The Thompson River is one of the defining features of Kamloops, British Columbia, especially for those in the Downtown/North Shore areas. From those that splash in its mighty rapids from Riverside Park, all the way to the joggers and yellow-bellied marmots that thrive along the Schubert Drive River Trail, it is key to the daily lives of many. The aforementioned Schubert Drive River Trail, is an estimated 5km straight concrete walkway, running parallel to the densely forested laden riparian zone of the North Thompson River.
Here is an approximate Google Maps view of the Schubert Drive Trail, running to the West of the North Thompson River:
The observations I have made have been over the course of two days, as I commonly take walks and pictures along this trail, 09-05-23 and 09-16-23. These walks were taken under different conditions, with the mean temps of Kamloops overall being a cooler 13.7 degrees celsius on May 9th, and May 16th being caught in unseasonably hot temperatures, with a mean overall temperature of 23.8 degrees celsius for the day. There is a little bit of a separation between the south and northern parts of the trail, as one is more barren and possibly lesser in species richness. common tree vegetation that I have noticed so far would be silver maple and black cottonwood, though there may be some juniper and manitoba maple in the area aswell. There are also plenty of grasses, forbs and shrubs densely intermixed within the interior of the riparian vegetation. The northern side notably has seemingly less tree populations, with more loose grasses, herbs and forbs, and longer stretches of rocky outcrop for yellow-bellied marmot populations. Finally, the river is running high, as the beach and more of the riparian vegetation is drenched in the river runoff, due to the unseasonably higher temperatures melting the higher-than-average snow pack Kamloops got this year, and the rainier periods during the first week of May returning more water back to the river.
As I take a stroll across the path, both separate times, I ponder primarily about the actual health of the river ecosystem, from the diversity and richness of the micro-organisms within the river itself, to the resiliency of the riparian habitats surrounding it. The constant environmental whiplash from heatwave to cold rain to heatwave again could be hazardous to the development and growth, as seen by vegetation around Kamloops with varying levels of bloom and dormancy/death, where it should all be pretty consistently blooming across the board. In addition, because this river trail is right next to urban sprawl, and is often a place to stay for the destitute, there can be trash found within its natural depths. The three main questions that come to mind are:
#1: How does the current spring-seasoned North Thompson River ecosystem compare to that of past data? (ie, diversity, richness, populations of several aspects).
#2: How has the past volatile weather patterns of the last few weeks affected the North Thompson River Ecosystem?
#3: How has the pollution and urbanisation affected the ecosystem?
It is important now, more than ever, to monitor, assess, and preserve our natural wildlife, as the climate ever grows unstable.
A great study site! Your questions above require ‘before’ data to really answer them; however, as you move along the modules and keep thinking of ideas you may be able to modify them into something measurable in this course. You will be getting into experimental design in the next modules and that should help you think through things.