Fall Watershed Forum

Increasing Capacity for Watershed Conservation

September 17, 2010
8:00 am - 3:00 pm
Calgary Water Centre - Bow River Conference Room

Bringing together a diversity of private, non-profit and government sector stakeholders, who are on-the-ground or fund watershed initiatives in the Calgary region.

Join us to discuss watershed conservation, share ideas and build capacity!

Keynote Speaker Glen Tjostheim, Senior Planner, Land Use Secretariat will be opening the Forum with a discussion of the Land Use Framework focusing on the South Saskatchewan Plan and the Land Stewardship Act.

This forum will include panel discussion, breakout sessions, networking opportunities and lunch. The event is free, however registration is required and must be completed by September 3rd.

Cynthia Goddard
Project Assistant
Western Sky Land Trust
P: 403-268-4825
F: 403-268-6931
E: Cynthia.Goddard@calgary.ca

http://www.westernskylandtrust.ca/

Oil Sands Pollute with Fish-Killing Toxins, New Study Shows

"Despite repeated government claims that the world's largest energy project doesn't contaminate the Athabasca River, a new scientific study released today shows that air pollution from the oil sands industry combined with extensive watershed destruction has released a highly toxic brew of heavy metals into northern waterways.

The study, published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), also found that the levels of heavy metals detected from snow runoff or downstream of industrial development exceeded Canadian and Alberta guidelines for protecting fish and aquatic life for seven out of 13 pollutants studied. In some cases metal contamination exceeded guidelines by 30-fold."

Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/2cc2fcv

Via: http://thetyee.ca/

Rain Gear and Pelicans

This was a good day for rain gear and pelicans. As forecaster Vicki Chase wrote on CTV.ca Calgary: “Who would think we'd be reporting an eight degree daytime high in August!”

However, that didn’t keep the fly fishers away. Similar to another recent rainy day, more than two dozen boats were floating various sections of the Bow River.

Slow go on the Bow

A float trip on the Bow River at this time might take a little bit longer than in other years.

The flow rate is hovering at around 65-67 m3/sec. The long term average for the end of August is around 90 m3/sec.

In fact, in an “average” year, we don’t see flows in the 65 m3/sec range until the end of September.

Guess what happened

"We were on the river at Fish Creek Park at 8:30. Right away, Jim hooked a nice fish but before I could tell him what to do , as it was his first time in a drift boat, the fish went down one side of the bridge pillar and the boat down the other. Guess what happened.

Anyway, it was a fair day with about 10 fish to the boat with that many lost. Most were caught on SJW with a couple on a Copper John. Good weather until we were caught in a rain and hail storm for the last hour. Got wet but that goes with the game.

Thanks for the continued great service."

Aug 21, 2010
22X to McKinnon Flats

Thanks to Ron H. for this report.

This fishing report, and others, appear in this week's issue of the "River Report".

To receive your own copy of the weekly Bow River Shuttles "River Report", simply send a request to michelle@bowrivershuttles.com

The subscription is complementary, and is available to any interested person.

The Water Log

1. In Situ oil sands – get ready for massive water demands in northern and central Alberta
2. Working with local Communities — community engagement for watershed protection
3. Upper Bow Basin study points to need for serious land-use choices
4. Why municipal elections matter
5. “Remarkable Beyond Borders” conference will explore policies of place

Anyone who lives in the Bow Basin and fly fishes the Bow River will be interested in the Upper Bow Basin study noted in item #3 above.

Read newsletter here:
http://www.water-matters.org/enews/archive/2010-08.html

Hatch Activity on the Lower Bow River

It was a good day to be on the Bow River.

Lots of hatch activity in the late morning.

A Smooth Road to McKinnon Flats

Last spring, we were very happy to learn that the gravel road leading to McKinnon Flats (Range Road 274) was slated to be hard topped. The job was done in July, using tar and chip paving, also called “chip sealing”.

However, by this spring, potholes were developing at many spots on the road. Those were patched up earlier in the summer. And then, about two weeks ago, equipment was brought in to do another layer of chip sealing. That job was completed just prior to this past weekend.

This road benefits many hundreds of fly fishers each season. A smooth road certainly makes for less wear and tear on vehicles and boat trailers.

River of Light takes over the Bow River in Calgary

The colored globes float downstream from Edworthy Park
as the "Sources and River of Light" art project takes over
the Bow River.

