A tribute to Ray Coupe

Ray Coupe : A man of adventure, leadership, land ethic and dedication.

After 36 years with the Forest Service, January 31st 2011 will be Ray Coupe's last day as a full-time BC Government employee. I am thankful to have crossed paths with Ray a couple years ago on the top of Nonda Mountain in the heart of the Northern Rockies. Since that time, Ray has contributed a huge amount to my learning of ecology, plants and ecosystem dynamics. I find it hard to believe that the Government could possibly think that it would be the right decision to make his position "redundant" as I am sure there are many across BC who will echo my words when I say that what Ray brings not only to what used to be called the Forest Service, but also to all Natural Resource managers and even more so to the scientific community, public and land stewards of British Columbia, is impossible to quantify.

Ray Coupe's vast knowledge is a vital asset to all of us across the entire province of British Columbia. Redundant would be the very last word on a 100 paged list that I would use to describe the critical role that Ray has played in what used to be called the Forest Service. One person's loss is another person's gain and it is my great honour, pleasure and delight to have Ray as a member of our Range and Fire Ecology Research Team in North East British Columbia. His expertise, wisdom, professionalism and dedication to helping and mentoring others is beyond any call to duty that we have as public servants. I am in awe of your selfless, generous and kind donations of your time to the Forest Service and to me and I know both of those will continue long into the future! Thank you for all you do!! Ray Coupe - you're one heck of a guy and I'm glad you're on my team! See you in the North Country this summer ( I hope $$) and I solemnly promise this to you: no more daubenmaire frames!!!! Onwards and upwards my friend! Here's to you!

Ray Coupe : The Botanist.

Ray Coupe : The Nevis Creek dancer.

Ray Coupe : The knower of all plants!

Monkshood

Ray Coupe : The Daubenmaire demon!

Ray Coupe : An intelligent and skilled team member!

Ray Coupe : The Chef!

Ray Coupe : A thoughtful contributor.

Ray Coupe : A man who maintains his cool, especially when exploring permafrost!

Ray Coupe : Weather proof.

Ray Coupe : Always calm and ready for a challenge!

Ray Coupe : A mentor and a guide.

Ray Coupe : The legend continues!

Geranium richardsonii

http://www.books-by-isbn.com/1-55105/1551050579-Plants-of-southern-interior-British-Columbia-1-55105-057-9.html

http://www.books-by-isbn.com/1-55105/1551052199-Plants-of-southern-interior-British-Columbia-and-the-inland-northwest-1-55105-219-9.html

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/lmh/Lmh46.pdf

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?invid=10513716044&browse=1&qwork=5162456&qsort=&page=1

http://www.geog.ubc.ca/biodiversity/eflora/E-FloraTreesofBritishColumbia.html

Fire is bad because it causes ecosystem dysfunction?

2 years post fire.

In the beginning of the fall, my research assistants and I hit the exclosures on the Liard to take our 2nd year vegetation samples after Fire 084. We were amazed like many others who have studied the vegetation response in the Boreal after fire. Fire 084 burned through the summer of 2009 and grew to 24,000 ha causing an incredible mosaic of landscape throughout its run. It was actioned along the highway but allowed to run out north away from the major transportation corridor that ties the north to the south.

As you peruse the following pictures, I challenge you to ask yourself some questions:

Why not burn? Is it ecologically sound to write impact assessments on "why an area should burn" when fire has been part of that site's ecological history and evolution?

Geared up and heading into the burn to set up the plots inside the exclosures constructed in partnership with Liard River Adventures, the Wildfire Management Branch (NIFAC crews), Oklahoma State University and the Range program of the Ministry of Forests and Range.

Exclosure 1 on the north side of the Liard River, 3 months post fire in 2009.

How much proof is needed to show that fire is the dominant ecosystem driver in the boreal?

Are humans part of the ecosystem?

What happens to those species who depend on fire, when there is no fire?

3 months postfire in 2009 - clearly this landscape has been devestated by fire and this plot is a good example of how fire can cause ED - ecosystem dysfunction.

What does ecologically sound mean anyways? Function ... functionality ... proper use ... uniform distribution ...

