Birds and Blooms in Rumsey – May 30 Adventure for Wilderness

June 2, 2026

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• Adventures for Wilderness

Text by Lindsey Wallis
Photos by Lindsey Wallis, Sara Heerema, and Myrna Pearman

Despite a pretty horrendous weekend forecast there was a keen crew that showed up on a blustery morning to join botanist Cheryl Bradley for an adventure through the Rumsey Natural Area. AWA has been involved with working to gain more protections for the area for decades. Cheryl showed us some of the orphan wells in the area — one of the reasons it was designated a Natural Area and not included in the Ecological Reserve was because of existing oil and gas leases. A management plan was drafted more than a decade ago that laid out an emphasis on ecological protection for the area moving forward, and the end to oil and gas in the area. Unfortunately, it was never signed off by the minister. At this point though there were no new incursions to the area, just a legacy of rotting oil and gas infrastructure that has been turned over to the Orphan Well Association. We were also lucky to be joined by Terry Krause, who is now retired from working in Alberta Parks. He was able to give us a behind the scenes look into the creation of the Natural Area and the push for the creation of a management plan.

But sometime being ignored can be a good thing for a Natural Area. The rough fescue looked lush and the buffalo beans, prairie smoke, and milk vetch were blooming across the rolling hills. The area has experienced a multi-year drought and things were definitely dry though. A moose was flushed from the woods and another highlight was finding a patch of rare crowfoot violets hiding amongst the buckbrush.

We took a detour to a wetland where we saw gaggles of chorus frogs and the evidence left from moose and elk. We also found a tipi ring tucked in a draw and a large glacial erratic dropped by a retreating glacier and used by buffalo to rub off their winter coats.