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THE ATHABASCA SAND DUNES AT A GLANCE
by Peter Jonker
My first, still vivid realization upon visiting the sand dune plains of Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Wilderness Park, is how big they are. As I crested a steep, sandy ridge above the beach in Thomson Bay, a vast expanse of rolling sand rose into view from left to right as far as my eye could see. These, I later learned, are the willow dunes - mostly small to medium dunes with rounded tops.
West of the William River lies the Park's largest dune field-an area scoured by winds so strong that deep layers of sand freshly exposed some 8000 years ago were drifted into kilometer long dunes, up to 30 meter high - many developing sinuous knife-edge summits. The wide "Gobi flats" between these dunes were mined of their sand to such depth that only a veneer of undriftable rocks and pebbles remains, many of these carved and polished by blasting sand grains.
Although most of the Park has revegetated since the dark cold overburden of glacial ice disappeared, the vast plains of exposed and shifting sand remain caught in an ongoing tug-of-war between unique, sand-adapted plant species and powerful, recurring winds beating onshore from across 50 kilometers of open water (Lake Athabasca). Welcome to one of Canada's most fascinating and starkly beautiful ecosystems. It protects nine plant species that exist nowhere else on Earth, and over 50 species considered rare.
Contrary to what one might first assume, the dune fields are not deserts. Although rain and snowmelt quickly sink away through the coarse dune sand, out of reach of most plant roots, the water table underlying interdune depressions in many places is so high that these are vigorous productive nurseries where grass, herbs, shrubs and trees germinate from wind-blown seed. These "slacks", in turn, provide habitat for a host of insect species that provide forage for birds such as semi-palmated plovers, killdeer, horned larks, chickadees, juncos, chipping sparrows, and white-crowned sparrows.
Whereas this wilderness park is best known for its spectacular sandscapes, these vistas actually comprise less than one-quarter of the Park's area. The rest is dominated by extensive inter-fingerings of jackpine/lichen forests and muskeg, as well as some interior lakes and rivers.
A favourite hike takes me to the William River valley that bisects the two largest dune fields. After traversing bright yellow-pink sand for hours, the valley greets my sun-dried eyes with soothing shades of lush greens. Although the Park is generally not rich in bird and mammal species, here one is likely to find its greatest diversity: wolves, foxes, black bears, squirrels, mice, voles, beavers, muskrats, moose, deer, otter, fisher, lynx, hares, gulls, terns, shorebirds, bald eagles, hawks, warblers, sparrows, flycatchers, swallows, and others. One memorable early morning, during our most recent ClubSEE Camp, we sat on a high, sandy ridge overlooking the William River and watched a pair of northern harriers (here at the northern limit of this species' summer range) cruising a tamarack bog for muskrats, and then graceful arctic terns (here at the southern limit of this species' summer range) wafting up and down the river with an eye on unsuspecting minnows.
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