Keifer Ecological Services

• Kinbasket Reservoir Revegetation Program
• Arrow Lakes Reservoir Revegetation Program
• Silviculture, Wildfire and Forest Stand Effects on Huckleberries
• Spalding’s Campion Inventory and Habitat Assessment
• MOE Elder Creek Prescribed Burn
• Spatial and Quality Attributes of Culturally Important Plants
• Rare Plant Propagation and Restoration, Waneta Expansion Project
• Whitebark and Limber Pine Restoration in BC
• Impact of Accelerated Timber Harvesting on NTFPs
• Aberfeldie Channel and Revegetation Program
• Effects of Mountain Pine Beetle on NTFRs
• Revegetation of Disturbed Wetlands in Westpath Expansion Area
• Managing Saskatoon and other Traditionally Important Plants
• Invasive Plant Inventories at Provincial Parks
• Profile of NTFRs in the Cascade Forest District
• Invasive Species Mitigation Practices after Forest Management Activities
• Ethnobotanical Inventory, Invermere
• Reconnaissance Level Wetland Testing on TaTa/Skookumchuck Range
• Revegetation Monitoring - Kootenay 230 kV System Transmission Line
• Cultural Plants of the Creston Wetlands
• Morels in the East Kootenay, BC

Cultural Plants of the Creston Wetlands

Little was recorded of the Creston wetlands vegetation prior to the diking of the Kootenay River and the drainage of many of the valley’s wetlands.  Ethobotanical information for this project originates from oral history interviews of Lower Kootenay Band (LKB) members from 1997-2004 and also informal field surveys by Michael Keefer during the period of the interviews.  The master list from the accession was reduced to only include plants known or believed to have been used by the LKB and that should be expected to have occurred within the wetlands. 

When one considers the impacts of flood control within the valley they should also consider the impacts of the Libby Dam in Montana, together they form a potent change to the wetlands.  Prior to the implementation of flood control measures, the Kootenay River occupied much of its floodplain and dumped a rich load of alluvium on an annual basis that helped sustain the wetland system.  The combination of the damming of upstream tributaries and the diking of the wetlands curtailed the annual flooding of the valley and has led to major changes in the ecosystem.  Plants such as reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea), quackgrass (Agropyron repens) and cattail (Typa latifolia) are well adapted to the new regime and have become dominant species of the floodplain.

The loss of the annual water table fluctuations likely strongly favoured the cattail and reed canarygrass over the tule (Shoenoplectus spp.).  Both the cattail and tule were formerly important cultural plant species.

Testimony from Lower Kootenay Band elder’s supports that the wetlands were once the ‘breadbasket’ of the valley providing abundant plant, fish and wildlife resources.  A keystone food plant that is now largely extirpated is the wapato (Sagitaria latifolia & S. cunneata or ?awisi in Ktunaxa).  The ?awisi was, until the draining of the wetlands, perhaps the key carbohydrate food resource to the LKB.  It is now found only occasionally through the valley and not in suitable quantities to use as a food resource.  The remnant wetlands are now currently wetted through much of the year making the traditional method of harvesting in mucky shallows with bare feet impractical. 

Another key plant that is now difficult to locate in the wetlands is the water parsnip (Sium suave), this species was well known as an important plant food and medicine, was widespread and is now difficult to find.

Along with the true wetland species above it is believed that the wetlands also contained significant stands of riparian cottonwood forest that contained a diversity of understory species.  The American highbush cranberry (Viburnum opulus) may be found occasionally in these remnant stands, according to the Elder’s this species was once far more abundant in the valley.  Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), Indian hemp (Apocynum cannibinum) once were commonly available but now have highly restricted ranges in the valley (Chris Luke pers. com 2009).