And furthermore, why do we not talk about ecosystem dysfunction or what I will now term as the ecological ED whereby there is an inability to develop or maintain an ecosystem including the proper functioning of all natural processes for satisfactory ecosystem performance?

Tell me what you think ... sonja.leverkus@okstate.edu

Trevor Scott setting up the plots and spacing inside the exclosures.

Don Gayton and Ray Couple at exclosure 1 (same as previously shown in 2009) on the north side of the Liard River in 2010 amongst a carpet of Pink corydalis, Dragonhead mint, Bicknell's geranium, moss, grasses and other forbs ... is this system functioning?

Dr. Marten Geertsema and Ray Coupe at the aspen exclosure in Summer 2010. Is fire bad?

The aspen exclosure site 1 year post fire.

Using the 1m2 plots inside and outside the exclosure to compare the plant communities in burned and grazed vs burned and ungrazed.

Some dysfunctional Hairy Wild Rye to the left of Michelle? Max heights for 1 year post fire were up to 160cm ... clearly another case of ED (ecoystem dysfunction)? I would disagree...

Michelle Edwards (formerly of BC Timber Sales) with Dave (as bear watch) from the Hotsprings. Excellent field crew!


Year 2 of Exclosure sampling. Michelle Edwards (formerly of BC Timber Sales) and my mum Dr. Gillian Leverkus and I at the end of sampling. A tip of the hat to Ranger Al for covering bear watch duties for a day in Fall 2010. I owe a big thank you and special recognition to my field crew: Trevor Scott, Gillian Leverkus and Michelle Edwards.

Me 'n Woody the Wood bison. Woody watched over us while we were doing our vegetation work.

The 2009 field crew: Gillian Leverkus, Trevor Scott and I - the definition of hard work, outdoor enjoyment and family. Thank you mum and Trevor for believing in me and for all your sweat, blood, guts and tears with me!!!! I am proud to be family with you!

The elusive Wood bison

Charles Dickie, Dr. Helen Schwantje, Wood bison cow, Sonja with Ranger Al protecting us in the background.

It's always true that when you are looking for something that is typically found in a specific location, it's not going to be there that day. Such is true with the Wood bison herds of the Fontas and Liard. This past November brought us a week of working with the bison. The plan was to tranquilize the cows with collars, download the data from the past year and a half, put new batteries in those collars and add 2 more new GPS pods to make our sample size increased to 7 animals per herd and then I was to start analyzing the data for the Society for Range Management conference in Billings, Montana in February 2011 and to further analyze that data for my thesis and for the Ministry of Environment and Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation.

But! Such was not the way it came to an end! Only one collar was retrived from the Fontas (Etthithun herd), however, four collars were retrieved from the Liard (Nordquist herd). Although we had 5 collars in our hands, we were only able to download the data from 4 of the collars (one from Fontas and the rest from Liard). It would appear that the wires at the base of the collars were snapped/torn.

Some pictures from our intense, emotional roller coaster ride of a time doing the bison work include ....

Dr. Helen Schwantje teaching Charles Dickie about the tranquilizers used on the Wood bison.

The crew getting set up on the Alaska Highway with a Wood bison herd less then 20 feet away.

All great stories start out with ... it was a cool, calm morning and the Bison were all grazing peacefully by the side of the Alaska Highway... this herd ended up spooking and stampeding across the highway, not to be found until later in the day. Onto the other herd ...
Conservation Officer Jeff Scott and Wood bison cow.

Tyler Mattheis and Charles Dickie with one of the matriarchs (tranquilized)

Conservation Officer Jeff Scott helping Conrad Thiessen (Wildlife Biologist) and Helen work on the matriarch.

Conrad, Ranger Al and Tyler processing the matriarch.

Conrad Thiessen and I with a matriarch.

All a person could ever hope for is to have two big, strong bulls trying to lift you up to bring you back to the herd should you go down.

Charles Dickie and I putting the new GPS pod collar on.

Conrad won the sharpshooter of the day award for his excellent accuracy with the tranquilizer gun.

