Calgary Herald

WHY NOSE CREEK LAND SHOULD BE PROTECTED

Developmen­t plans could threaten a valuable natural space, Beverly Sandalack and Andrew Yule write.

- Bev Sandalack is a professor at the School of Architectu­re, Planning + Landscape at the University of Calgary and Andrew Yule is the founder of the Save Nose Creek advocacy group.

When Calgary council declared a climate emergency in November 2021, the city's climate plan included the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to extreme weather. So far, however, the strategy is quiet on the subject of parks and open space systems and on the potential of the landscape to help address climate change.

Also in 2021, shortly before council's decision, the Climate Action Commitment was ratified by the Internatio­nal Federation of Landscape Architects and the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects along with others. Among their concerns are the reduction of carbon emissions, protection of natural environmen­ts and developmen­t of innovative changes to planning and design in order to help prevent the catastroph­ic environmen­tal and societal breakdowns often associated with climate change. Parks and open space systems must play a role in this.

Calgary's premiere public space and one of its most important defining features is the river path system. This interconne­cted network totals more than 800 kilometres of pathways and public spaces and another 300 kilometres of bikeways and cycle tracks. The river path system was the result of a visionary and ambitious Urban Parks Master Plan, adopted in

1991, although it had been proposed almost a century earlier in Thomas Mawson's 1914 Calgary Plan. Today it seems like an inevitable part of the city form but is not yet complete or comprehens­ive enough.

Most people are familiar with the paths along the Bow and Elbow rivers, however, there is another watercours­e that is just as important. Nose Creek is a multi-branched tributary of the Bow that originates north of Crossfield, passes through Airdrie and parts of Calgary, and ultimately joins the Bow just east of the zoo. It has a watershed of almost 1,000 square kilometres. More than simply a watercours­e, Nose Creek is an area with a rich history and archeologi­cal importance with centuries of Aboriginal use, later as the site of the Calgary-edmonton wagon trail, and now at the intersecti­on of residentia­l, transporta­tion and industrial land use areas.

Nose Creek is also an important wildlife corridor and part of the vast ecological spine of the Calgary metropolit­an region. Despite its obvious importance, the creek and adjacent lands have deteriorat­ed significan­tly due to encroachin­g developmen­t and the many often-competing land uses. Parts of the creek have been channelize­d, reducing the overall length of the creek and the amount of habitat. Many sections have been used as dumping grounds or polluted by runoff. The cumulative results are the eliminatio­n of naturally occurring vegetation, deteriorat­ion in water quality, destructio­n of habitat, increases in erosion, destructio­n of historical and cultural resources and Aboriginal landscapes and a compromise­d visual landscape.

Within the city of Calgary's Nose Creek watershed, the area between Country Hills Boulevard and Stoney Trail forms one contiguous piece of land that has not yet been developed. However, there are several (and currently unrelated) projects and plans that will impact the area over the next decade, and that focus on industrial developmen­t.

But what if, instead of allowing this area to be nibbled up, city hall took a more visionary leadership role and designated it as a municipal park? Or better yet, what if the Nose Creek corridor became a provincial or national urban park?

There are several precedents for this. Nose Hill Park and Fish Creek Park, important ecological and recreation areas that distinguis­h the north and south areas of Calgary, were formed through the efforts and insights of concerned citizens and academics and ultimately the municipal and provincial administra­tions responsibl­e for park designatio­ns.

The Save Nose Creek Committee was recently formed with the goal of protecting Nose Creek and advocating the designatio­n of part of Nose Creek as an urban park. The group's preservati­on advocacy falls into four categories: biodiversi­ty, community green space, history and watershed. The work of the advocacy group supplement­s the ongoing efforts by the Nose Creek Watershed Partnershi­p, a group that has worked since 1998 to bring together the cities of Calgary and Airdrie, Rocky View County and the Calgary Airport Authority to protect the riparian areas and improve water quality in the Nose Creek watershed.

Some of the plans and projects affecting the Nose Creek corridor were developed at a time when our ideas and values were different from what they are now. Calgary now seems to have entered a phase of urban developmen­t where ideas about sustainabi­lity and sense of place, together with a concern for the public realm, are part of the value systems of society and should be the drivers behind municipal planning, budgets and developmen­t.

The perils of the 21st-century city include the uncertaint­ies of climate change, decline in species diversity, concerns about sustainabi­lity, loss of sense of place and now pandemics. The last years revealed worldwide how important parks and open spaces are, as population­s relied on them in new ways for recreation, exercise and distanced social interactio­n.

Parks and open spaces need to be thought of as more than just “green space,” which is a term that suggests a benign area with mowed grass and ornamental plantings. In addition to their recreation­al, esthetic or ecological role, they have profound social and public health values and play a huge part in shaping the identity of neighbourh­oods and cities. The Nose Creek valley has for too long been considered a backwater and not valued as much as the Bow and Elbow rivers have. Loss of even a small amount of natural space is a negative propositio­n, but there is an opportunit­y to think differentl­y about parks and open space systems. Rather than developing on top of current natural open space, another approach is to build on what currently exists and make a more extensive and interconne­cted park system.

In 2013, Christophe Girot, the renowned professor of landscape architectu­re, wrote about a time “when cities had the courage to define their branding around an all-encompassi­ng vision of landscape.”

The imperative­s of the climate change emergency, economic realities and the stresses of the pandemic may potentiall­y lead to the developmen­t of new ways of planning and designing landscape systems, including parks and open spaces, that could also reframe the city image. Designatio­n of the Nose Creek corridor as a provincial or national urban park could go a long way toward making an even better and more visionary city.

 ?? GAVIN YOUNG ?? Andrew Yule and Bev Sandalack take a walk outdoors with Nose Creek in the background near Coventry Hills. The two are aiming to generate interest in turning all of the Nose Creek natural areas into one large park.
GAVIN YOUNG Andrew Yule and Bev Sandalack take a walk outdoors with Nose Creek in the background near Coventry Hills. The two are aiming to generate interest in turning all of the Nose Creek natural areas into one large park.

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