Winter 2024 Newsletter

 Find the long-tailed weasel! Kevin Barker photo.

BVN PROGRAMS AND EVENTS 

• Coming Programs
• Recent Programs  
• Notice Of Annual General Meeting 

NEWS AND ISSUES, UPDATES 

• It’s Time to Get Involved! 
• Planning Forum Will Include A Public Session 
• Colleen Campbell Receives NiCHe Award 

DONATIONS & THANKS! 

• Support For Jonathon Farr 

OF WILD THINGS 

• The Art of Protecting Whitebark Pine 
• Watcher In The Trees 
• Dining Habits of a Dipper 
• 2023 MAPS Report and More! 
• 48th Annual Christmas Bird Count 
• Members Gallery: Mushroom Season 

MEMBERS ARE READING, WATCHING, AND LISTENING 

SHARE NATURE RESPONSIBLY 

WHO DO YOU CALL WHEN THINGS ARE AMISS? 

CONTACTS: We Know Who to Call

Please let land managers and planners know you want protection for ecosystems. Call them, write them a letter, or drop a note to journalists. If you need help finding contact information, drop us a note and we will help you send a message to the appropriate desk. 

BVN presents programs on natural history and ecosystem management issues. Mark your calendar for 7:30 pm on the fourth Tuesday of every month from October to April, except for December when our programming is replaced by the annual Christmas Bird Count and potluck supper, where you are also welcome. Video recordings of past programs are available on our Public Programs web page. Links to our two most recent programs are below. 

Please be sure you are subscribed (fill out form on left side of this page) for our updates to receive notifications of programming information and to register for any online presentations. 

COMING PROGRAMS 

Tuesday, February 27 (An Online-Only Presentation) 

Register in advance for this meeting

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Light Pollution and Terrestrial Wildlife: Research into Practice. Travis Longcore PhD. 

Are there ways to reduce the light we produce in our towns and industrial sites? Can we possibly make the Bow valley a “nightier” stretch of habitat? In his landmark article Ecological Light Pollution and a co-edited book Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting Travis has defined a rapidly growing research area in ecology. In 2022, he received the Galileo Award from the International Dark-Sky Association “in recognition of outstanding achievements in research or academic work on light pollution over a multiple-year period.” 

The past 20 years have seen an explosion of research into the adverse effects of light at night on wildlife. In this presentation, Travis will describe and categorize those effects and how they affect species and ecosystems, ranging from the disruption of circadian rhythms to fragmentation of landscapes. He will then review the different means by which such impacts can be reduced, including shielding, reduction in intensity, and the synergistic benefits of adjusting spectrum to avoid the most disruptive colors of light. 

Tuesday March 26 (In Person, Catharine Robb Whyte Building, 101 Bear Street, Banff)

Bow Valley Regional Water and Climate Change – Bob Sandford and John Pomeroy 

Tuesday April 23 (In Person, Catharine Robb Whyte Building, 101 Bear Street Banff) 

Early Life in our Rocks – The Stromatolites of Dolomite Pass. Astrid Arts 

RECENT PROGRAMS 

November 2023 

The annual Bob and Mary Smith commemorative lecture, in collaboration with the Whyte Museum featured Andrew Nikiforuk’s presentation Beating a Sustainable Retreat: Degrowth or Collapse? Here is the link to the recording: Andrew’s presentation. Following the program, Andrew sent a list of readings in support of his presentation and they are included at the end of the What Members are Reading section of this newsletter. 

January 2024 

Jesse Whittington, Wildlife Monitoring Ecologist for Banff National Park, spoke about trends in the grizzly population and updated us on information about wolverines as well as some of the smaller creatures that are under scrutiny in the Park, including pikas and amphibians. Here is the link to Jesse’s presentation. 

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND SPECIAL RESOLUTION 

Bow Valley Naturalists Society (C.A.N. #505958561) 

Tuesday, March 5th 7:30 pm, Catharine Robb Whyte Building, 101 Bear Street, Banff, Alberta

Followed by Streams Of Consequence: readings By Lorne Fitch. 

Members are encouraged to join us for our Annual General Meeting when the Board will present a set of updated bylaws. We will ask for a member’s motion to vote on a special resolution to accept the new bylaws and submit them to the Government of Alberta for certification. The proposed special resolution: 

“Be it resolved that the bylaws of the Society are amended as follows:  By repealing the bylaws in their entirety and substituting therefore the bylaws attached to this resolution.” 