Charles Dickie monitoring the Bison herd the day after working with them.

The one who got away! She escaped us and we were unable to recover the collar. In a couple weeks, it should blow off and hopefully Ranger Al and Conrad will go up and retrieve it!

The Crew: Ranger Al Hansen, Dr. Helen Schwantje, Tyler Mattheis (NRRM), Charles Dickie, Sonja, Conrad Thiessen and Wood bison cow (missing: Armand and Conservation Officer Jeff Scott. Photo credit: Armand)

Phantasmagorical Research Team and Pyric Herbivory

Landscape level heterogeneity in the Boreal (Sonja and Sam discussing heterogeneity) Photo credit: Ray Coupe, 2010

I had the extreme good fortune of returning home to Canada and having my research team come up to the North Country to work with me. Over 2 weeks in the summer, we monitored a range reference area on the Halfway River, attempted to do the Nevis Creek reference area, worked around Fort Nelson and up the highway to the Liard exclosures.

It started with a sunset once the whole team arrived in the north country.

It was one of the greatest practical learning experiences that I have had. I am very thankful to my team for sharing their vast knowledge, following me up the Halfway for a 5 hour round trip every day on quad and then wading across it up to our hips (!) and for attempting the Nevis Creek dance as Ray Coupe called it. I am learning how to be a landscape/range/fire/wildlife ecologist/agrologist/scientist from the best that I know: Sam Fuhlendorf, Don Gayton, Ray Coupe and Marten Geertsema.
The Research Team (excluding field assistants): Fuhlendorf, Geertsema, Gayton, Leverkus and Coupe 2010

"You learn" by Alanis Morissette is playing in the background and so I feel it appropriate to share a few of the things that I was taught and plan to carry with me from these experiences:
1. The best made plans may not always turn out as you hope - have a back-up for the back-up plans.
2. The Prince George Fire Center provides outstanding safety back-up and I am very thankful for the good folks there who were flexible with our crazy schedule of 6am departures and midnights back to camp!
3. People made helicopters for a reason - sometimes it's too muddy to get some places.
4. Trust yourself - Ray Coupe forced me to leave my plant ID book in my pack at camp and that was the best thing he could have done. I only wish I could work with this great man every day. Trusting that we know the plants and their names - it takes some time to become intimate with one's place but without trusting oneself, that intimacy will always stay at one level, when there is so much more to it than having the ID book right beside you all the time.
5. Question and be critical and skeptical of everything.
6. Not all range people know all the range plants all around the world.
7. Sampling methods may not always account for all the variability that is present in a system.
8. Vertical structure is key! ie. how tall things grow in one area vs. another or is there a limiting factor to growth in one area over another -> herbivory?
9. Fire scars on trees, dendrochronology and pollen/charcoal in lake sediments - hard to argue with the presence of fire if you have these data sets.
10. Bison don't belong on the side of the Alaska highway as sacrificial red-listed species to be feasted upon by large automobiles
11. That the strength and guidance of 4 great men has come to mean the world to me.

My best friend and yours (if you're into a beautiful bunchgrass that is high in protein throughout the winter) - Festuca altaica - Altai fescue.

Below are some pictures from this experience.


Avens

Dr. Fuhlendorf.

Crossing the Halfway

Hoofing it to the Halfway Meadow Range Reference Area

What is the difference you ask? Vertical structure. What is the reason for that you ask? Cold air drainage or perhaps bison grazing but not really an overindulgence in fire ... McQue Flats Range Reference Area.

Gayton along the transect line just after the hail storm.


Would've been nice to have the key ... next time we'll know that there is a gate!


Sam crossing the Halfway


Bogs

Permafrost and Don Gayton

The team up at the Liard exclosures. Fire sure ruins the boreal forest eh?


Dr. Geertsema checking out the age of this spruce when the landslide occurred.

Number one chef extraordinaire on the Dunedin is Ray Coupe.

The Research Team (missing: Don Gayton)

Sunset over the Halfway River Valley on our way back to base camp.

On the top of Trutch (wild caraway and oxeye daisy spreading along the road systems ...)

Other members of the pyric herbivory research team!