Columbia Valley Guide
Bears Without Fear
Kevin van Tighem started his Parks Canada career in Kootenay National Park. The bears are out and, within the next month, Kevin’s new book will be too. It is intended to make western North America’s bear country more safe and rewarding both for bears and people.
He will be donating 5% of his royalties from this book to WildSmart Bow Valley to support their important work helping people and bears coexist, and a further 10% to the Nature Conservancy of Canada to support their important work protecting the natural places bears need to survive.
Kevin says “I strongly believe in the importance of independent bookstores and to that end I have arranged that anyone who pre-orders Bears Without Fear through Cafe Books in Canmore, Pages on Kensington in Calgary or Audrey’s Books in Edmonton ...Full story
Tent cabins come to national parks
Is it a tent or a cabin? Kootenay National Park has announced a new kind of camping experience this year. oTENTiks are coming soon to Banff, Jasper and Kootenay National Parks. Parks Canada presents a unique mix of home comfort and adventure in the great outdoors
Parks Canada is pleased to announce a new visitor opportunity in the mountain parks with the launch of oTENTiks –- a cross between a prospector’s tent and a cabin in the woods. Twenty new oTENTik camping sites will be coming to Banff and Kootenay national parks in the summer of 2013, with 10 more slated to open in Jasper National Park in 2014. A single prototype oTENTik opened in Jasper National Park in 2012.
...Full story
Burgess Shale discovery changes understanding of evolution
Discovery pushes fossil record back 200 million years.
Canada’s 505 million year-old Burgess Shale fossil beds, located in Yoho National Park, have yielded yet another major scientific discovery – this time with the unearthing of a strange phallus-shaped creature.
A study to be published online in the journal Nature on March 13 confirms Spartobranchus tenuis is a member of the acorn worms, seldom-seen animals that thrive today in the fine sands and mud of shallow and deeper waters. Acorn worms – also known as enteropneusts – are themselves part of the hemichordates, a group of marine animals closely related to today’s sea stars and sea urchins.
“Unlike animals with teeth and bones, these spaghetti-shaped creatures were soft-bodied, so the fossil record for them is ...Full story
Parks Canada focus on wildlife safety
Wildlife alert issued after reports of wildlife being fed and several black bears struck on park roads.
July 18, 2012 press release –
Parks Canada asks visitors to drive carefullyand avoid feeding animals.
Parks Canada is issuing a wildlife alert for Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks and is asking motorists to drive carefully and refrain from feeding animals on mountain park roads.
Wildlife face considerable risks this time of year. Wolves and black bears are two species of particular concern. With record-breaking snowfall last winter and a late melt in spring, many remain in valley bottoms in search of food, placing them in close proximity to roads and increasing the probability of accidents.
Seven black bears have been killed on roads in Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national ...Full story
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