Photograph by: Ted Rhodes, Calgary Herald

The Bow River becomes a living work of art as 500 globes float downstream from Edworthy Park in the “Sources: River of Light” art project Saturday night.

More images of this special event at Photo Gallery, Calgary Herald http://tinyurl.com/39xx5c9

Trout Season 2010

From: Rodney H [mailto]
Sent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 10:49 AM
To: michelle@bowrivershuttles.com
Subject: Trout Season 2010.

Dear Michelle,

Once again thank you for the Shuttle Service it is a great service however I shall miss the Werthers, can you send me some Werthers each month only joshing.

Your Service is the Best a pity we could not use it more often when I am in Calgary, the Bow was it's usual good self during the three trips, one wade and walk and two floats we had over twenty trout on each of the two floats nothing smaller than twenty inches on the Walk and Wade a twenty Three inch Brown Hen on the second cast of the day and as the day wore on it just got better. You knew you had been out on a good day's fishing when the end came.

We did a lot of fishing in Montana and the Southern Alberta Border Area it too was good yes, but not like the Bow we had a lot of good healthy trout and some Big Cutthroats and we lost an unseen fish which was the Biggest to date whether it was a Trout or Pike or Sucker we will never know but it was big and heavy and had some awesome power. That's Life win some lose some.

All the Very Best to your good self and A and the Shuttle crews. See you again in 2012 am going to fish Northern Europe next year so Canada will be without me.

Rod H.

Warwickshire
England.

Bow River Flow returns to Memorial Drive

Eco Buzz

Compiled by Trent Edwards,
Calgary Herald
August 20, 2010


Bow River Flow returns to Memorial Drive

Event - Pedestrians and other non-motorized traffic will take over Memorial Drive on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The second annual Bow River Flow, a free festival that encourages sustainable transportation and active lifestyles, will create a lane reduction on the usually busy thoroughfare for pedestrians, cyclists, in-line skaters and people in wheelchairs.

The 2010 Bow River Flow route will be along Memorial Drive between 9th Street and 4th Street N.W., where vehicle traffic will be reduced to two lanes (one lane for eastbound traffic and one lane for westbound traffic).

The motor vehicle lane reduction will allow two lanes to be opened for festival tents, children's games, and fitness activities. The festival's hub will be at 7th Street N.W. and Memorial Drive. The hub will feature road hockey games, a skateboard park, an area for children to play, fitness activities, bike polo demonstrations and live music.

The festival is Calgary's answer to similar events that have blossomed in cities across the country, such as Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver. It will offer six TuneStations that will pair live music performances with bicycle tune-ups and fitness activities. People can enjoy live music performances at each TuneStation while joining in fitness activities such as Pilates. Other fitness stations will offer walking, running, hockey, skateboarding, laughter, yoga and massage.

The day will culminate in a costume and music procession from 7th Street to Eau Claire Market.

For more details on the festival route, visit http://www.bowriverflow.ca/.

Via: Calgary Herald http://tinyurl.com/2bn2p8v

The Smokey Bow River

The smoke from the BC fires, which has blanketed much of Alberta for the past two days, helped create some ghostly images and scenery along the lower Bow River.

Here is a bit of what we saw yesterday.

River of Light begins on the Bow

For seven days, the Bow River will become a living art installation that maps the physical and social demands on our precious waterway that runs through the heart of our city.

UK-based Creatmosphere Studio will be using the latest lighting technology and colourful balloons that become illuminated at night in their artistic representation that focuses our attention on the intricacies and interdependencies of Bow River's life cycle and water sources.

The event, titled SOURCES and River of Light, includes a series of river-based installations along a 7.5km stretch of the Bow River from Edworthy Park to Prince's Island Park, August 14 - 21.

The pinnacle event takes place Aug. 21 at dusk with the release of 500, 80 cm balloons that will float down the Bow from Edworthy to Prince's Island, where they will float into the lagoon.

River of Light: http://tinyurl.com/2bjq9q9

Celebration of the Bow River 2010: http://tinyurl.com/295fe2b

Hopper season is here

Courtesy: Paul M. Click directly on the photo for a larger image.
You'll be glad you did!

August 15, 2010. McKinnon Flats to Carseland

The fishing has been awesome with fish taking hoppers off the bank.