The proposed new bylaws to be attached are available here. 

We will also provide a brief review of the year’s activities and hold an election of directors for the coming year. Please let us know if you would like to be nominated as a director and join our hard-working volunteer board in this important time to stand up for ecological integrity in the Bow Valley. 

Following the brief formalities of the AGM, conservation biologist Lorne Fitch will talk about his new book Streams of Consequence, a collection of stories and essays about Alberta’s natural world. Lorne will also sell and sign copies of his informative and inspiring book after the event. 

It’s Time to Get Involved! 

These are exciting and challenging times for protecting ecosystem values in the Bow Valley. Protecting the last remnants of wildlife movement corridors is at the fore. The municipalities of Banff and Canmore are both dealing with development proposals that will further degrade the opportunities for wildlife to find their way through and around the ever-expanding effects of humanity in the Bow Valley. Aside from wildlife movement corridor concerns, these developments will result in direct loss of habitat, increased threats to species at risk, and have raised concerns about exceeding the commercial development cap in Banff townsite (e.g., Banff Avenue outdoor seating). In some cases, these proposals will use rare pockets of land for discretionary uses, such as more retail outlets and new gondolas, that could compromise opportunities to use rarely available land for the robust public transportation and social infrastructure that is urgently called for. This ongoing cycle of development is perhaps what is really meant by the term “circular economy” in our Bow Valley communities. It is now critical that those who want to ensure ecosystems are protected become meaningfully engaged in the public processes associated with these developments. 

There have been frequent articles on these topics in recent newsletters. We encourage readers to get informed, visit the websites of the organizations that are speaking up for our valley ecosystems and take an active part, in person and in writing, to let all levels of government know that the Bow Valley and Banff National Park is at a critical turning point. 

Town of Banff Railway Lands ARP – Click here for Information and Public Processes 

A proposal for forest removal in Banff National Park for a new private vehicle parking lot and a continued proposal for an already rejected gondola in a wildlife corridor are included. A large presence of individual and voices in favour of ecosystem protection, the National Parks Act and the ecosystem protection components of Banff’s Environmental Management Plan, will be essential. The public hearing into the Railway Lands ARP on March 20 will be important. As listed at the above link, and aside from writing personal letters, input opportunities include an on-line survey, a focus group session on February 14, a public workshop February 20, and the critical public hearing on March 20. 

Snapshot from the Banff Railway Lands ARP available on the Town of Banff website. The left orange area is where it is proposed to remove natural forest in the Fenlands wildlife corridor between the current parking lot and the railway tracks in exchange for a parking lot. 

Protecting Town of Canmore Wildlife Corridors 

Bow Valley Engage is working hard to trigger a new environmental review of controversial developments based on environmental review that was conducted 30 years ago. Support BVE in the effort and let the provincial government know how silly, and irresponsible it is in a time of rapidly evolving ecosystem science, to allow developments to proceed based on scientific information that belongs in the archives. Stay informed, write letters, and join the on-line letter campaign on the BVE website. 

Learn about these and other important issues from organizations that are also active in protecting the Bow Valley: 

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society 

Alberta Wilderness Association 

Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative 

Banff National Park Planning Forum – A Public Session Returns 

The Banff National Park Planning Forum will be held Wednesday, February 28th at the Banff Park Lodge and will consist of one full day of round table meetings for invited interest groups plus an evening session open to the public. The evening session will include select presentations from Parks Canada experts showcasing research and trends in conservation and visitor use in Banff National Park. The evening session will be open (by RSVP) to the public, media, stakeholders, Parks Canada staff, and invited guests.  

Colleen Campbell Receives NiCHe Award 

The Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE) is a Canadian-based confederation of researchers and educators who work at the intersection of nature and history. NiCHE explores the historical context of environmental matters and communicate their findings to researchers, policymakers, and the public. Dr. Tina Loo of the University of British Columbia with Canmore resident and BVN director Colleen Campbell are winners of the 2023 NiCHE Prize for Best Article or Book Chapter in Canadian Environmental History. The award celebrates Chapter 11 of a recent book of animal histories, Traces of the Animal Past (University of Calgary Press). 

