Green Notes 50Th Anniversary Newsletter Like a Beautiful Tree, CPAWS Southern Alberta Comes from Strong Roots and Has Grown Into a Magestic Forest
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FALL/WINTER 2017/18 GREEN NOTES 50TH ANNIVERSARY NEWSLETTER Like a beautiful tree, CPAWS Southern Alberta comes from strong roots and has grown into a magestic forest. THIS EDITION OF GREEN NOTES CELEBRATES OUR 50 YEAR HISTORY. SOUTHERN ALBERTA CHAPTER 50TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE Branching Out Local Work with a National Voice • 12 Welcome Messages A Time of Significant Change • 12 National President • 3 A Sense of Accomplishment and Urgency • 13 National Executive Director • 3 Education as a Conservation Strategy • 14 Southern Alberta Executive Director • 4 Volunteerism: The Lifeblood of CPAWS • 15 Our Roots Volunteer Profile: Gord James • 15 The Conservation Movement Awakens • 6 The Canopy and Beyond Canadian National Parks: Today and Tomorrow • 7 20 Years of Innovative Education • 16 Public Opposition and University Support • 8 Reflecting While Looking to the Future • 18 An Urban Conservation Legacy • 9 Alberta Needs CPAWS • 19 An Era of Protest • 9 CHAPTER TEAM CHAPTER BOARD OF DIRECTORS Anne-Marie Syslak, Executive Director Andre De Leebeeck, Secretary Katie Morrison, Conservation Director Jim Donohue, Treasurer, Vice Chair Jaclyn Angotti, Education Director Doug Firby Kirsten Olson, Office & Fund Program Administrator Ross Glenfield Ian Harker, Communications Coordinator Jeff Goldberg Alex Mowat, Hiking Guide Steve Hrudey Julie Walker, Hiking Guide Kathi Irvine Justin Howse, Hiking Guide Sara Jaremko Vanessa Bilan, Hiking Guide, Environmental Educator Peter Kloiber Lauren Bally, Hiking Guide Megan Leung Edita Sakarova, Bookkeeper Jon Mee Cinthia Nemoto CONTACT INFORMATION Phil Nykyforuk, Chair CPAWS Southern Alberta Chapter [email protected] EDITORIAL AND DESIGN www.cpaws-southernalberta.org Doug Firby Ian Harker, Communications Coordinator Green Notes Newsletter is published by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Southern Alberta Chapter (CPAWS Cover Photo: John E. Marriott SAB) (charity # 10686 5272 RR000I) © 2017. Back Cover Photo: Vincent Varga, 2017 CPAWS Capture the Wild Photo Green Notes is printed on Post Consumer recycled content. Contest grand prize winner CPAWS SOUTHERN ALBERTA | CELEBRATING 50 YEARS "ON BEHALF OF THE NATIONAL BOARD, THANK YOU SOUTHERN ALBERTA CHAPTER!" By Michael Robinson National President rewer B NATIONAL PRESIDENT'S MESSagE athan athan To celebrate a 50th anniversary of any sort is a mark of victory N in the disruptive, instant messaging, ephemeral world of contemporary human society. Photo: Strangely, these rushed, culturally induced values borrow more and more from technology and less and less from nature. How wonderful then, to be able to celebrate 50 years of human service to parks and wilderness, where a different set of natural values are at play. They are championed every day by staff, board members and CPAWS’ Southern Alberta volunteers who cherish membership in one of the oldest chapters in the 53-year-old national organization. NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSagE It is perhaps understandable that Alberta would harbour By Éric Hébert-Daly a chapter like Southern Alberta, because of its incredible National Executive Director collection of National and Provincial Parks and protected areas. All Canadians are aware of this legacy, and the annual pattern The conservation epicentre of of seasonal use and reverence that continues its growth. But the Canada old maxim comes to mind: “To whom much is given, much is When people think of where the expected.” The parks and wilderness legacy of Southern Alberta centre of the country is, it is always requires constant stewardship and vigilance by the citizens. different depending on your It has never been enough to leave this role to professional perspective. Geographically, it’s in parks’ staff. CPAWS’ Southern Alberta Chapter has conducted western Nunavut. Population, you’ll exemplary education and conservation programs that help to point to Toronto. History, possibly ensure that ecosystem integrity comes first. Quebec City. But if you’re thinking I want to take this opportunity to thank the chapter board and about conservation, I’d make the staff for showing their grit and creative energies over the past case that southern Alberta is the few years of economic tough sledding in Alberta. Chair Gord epicentre. James and Executive Director Anne-Marie Syslak have shared When you consider that the Calgary/Banff chapter was the first their innovative thoughts and actions in this respect with CPAWS’ chapter of the National and Provincial Parks Association of Canada, National Board, and these efforts are contributing to CPAWS’ the predecessor of CPAWS, it actually isn’t that surprising. Our overall visioning for the next 53 years. first national park was Banff. Our first big concerns about park On behalf of the National Board, thank you Southern Alberta management stemmed from activities in our mountain parks. Chapter! Onwards! Industrial development decisions that have affected much of Canada’s land over the last half century have been made in Calgary. Southern Alberta is