Diario de larryhalverson

An endangered fern found only near Fairmont Hot Springs made headlines around the country last week. The southern maidenhair fern, along with three other endangered species, now decorates a new Parks Canada commemorative coin.
Critics have said the choice of the fern makes no sense, considering the plant is 30 kilometres from Kootenay National Park.

Pam Veinotte, superintendant for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks defended the decision, citing Parks Canada’s ecosystem- based management system.
“Parks Canada regularly works collaboratively with our neighbours on projects relating to protection, education or visitor experience,” Ms. Veinotte said. “It is with a spirit of collaboration and a shared sense of history that, from time to time, we proudly lend our expertise to and participate in conservation projects occurring outside our park borders.”
That was the case when in 2000, Parks naturalist Larry Halverson and Gail Berg of the B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range, found an undiscovered second population of the southern maidenhair fern in Fairmont.

“We were exploring and found the motherlode,” said Mr. Halverson, now retired. “The other population was dwindling, but this was a viable population.”
The fern, thought to be extinct in Canada during the 1960s, was declared endangered in 1984.

After the discovery of the second fern population, Parks Canada joined forces with provincial biologists, botanists and ecologists to complete a recovery project for the fern that continues to this day.

“Parks was terrific in that they were completely part of the team,” said Ted Antifeau, a rare and endangered species biologist with the B.C. Ministry of Environment and chair of the team. “When you have a nationally threatened species in Canada and engage in the recovery process, the feds should get involved and they did through Parks Canada.”

The team tried to improve the situation of the endangered species by educating the land owners on whose property the fern grows. Fairmont Hot Spring Resort, one of the owners, has taken the education very seriously and will not reveal the exact location of the fern on its property.

“We don’t want breeders or plant people coming around,” said Richard Haworth, the vice president of development for the resort. “It looks like a fern that is in your house and unless you’re looking for it, it’s hard to see.”

The fern thrives there due to the humid micro-climate created by the hot springs. The next closest location of the fern is in North Dakota, while its main habitat is more than 1,000 kilometres south of Fairmont.
No one knows how the fern got to the Fairmont area, or why it is not found near the hot springs in Radium. It is thought to be a relic from an earlier geological era as experts do not believe that European settlers brought it with them. Monitoring of the fern continues today to ensure it keeps thriving in the local area.