The award-winning writing collaboration was stimulated by Colleen’s solo show at the Whyte Museum entitled Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bears: Each One is Sacred, which ran through autumn of 2018. The show featured twelve panels about the Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear Project which ran from 1994 until 2003. Pivoting off Colleen’s work , as well as recent stories of collared Grizzly bear GB 148, Tina wrote a blog called The Bow Valley and ‘People’ Without a History, that was posted to Niche. The blog led Tina and Colleen to collaborate on a paper, which they presented at a small conference at York University late in 2019. The paper kept Colleen and Tina busy during Covid as it was critiqued, rewritten, edited and peer-reviewed. All that work culminated with the award and Niche editors including Making Tracks: A Grizzly and Entangled History in their 2023 year-end list of recommended readings. Congratulations Colleen and Tina! 

DONATIONS & THANKS! 

In thanks to Parks Canada and to Jesse Whittington for his recent presentation, Bow Valley Naturalists have made a small donation to support Jonathon Farr’s attendance, in June, at the North American Congress for Conservation Biology in Vancouver to present some of his current research. 

Jonathon started working with the Banff resource conservation team following graduation from the University of Alberta with his Honours BSc in ecology, evolution and environmental biology. He is now at University of Montana, studying the bison reintroduced to Banff National Park to assess possible interactions with elk and sheep in their shared habitat. Jonathon is also working on some smaller related projects in the Park. 

Collaborations and story-telling about research in our national parks are both important to help us understand ecosystems and that that there is a great deal to value and protect in our national parks. All that work also has implications for ecosystems within and beyond the Park’s boundaries. For example, a recent decision to list wolverine as endangered in continental United States referred to recent studies of wolverine in southwestern Canada, including our mountain national parks. 

BVN is grateful for the numerous donations that allow us to do the things we do. Funds we receive pay for ongoing administrative expenses such as website subscription, support for our program series expenses, and MAPS operational expenses. These donations also allow us to pool funds to support other researchers and organizations. All BVN’s routine administrative tasks, including Board activities and preparing the newsletter, are done by volunteers. Please use the donation button at the bottom of our web pages if you wish to support the work we do. 

Of Wild Things

The Art of Protecting Pines at Risk 

It seems that those who work to protect species at risk get inspired by their work. Thanks to Jon Berlie from Burly Creations for making the tree rap video Bringin’ Em Back!

“AKA Jon Berlie and I’m baggin’ up early, 

I can’t ration my passion for planning trees 

Like Nutcrackers love cachin’ dem seeds…” 

Jon gave a live demo at the 2023 Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation Annual Conference as part of his presentation on “Improving Five-Needle Pine Restoration and Planting Success: A Tree Planter’s Perspective.” 

And here is an inspiring 14-minute video about Hope and Restoration: Saving the Whitebark Pine shared by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. 

Watcher in the Trees by Debra Hornsby 

If you’ve skied or hiked the Banff trails, perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to spot an American Marten (Martes americana) in the wild. Undoubtably, a Marten has likely seen you! Marten are members of the mustelid or weasel family, with the elongated body, prominent ears, pointy face, and luxuriant fur that are the hallmarks of all weasels. They are most active at night, and often rest in the crook of a tree trunk during the day, surveying their territory between naps. Perhaps you have paused on a forested trail, and glanced up to see what looks like a cross between a Mink and a house-cat watching you. A great photo op, but be warned, Marten are fierce predators. 

Marten are common in Banff National Park and are active year-round. Their thick glossy fur, reddish brown on their body and black-tipped on their legs and bushy tail, insulates them from the winter cold. Males can be as long 60 centimetres (with that bushy tail included) and weigh one-and-a half kilograms. Females are approximately 15 percent smaller. 

American Marten move with great ease in trees. They mark trails from branch to branch with their strong scent glands. But they do most of their hunting on the forest floor. Their dietary staples are mice, voles, frogs, berries, small birds, rabbits, and insects, but a hungry Marten will eat just about anything it can catch. Martens will pursue squirrels though the treetops, poach eggs from bird nests, and forage in woodpiles and cabins. In the winter, a Marten’s furry paws allow it to scamper over the snow, diving into drifts in search of voles and mice. 