conservation’s homeland in Canada. "When you carry out award-winning That’s why having a strong chapter, with a powerful voice, is education programs, you shape the next so important —and why the whole country cheers for your continued success. When you win a battle in Banff, you make generation of conservation leadership" the whole parks system stronger. When you carry out award- winning education programs, you shape the next generation of conservation leadership. CPAWS is Canada’s voice for wilderness because your chapter’s voice makes it heard. It’s been a joy for me to work closely with CPAWS Southern Alberta over the last eight years, to amplify that voice, and leverage your success everywhere I can. As we drive to new outcomes in the coming years, that will be full of opportunity, I am convinced that we will see the tide turn for better park management as well. The future looks green and so much of it will start with CPAWS Southern Alberta. FaLL/WINTER 2017/18 | 3 eal N . B ayne ayne W Photo: Photo: FROM A SAPLING TO A By Anne-Marie Syslak BEAUTIFUL FOREST AND BEYOND Executive Director years. Our incredibly rich grassroots history is a tribute to the tireless work and support of so many who believed in the value of SOUTHERN ALBERTA nature, and the critical importance of protecting our spectacular EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S MESSagE southern Alberta landscape. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Southern Alberta These people formed the fabric of our organization. Some were Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS academics, scientists, and lawyers, but most were concerned SAB). For half a century, CPAWS SAB has been a leading voice for citizens—with the sole motivation of protecting the Alberta parks and wilderness in Alberta, and has achieved significant wilderness they love. Being part of CPAWS SAB meant, and conservation success. continues to mean, building a legacy to be proud of. We Without CPAWS SAB, our Rocky Mountain National Parks would celebrate the people, places, and stories on this anniversary. look vastly different than they do today, we wouldn’t have an Like a beautiful tree, we have come from strong roots and have award-winning education program, and we might not have all of grown into a majestic forest. This is the theme of this newsletter. the amazing parks and protected areas that we enjoy in Alberta today. These include areas like Kananaskis, Bow Valley Wildland From seeds to saplings: establishing our roots Provincial Park, the Whaleback, and the Castle—just to name a few. Even Calgary’s iconic Nose Hill Park and Fish Creek Provincial The Department of Geography, at what was then the University Park find roots in our chapter. of Alberta in Calgary, was the epi-centre of it all. The 1960s witnessed the advent of the first National Parks Policy, ongoing To prepare for our anniversary gala, which took place September controversies over such issues as leasing, the potential for 22, we started talking to some of the amazing people who Winter Games in Banff National Park, and master plans involving have been involved in the Southern Alberta Chapter over the significant road and facilities developments. Gordon Nelson, | 4 FaLL/WINTER 2017/18 Photo: Iain Reid CPAWS SOUTHERN ALBERTA | CELEBRATING 50 YEARS a geographer at the university, wrote a letter concerning the need for public engagement on these issues. This triggered a movement involving other academics, including Bob Scace, Stephen Herrero, John Marsh, and Harvey Buckmaster, as well as concerned citizens, including Aileen Harman and Gerry Wilkie. Stephen Herrero first learned of aT oronto based group, called the National and Provincial Parks Association of Canada (NPPAC), through a notice in the Calgary Herald. Sharing a similar concern for developments in the national parks, he contacted the organization, planting the seeds for a Calgary/Banff chapter. The academics in Calgary organized the "Canadian National Parks: Today and Tomorrow" conference in 1968. This conference, co-sponsored by the university and NPPAC, involved a range of international, national, and local stakeholders; and introcudec a new era of citizen engagement in planning, management, and use of parks and protected areas in Canada. The conference provided the stimulus to get the struggling NPPAC off the ground, and led to the creation of the Calgary/ Banff Chapter—the organization’s first regional chapter.T hree successive conferences, held in 1978, 1985, and 2008, helped establish our chapter as a leader in national park issues. “people, places, and Photo: Marie-Eve Marchand A beautiful forest: the canopy and beyond stories are what we A strong base enabled continued maturation and success for the chapter from the early 2000s to present day. The education celebrate.” program, in particular, supported conservation work during this time. The chapter saw education as being instrumental in fostering stewardship through an understanding of environmental issues. Branching out: the growing years To date, the education program has taught more than 115,000 In 1985, the NPPAC changed its name to the Canadian Parks participants, and has expanded beyond youth to include and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).