Page 16 - Canadian Wilderness spring summer 2017

Making History: CPAWS Southern
Alberta celebrates 50 years

2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the was joined by graduate Banff of 50 years ago. Photo: Fred Herzog
Southern Alberta Chapter. For over half students and other
a century, CPAWS Southern Alberta academics. Included in became CPAWS in 1985, off the ground.
has been a leading voice for parks and the group was Robert Related conferences have since been held
wilderness in Alberta, including campaigns Scace, Stephen Herrero, in 1978, 1985, and 2008.
around the Rocky Mountain National John Marsh, and Harvey
Parks, Kananaskis, the Whaleback, and Buckmaster, who formed Continued development pressures during
the Castle, and a national award-winning the chapter alongside concerned citizens this time, including the push for an Olympic
education program. Aileen Harman and Gerry Wilkie. village in Lake Louise in the late 60s and
early 70s, solidified the NPPAC and the
As part of our celebration preparations, Upon learning about the Toronto-based then Calgary/Banff, now southern Alberta
we began to compile a more complete National and Provincial Parks Association Chapter, as leaders in national parks issues
history of our early years, and CPAWS of Canada (NPPAC), a group that was in the region and nationwide. CPAWS
SAB’s instrumental role in the nationwide also concerned about the proposed Southern Alberta is planning an event in the
survival of a young CPAWS. At the developments in the parks, contact fall to celebrate this significant milestone
epicentre of it all is the Department was made and planning was launched and is working towards a national parks
of Geography at what was then the for the first Canadian National Parks: conference in 2018. Stay tuned.
University of Alberta at Calgary. Today and Tomorrow Conference in
1968.This conference, co-sponsored by - Anne-Marie Syslak, CPAWS Southern Alberta
The 1960s witnessed the advent of the University and NPPAC, involved a For more information, visit
the first National Parks Policy, ongoing range of international, national, and local
controversial issues such as leasing, the stakeholders, and helped to introduce www.cpaws-southernalberta.org
potential siting of Winter Olympics in a new era of citizen engagement in
Banff National Park, and the release planning, management, and use of parks
of master plans involving significant and protected areas in Canada.The
developments. Gordon Nelson, a conference generated the stimulus needed
geographer at the University, wrote about to get the struggling NPPAC, which
the need for public engagement and

Conserving a threatened icon in a changing landscape

CPAWS Manitoba continues to promote terrestrial polar bear habitat conservation as an important component of this species’
survival.The current and projected impacts of climate change are of critical concern to the persistence of sea ice habitat where
Husdon Bay polar bears hunt up to eight months out of the year. In western Hudson Bay, the bears also rely on lands as much as
100 km from the sea for critical life stages. Here, they birth their cubs in earthen and snow dens dug in the region’s carbon-rich
peatlands. CPAWS recently published Polar Bears:A threatened icon in a changing landscape which outlines the threats and available
conservation tools to secure habitat for polar bears and other species sharing this landscape.We are urging the government
to expand protections in the region through Manitoba’s Protected Areas Initiative and through support for Indigenous land use
planning in the region.

- Josh Pearlman, CPAWS Manitoba

For more information, visit www.cpawsmb.org

Photo: Ron Thiessen www.cpaws.org
16 • Canadian Wilderness • SPRING/SUMMER 2017