Summer weather brings thoughts of love. Marten are polygamous, and often vocal, grunting and caterwauling, when pursuing a mate. Before mating, a pair will sometimes wrestle and play together. Females do not become pregnant immediately. Fertilized eggs spend about 200 days in a kind of suspended animation before they are implanted in the uterus of the mother. Come spring, females construct dens in tree trunks, snags, or squirrel middens, lining them with dried plant material. The two or three blind and naked kits are born in late March to early April. Kits are entirely dependent on their mothers, and are not weaned for six weeks, shortly after their eyes open. They grow to adult size in three to four months, and do not generally breed until their second year. 

Marten seem genuinely curious about human activity. Brian Keating tells the story of waking after an overnight sojourn in a quinzee (snow igloo) during a winter trip not far from Lake O’Hara. There were marten tracks in the snow around and over the quinzee, and the marten had clearly climbed to the top of the snow dome and peered down into the ventilation hole to look at the sleeping campers. 

Overnight guests at backcountry huts would do well to heed Ben Gadd’s memorable tale of a tussle between a Marten and a roast chicken: 

“At Mosquito Creek Hostel, a very bold marten came down the chimney early one morning in February when I was there. It rattled around in the cold firebox of the wood-burning kitchen stove. The hostelers, snug in their sleeping bags, thought that someone had gotten up to start the fire, but no crackling ensued, so I investigated. Here was the marten trying to make off with half a chicken we had left out on the table the night before. Quickly it dragged the bird off the table, across the floor and under the woodbox, where I could hear it crunching away, growling. This annoyed me; there went the chicken sandwiches! So, I poked it with a broom handle and out it came snarling. Yikes! A couple of other people had got up to enjoy the growing fiasco, and I yelled at one of them to open the front door, intending to lob the marten out with a flick of the broom. But the marten was way ahead of me. It quickly dashed back to the woodbox, grabbed the chicken, and was out the door before I could deliver a swat.” Score that Marten 1, Hikers 0! 

Reprinted with permission from Handbook of the Canadian Rockies 

Dining Habits of a Dipper 

When watching birds eat their meal it seems the objective is to get the food down the gullet as fast and any way it will fit. But apparently not always so with Dippers. Click the picture to see how this Dipper seems to prepare its minnow meal before swallowing and washing it down before a dip in 40 Mile Creek. 

2023 MAPS Report and More 

Cyndi Smith, who manages the Ranger Creek site for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) has submitted her 2023 MAPS Final Report. The MAPS program is operated by the Institute for Bird Populations. Their 2023 Annual Report has some interesting articles including one on page 7 about the timing mismatch between earlier spring and arrival of migratory birds in seasons such as the early spring we experienced last year. 

Cyndi is also very active with the Western Bird Banding Association. WBBA hold frequent webinars relating to bird monitoring and science. These sessions are recorded and posted on the WBBA web site. BVN members may be interested in recent presentations by Cyndi talking about Harlequin Ducks and another discussing the use of audio lures during migration. There is also a presentation on Saw-whet Owls by Geof Holroyd posted there. You can register for webinar notifications and attend the live webinars. 

Thanks to Cyndi for all she does to help us understand and protect birds. 

Results of the 48th Annual Christmas Bird Count 

By Heather Dempsey 

Unlike last year’s Count conditions with strong winds, blowing snow and a mean wind chill that hampered our efforts, Banff-Canmore Christmas Bird Count, Saturday, December 16, 2023 was balmy but breezy. Many participants reveled in being able to record observations without mitts. Like last year, we once again recorded a total of 44 different species (plus 4 during Count Week) and a little higher number of individual birds, with 2296 this year compared to 2090 in 2022. 

Collectively, 86 participants spent over 100 hours out in the field, covering a few hundred kilometres to do it. These results are on the average side of our long term data (go to our CBC webpage to compare), but, like every year, there are surprises and disappointments compared to previous counts. 

Mallards were a plenty in shallow waters in both Canmore and Banff, but we found very few waterfowl on the Bow River. Two Western Grebes were counted at the fully open Lake Minnewanka. In fact, they were known to be there several weeks prior to the Count and still seen after Christmas, before the colder nights set in. Six Green-WingedTeal were seen at the Cave & Basin Marsh on Count Day as well as a Northern Shrike there during Count Week. 

A highlight for the Cave & Basin team was having Rocky Mountain Outlook photographer Min start her day with us. Her enthusiasm was infectious, especially when an adult Bald Eagle flew overhead (a second eagle was seen in Canmore). Her photos in the Outlook are much appreciated, as is Matthew Thompson’s coverage in the Outlook, too. 

