedimentary history is more indicative of the western Cypress Hills, the information obtained can be generalized and applied to the entire Cypress Hills and surrounding area to give an idea of past climates. Here is a summarized timeline of the paleoclimate proxies collected from the Harris Lake sediments (Sauchyn, 1993):

9120-7700 years before present (abbreviated BP), presence of aspen forests, relatively stable landscape.

9000 BP, very few conifers.
7700-5000 BP, Holocene climate maximum, i.e., the warmest time in the past 12,000 years. A warm period dominated by grassland and saline tolerant vegetation, e.g., chokecherries, pussy willows, asters, prairie cinquefoil.
7500-5500 BP periods of hypersalinity. Saline soils develop in hot arid and semiarid climates with less than 25 cm of annual rainfall. Areas with shallow water tables can also develop saline soils as the water evaporates and concentrates the salts.

Lodgepole pine and White spruce are very low in numbers. Mostly wind and water erosion.
From 5000 BP onward, the climate began to deteriorate, colder, and wetter. Increase in conifer and aquatic plants.
4600 BP, the characteristic Lodgepole pine and White spruce became established and have been around since.
4500-3600 BP, maximum Holocene humidity, i.e., the moistest time in the past 12,000 years. Major forest expansion, low salinity, landslides common, and an increase in sediment deposition into the lake.
3000-2400 BP, a cool period with less organic matter entering the lake, coincides with

global glacial expansion including the glacial advances in the Canadian Rockies around 3000-2500 BP.
Since 2400 BP, climate is similar to today. The Cypress Hills tree line has and does fluctuate, and landslides have occurred during more extreme moist periods. An example is the 1967 massive slide on the south side of Battle Creek near Police Point.

Today, the Cypress Hills forest consists of two main coniferous species and has changed little since 3230 BP (Sauchyn, 1993). Lodgepole pine, usually found in the Rocky Mountain regions, is unique to the prairies and grows at elevations above 1281 m in drier areas on the Center and West Block. The second main conifer is the White spruce, found in cool, moist areas near springs on north-facing slopes. Aspen, poplar, and balsam poplar are common deciduous trees.

Lodgepole pine characterizes the uniqueness of the Cypress Hills on the prairies. Photo: Charles Kuss

In 1886 and 1889, a major forest fire burned through the park, where occasional trunks with black charcoal sections are still visible today. In 1934, another major fire burned near Willow Creek on the Alberta side of the park. On the Saskatchewan side, near the end of August and early September 2022, a fire in the central block area burned several acres of forest.

The Cypress Hills are home to 729 native trees, shrubs, flowering plants and 28 ferns and fern-like species. There are more than 18 species and 2 varieties of orchids, with the possibility of more to be discovered. Some orchids are rare elsewhere in Canada, but abundant in the Cypress Hills.

Of the native trees in the Cypress Hills, there isn’t a single cypress tree. Cypress trees grow in somewhat warmer, moist climates (AgCan hardiness zone 5 and up) and do not grow in the cooler, drier climates of the hills or surrounding prairies. Nor were the hills named after anyone. The origin of the ‘cypress’ in the hills is uncertain, but it does appear to have a French connection. The early French Canadian explorers and fur traders loosely called any evergreen tree ‘les cypres’ or the cypress, and the Metis called the hills ‘les montagnes des cypres’ or the mountains of cypress.

The bird population is equally as diverse as the flora, with 220 bird species recorded either as permanent residents or seasonal visitors.

The mammal population consists of at least 48 species, including beavers, muskrats, weasels, mink and bats.

With the 19^th and early 20^thcentury influx of European settlers, the big game animal populations along with smaller game mammals and birds became greatly reduced in numbers. Predators that were competing with humans for food or were harassing and killing livestock were killed resulting in the extirpation (local extinction) of cougars, wolves, and grizzlies. Some of the mammal, bird, and fish species were later reintroduced into the Cypress Hills to repopulate the original extirpated species.

The following timeline contains interesting wildlife trivia collected from various sources that also apply to the Cypress Hills:

In early 1876, the American bison disappeared from the Cypress Hills, and in 1890, they became protected by the Canadian government. The bison live only in North America and look similar to the buffalo early American settlers saw in Asia and Africa, thus calling them “buffalo”.

