Grande Prairie - Trumpeter Swan IBA (11034)
Canada, North America
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Year of last assessment: 2008
National site name: Grande Prairie - Trumpeter Swan IBA
Central coordinates: Latitude: 55.2010, Longitude: -119.2010
System: freshwater, terrestrial
Elevation (m): 650 to 650
Area of KBA (km2): 1308.07866
Protected area coverage (%): 0.88
KBA classification: Regional
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: The Grande Prairie IBA is situated in northwestern Alberta, near the city of the same name. The communities of La Glace, Wembley and Clairmont are within the site, which focuses on the many lakes of the area. The lakes range greatly in size, from small 500 metre ponds, to the 10 kilometre-long Bear Lake. Bear Lake and Lac La Glace are connected by a branch of the Bear River. The surrounding uplands of this rolling plain are used primarily for agricultural purposes. Most of this site is within the Peace River Parkland subregion of Alberta, although the southwestern portion is within the Dry Mixedwood subregion. An area around Saskatoon Lake is an excellent example of upland Peace River Parkland.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that was identified using previously established criteria and thresholds for the identification of Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) and for which available data indicate that it does not meet global KBA criteria and thresholds set out in the Global Standard.
Additional biodiversity: The lakes of the Grande Prairie area support significant numbers of breeding and staging Trumpeter Swans, as well as very large numbers of staging ducks. During the breeding season, many of the small lakes support a family of Trumpeter Swan. There have been at least 28 locations where families of Trumpeter Swans have been recorded over the last 40 years, within an area roughly bounded by Valhalla, Wembley, Flyingshot, Clairmont and Wolfe lakes. On a yearly basis, 10 to 12 pairs of Trumpeter Swans breed in this area. Hundreds of staging Trumpeter and Tundra swans are found on many lakes within the site, but Bear, Clairmont, Saskatoon, Valhalla, Gummer, Lac La Glace and Wilken lakes hold the largest numbers. In the autumn, usually sometime between early October and early November, mixed flocks of between 800 and 1,000 swans are recorded. Up to 309 Trumpeters have been recorded in one year (Valhalla Lake, Nov 8, 1998). Using the peak numbers recorded in the years between 1996 and 1998, an average of 237 Trumpeter Swans were seen. This represents over 1% of the estimated global population of Trumpeter Swans, and about 7% of the Rocky Mountain population. These are likely to be conservative figures since the surveys that these numbers are based on do not cover all the lakes at any one time. Bear Lake, Lac la Glace, Valhalla Lake and the Buffalo Lake complex, are the most important lakes for staging ducks. Over 20,000 ducks have been recorded at each of these locations during fall staging, suggesting that the Grande Prairie area hosts many tens of thousands of ducks in most years. These lakes are also important colonial waterbird and shorebird breeding and staging areas.
Delineation rationale: 2011-06-06 (BL Secretariat): site area updated from ha to 130000 ha, following GIS analysis of site polygon by Bird Studies Canada (J. Moore & S. Marquez in litt. 2009).
Habitats
Land use: agriculture | nature conservation and research | tourism/recreation | urban/industrial/transport
| IUCN Habitat | Coverage % | Habitat detail |
|---|---|---|
| Artificial - Terrestrial | 33 | |
| Forest | 33 | |
| Wetlands(Inland) | 33 |