Not one, but two Northern Pygmy-Owls were seen in Canmore. Cyndi Smith and Peter Achuff heard one on the sunny side of the valley in Canmore. The other entry came from elsewhere in the valley. A total of three Ruffed Grouse were counted in both Banff and Canmore. A single Tree Sparrow was seen in Canmore. This bird has only been seen four times on our Counts since 1975. As usual, most of the different woodpecker species were counted, plus the usual members of the Corvid Family (Jays, Nutcrackers, Crows, Ravens and Magpies). We counted 144 Bohemian waxwings this year, a drop from our all-time high of 1769 in 2018, but way up from the 32 in 2022. We had a decent round-up of Dippers in various patches of open water. There were fewer numbers of species and individuals of small birds. We hope it was the wind that was keeping them hidden. 

A final highlight to the day was to once again gather afterwards for a potluck in Banff where we shared delicious food and stories of the day. Want to join the fun next year? Mark Saturday, December 14th, 2024 on your calendar. Here is what we saw: 

Mallard	167	Common Raven	202
Green-winged Teal	6	Black-capped Chickadee	98
Bufflehead	2	Mountain Chickadee	405
Common Goldeneye	CW	Boreal Chickadee	47
Goldeneye sp.	5	Chickadee sp.	43
Common Merganser	2	Red-breasted Nuthatch	68
Ruffed Grouse	3	White-breasted Nuthatch	10
Western Grebe	2	Brown Creeper	6
Northern Goshawk	CW	American Dipper	24
Bald Eagle	2	Golden-crowned Kinglet	4
Wilson’s (Common) Snipe	2	Townsend’s Solitaire	2
Rock Pigeon (feral pigeon)	8	American Robin	3
Northern Pygmy Owl	2	Bohemian Waxwing	144
Belted Kingfisher	CW	American Tree Sparrow	1
Downy Woodpecker	9	Dark-eyed Junco	2
Hairy Woodpecker	9	Song Sparrow	2
A. 3-toed Woodpecker	8	Rusty Blackbird	2
Northern Flicker	2	Pine Grosbeak	117
Pileated Woodpecker	2	Red Crossbill	8
Northern Shrike	CW	White-winged Crossbill	14
Canada Jay	33	Crossbill sp.	1
Steller’s Jay	2	Common Redpoll	24
Blue Jay	21	Pine Siskin	4
Clark’s Nutcracker	42	House Sparrow	468
Black-billed Magpie	163
American Crow	2	# of species: Count Day/ Week	44/ 4
		# of individual birds	2296

A number of BVN members reported seeing interesting mushrooms this past season. The gallery below features some of the pictures we received from Deb Hornsby, and an interesting association between a fungus and ice forming on dead wood under special conditions in deciduous forests. We ran the mushroom pictures past our resident BVN expert, Diane McIvor, for the identifications. Visit the BVN Mushroom Primer on our web page to learn more. 

What Members Read, Watch and Listen to

If you have recommendations, fiction or non-fiction, that share science or perspectives of our natural world (see this section in previous BVN Newsletters) send them along with the author, title, year of publication and a sentence about what makes the suggestion interesting to you. 

Wildlife of the North by Halle Flygare et al. 

Halle sent us this note: ”I have enclosed the front cover of my new book published by Firerfly Books. It was a joint book project together with Valerius Geist, Geoffrey Holroyd and Wayne Lynch. The book covers the flora and fauna from the Northern Hemisphere up to the Arctic from the Pribilof Islands, Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard Islands, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Being a Swede and member of the 150 Swedish Nature Photographers, the book had a good success as well with my relatives and friends over there. The book is available at Whyte Museum Book Shop. Gabby has turned it into an excellent bookstore.” 

Museums and Societal Collapse: The Museum as Lifeboat by Robert Janes. 

And this note came in directly from Robert Janes: “Dear Board and Staff, I am sending this announcement for my new book, Museums and Societal Collapse: The Museum as Lifeboat. I am sending this link which includes a summary of each chapter. Please also see this announcement from the American Association for the Advancement of Science for a good summary. Although the word “museum” appears in the title, this book is relevant to all civil society organizations and the health of the Planet. I look forward to hearing from you.” 

