Nose Hill Stroll
Nose Hill is known as Ootssapi’tomowa in Blackfoot. [1]
Nose Hill Park (Google Maps)
It is a large park in the NW part of Calgary.
AWA led a tour of Nose Hill this past Saturday. The event is several weeks later than our usual crocus hunt, due in part because the past two years, the day before the hike, Calgary got a dump of snow. This year we did the walk in sunshine and with blooms abound. I must say I preferred it this way! ☀️🌼🌷Although snowy conditions have their own beauty!
This year’s hike was joined by wonderful coordinators with expertise in geology and botany, Dr. Dale Leckie and Dr. Steven Tannas. [2] Both of these gentlemen taught us a lot about the surrounding geology, the unique converging of ecosystems in the Calgary area, and information about the botany found in this grassland area.
On the peak
We were joined by 28 wonderful participants this year!
From the peak of Nose Hill looking west towards the Rockies.
Thanks to Steven and Dale for sharing their knowledge. Thanks also to Ruiping Luo, an AWA Conservation Specialist who also joined the hike and interjected with important ecological information. It was a wonderful day, made more wonderful by walking it with so many new people!
[1] Information on the Indigenous history and wildlife of the park can be found on the City of Calgary website: https://www.calgary.ca/parks/nose-hill-park.html
[2] Dale is an author of three books published at Broken Poplars - you can see his bio here: https://brokenpoplars.ca/about-dale ; Steven Tannas is the President of Tannas Conservation Services Ltd., and you can read more about him here: https://www.tannasenvironmental.com/about-us/our-staff.html
