Adventures for Wilderness, Walk and Wonder in the Elbow River Watershed – August 7, 2024
August 8, 2024
- •
- •
- •
Text and photos by Lindsey Wallis
We met our Adventure host Flora Giesbrecht from the Elbow River Watershed Partnership in the early evening light at the West Bragg Creek parking lot. The group was eager to learn more about the beavers who make their home here and why they are so important to our watersheds.
Flora explained how beavers and their dams help keep water on the landscape, making it more resistant to fire and flood. Visual aids with velcro helped her illustrate how much a beaver can change its environment. As we walked to our next destination we were visited by the cows that are grazed in the park for part of the summer. Along the way, Flora pointed out some rewilding and coexistence efforts undertaken by ERWP. Willow saplings were being planted along the creek bank to create riparian habitat and one of the hiking trails had been decommissioned to make room for the beaver pond and the higher trail was being protected from erosion by soft barriers.
Just as dusk was settling we hear the telltale “SMACK” of a beaver’s tail hitting the water as an alarm call. Everyone got a good look at one of the pond residents swimming through their pond.