The Story of More – How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go From Here by Hope Jahren. 

Hard to believe we still need this book, but this is a great resource for telling the long story short(er). This follows Jaren’s award-winning memoir Lab Girl and, as in that book, she uses her teaching notes and personal stories to present an easy to read, yet provocative work that you will want to pass on to any resistant reader to make sense of “how we got here”. Her personal mantra: “use less, share more.” 

Drawing Botany Home: A Rooted Life by Lyn Baldwin. 

This book was Winner of the 2023 Banff Mountain Book Festival award for Environmental Literature. According to the judges “Drawing Botany Home could not be a more perfect title for this beautiful and insightful look at the importance of our place as individuals in an ecosystem that nurtures us. With reverence for the diversity and minutia of flora, Lyn Baldwin has shared her own journey with elegant renderings to capture the essence of how nature nurtures, mentors, grounds and heals.” 

Slime Mold 101: Meet the Genius Without a Brain by Kate Losey. 

This article from the newsletter of the Biomimicry Institute is a fascinating look at an amazing organism in the landscape around us. From the introduction we get “It’s been a consultant for NASA, shot at by police and mistaken for an alien. How slime mold, a brainless, single-celled organism, mapped the dark universe, keeps challenging the top minds to rethink what intelligence even is and has an ability to fill us with wonder beyond the human kind.” If you are the least bit curious about slime molds this first in a series of articles on them is for you. 

Conversations with Birds by Priyanka Kumar 2022. 

The author, who grew up in the Assam region of India, finds herself disconnected from the nature of her childhood when she moves to North America. In poetic prose (but complete with scientific names) Kumar chronicles her growing connection to nature, particularly birds, in her adopted home. A filmmaker by vocation, she brings her artist’s eye to her descriptions of the world around her. 

Birding Under the Influence: Cycling Across America in Search of Birds and Recovery by Dorian Anderson. 

Disillusioned with experimental failures in his biomedical research, the author undertakes a “Big Year” to find as many species of birds as he can in the USA in one year, by bicycle! He eventually pedals over 28,000 kms in his quest to find 600 species. Alongside the story of adventure, and some misadventure, he looks back on his descent into alcoholism and drug addiction, and his recovery from both. Funny, poignant, and a good read. 

Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada 

The newsletter of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada is always a good read. 

Network in Canadian History and Environment 

Check out the NiCHE year-end list of recommended readings. 

From Andrew Nikiforuk 

These references were provided by Andrew Nikiforuk following, and in support of, his November Program. The titles alone tell the story he told… 

Andrew Nikiforuk: The Energy of Slaves 

Art Berman: The Impossible Dream of Emissions Reduction 

Derrick Jensen: Bright Green Lies 

Eric Cline: 1177BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed 

Guillaume Patron: The Rare Metals War 

Iain McGilchrist: The Master and His Emissary 

Ian Morris: Why The West Rules for Now 

Ivan Illich: Energy and Equity 

Jacques Ellul: The Technological Society 

Jeffrey P. Greenmail et al: Understanding Jacques Ellul 

Kurt Vonnegut: A Man Without A Country 

Nate Hagens: Listen to The Great Simplification 

Peter Turchin: End Times or War, Peace, War 

Siddharth Kara: Cobalt Red 

Tom Murphy: Do the Math articles 

Vaclav Smil: Numbers Don’t Lie 

William Ophuls: Electrifying the Titanic 

William Ophuls: Immoderate Greatness: Why Civilizations Fail 

You may come across situations or observations that you want to tell the authorities about. We recommend you have these phone numbers handy. Remember, cell phone coverage is spotty in the mountains so take notes if you need to move on to make a call.

• Ambulance, Fire Department, Police (RCMP): 911
• Banff Dispatch: 403-762-4506 for Park-related emergency only (avalanche, forest fire, mountain rescue, etc.)
• Banff Dispatch: 403-762-1470 for Park non-emergency (e.g. bear or large carnivore sightings, human-wildlife conflicts, injured animal, illegal park activities such as fire, camping, drones)
• Kananaskis: Call 310-5263 for bear, cougar and problem wildlife sightings, illegal activities or to help report damage to public land, noise complaints and general land-related inquiries and information requests. To report a poacher, call 1-800-642-3800 or fill out an online report. If you wish to remain anonymous while reporting a crime, phone 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).