Before the European settlers arrived, 30-60 million bison roamed across the North American Great Plains. With the US and the Canadian government’s disregard for the indigenous communities that had relied heavily on the bison for food, clothing, and shelter for many thousands of years, and the decline of the beaver and fur trade industry, hunters turned their attention toward the bison. The shameless, ruthless hunting tactics, mainly in the US, during the mid-1870s of taking the hide and leaving the carcass to rot, led to an almost complete decimation of the animal in a few short years. In 1893, only 400 animals remained, and it’s from these numbers, and through careful conservation and land management on both sides of the border, that the bison numbers began to slowly grow to the 500,000 animals in North America today.

Bison once roamed across the prairies and throughout the Cypress Hills. Stories of vast herds of Bison migrating through the area left local vegetation devastated and watering holes polluted. Photo: Charles Kuss

Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan in 1878. Notice the lack of trees. Tree growth was hindered by the millions of roaming buffalo. Image: Fort Walsh National Historic Site

Fort Walsh in 2017. Notice the tree growth. Image: Charles Kuss

From three million bison to 300 in 50 years, during the mid-to-late 19th century. A US site. Source: Google Images

In 1890, the last plains grizzly bear was shot in the Cypress Hills. Before that, the grizzlies were common on the Great Plains of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and into Montana and the Dakotas. The Cypress Hills may have been their last refuge. The plains grizzly is the same species that roams in northern Canada and the Rockies today. Since grizzly bears conflict with established settlements, a study concluded their reintroduction is not feasible.

Once common, the last plains grizzly in the Cypress Hills was shot in 1890. Image: Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Between 1890-1925, mountain lions or cougars disappeared. Cougar sightings have again been reported in the Cypress Hills in the 1990s, but not confirmed until 2006 when three cougars were captured on a wildlife camera and a family of three was caught in coyote snares just outside the park. In 2014, about 28 pairs of cougars were spotted by wildlife authorities.

A three-year cougar study in the Cypress Hills from 2007-2009 involving the use of GPS radio collars, wildlife cameras, and snow tracking found 6.5-8.25 cougars/100 sq km, one of the highest densities reported anywhere. The study also found that cougars tend to stay close to a forested or wooded cover and rarely wander into the grasslands. The same study in 2008-2009 fitted 6 adult cougars with GPS locators and found 301 kill sites consisting of the following diet: < 1% cat, bird, and beaver; 2% coyote and moose; 3% porcupine; 15% Elk; and 77% deer of which 70% were whitetail deer and 7% mule deer. Although cougars have been killed by ranchers outside the park boundaries, there is no evidence as yet that the predator attacks cattle (Bacon, Boyce, 2010).

People are also reasonably safe since cougars shy away from humans. Across North America, between the years 1890-2000, there have been 96 cougar attacks reported resulting in about 20 deaths with most of the fatalities on Vancouver Island.

Cougars are known by over 40 different names worldwide. The most common names are cougar, mountain lion, puma, and panther. Cougars (Puma concolor) are not part of the Panthera genus. Panther is used loosely to describe many big cats of the Felidae family. The Panthera genus consists of tigers, lions, jaguars, and leopards.

Cougars disappeared from the Cypress Hills between 1890-1925, and have since made a comeback. Image: Skeeze from Pixabay

In the early part of the 20th-century ringneck pheasant and grey partridge were reintroduced.
1909 elk disappeared and reintroduced in 1938.
1920 ruffed grouse reintroduced
1924 Brown Trout restocked
1925 wolves disappeared.

Wolves disappeared in 1925 from the Cypress Hills and area. Image: David Mark from Pixabay

1955 red squirrels reintroduced.
1956 moose reintroduced.

Male moose. Image: PublicDomainImages from Pixabay

1962 wild turkeys were introduced.
1983 Swift foxes reintroduced.
1986 Martens reintroduced.

The Cypress Hills are also home to several species of fish, 13 species of reptiles and amphibians, approximately 100 species of butterflies, moths, and a diverse insect population.