Copper Johns have been working.

Trico's on the surface showing up early and then again late in the evenings.

- THANKS TO PAUL M. FOR THIS FISHING REPORT AND FOR THE AWESOME PHOTO!

To receive your own copy of the Bow River Shuttles (mostly) weekly "River Report", simply send a request to michelle@bowrivershuttles.com.

The subscription is complementary, and is available to any interested person.

One tough camera

Stuff Sack

Compiled by Trent Edwards,
Calgary Herald
August 19, 2010

One tough camera

Review - If you're adventurous or clumsy and looking for a tough camera, Olympus has come out with its sturdiest point and shoot yet.

The Olympus Stylus 8010 ($449.99 at olympuscanada. com) is a pocket-sized camera that can take a drop of up to almost two metres. It's waterproof to about 10 metres, freeze-proof and crushproof.

The 14-megapixel camera takes 720-pixel high-definition video and has a 28-to 140-millimetre optical zoom (in 35-millimetre equivalent), dual image stabilization and tracking autofocus.

For all that sturdiness, you pay a price in weight (182 grams, not including the battery).

Our tester liked the camera's fun "beauty" and "magic" settings. The beauty setting focuses on the subject's face and smooths the colour and tone of their skin. The magic setting has four options (pop art, pinhole, fish eye and drawing) that offer interesting photo perspectives for experimentation. You can also merge up to three photographs into one panoramic shot.

The Stylus 8010 is easy to use and has a handy help function that explains how to use functions and offers photo-taking tips.

Via: Calgary Herald: http://tinyurl.com/2dqdsyj

Fish to the boat!

A beautiful August day for fly fishing on the Bow River. This Bow River trout was brought to the boat near Policeman's Flats.

Cell Service along the Bow River

Cell service along the lower Bow River downstream from Calgary is still hit and miss in a number of locations.

The area south of Highway 22X to McKinnon Flats is particularly sketchy.

However, that may be about to change.

At the beginning of August, work commenced on the construction of a cell tower a couple of kilometers south of 22X on Range Road 274.

The workers in the two close-up photos can be seen near the top of the tower in the two other photos.

Work is not yet complete. There was a lot of activity going on at the base of the tower when we drove by today.

Burned by a Monster Brown

John R. sent us another batch of excellent photos (see photo to the right) plus a fishing report.

Thanks John!

Policeman's Flats to McKinnon Flats - Sunday Aug 15.

John writes:

"Here are a couple of the cooler pictures from yesterday.

Clients worked hard from 9am-830pm. We had around 35 decent fish to the boat, roll casted another 10 or so smaller fish off, lost a bunch, and got burned by a monster brown on a sunny day (when does that happen?)

Fun guys in the boat yesterday.

Once we got the fish dialed in, we started to do real good. Solid fishing from 1030-8pm."

Fish Tales Fly Shop hosts official launch

The G-Loomis NRX fly rod lineup received an official launch at Fish Tales on Friday evening.

G-Loomis Pro-Staffer Rick Whorwood was on hand with lots of information.

Fish Tales had a good selection of rods available for testing, ranging from 3wt through 12wt all with reels and lines ready to cast.

A Rainy Day on the Bow River

Despite the rainy forecast for today, more than a dozen keen fly fishers were out floating the Bow.

The water colour was still looking very good at mid-day, both at Policeman's Flats and McKinnon Flats.

Canada's best fishing town

Stuff Sack

Compiled by Trent Edwards,
Calgary Herald
August 12, 2010


Canada's best fishing town

Contest - World Fishing Network, North America's only 24-hour fishing lifestyle network, is accepting nominations for communities across Canada that think they live in WFN's Ultimate Fishing Town.

Calgary is among the towns that have already been nominated. (To support the nomination, visit http://www.wfn.tv/ultimate-fishing-town/Calgary.)

The winning community will earn a $25,000 donation to be used for fishing-related causes and will be the focus of a 30-minute show about fishing in their town that will air on WFN. There is also more than $7,500 in secondary prizes up for grabs.

To nominate a town, visit wfn. tv/fishingtown. Nominations can include up to three photographs, a two-minute video and a 500-word essay about why your town should be named WFN's Ultimate Fishing Town.

http://www.wfn.tv/ultimate-fishing-town/Calgary

Via: Calgary Herald http://bit.ly/cjcg5C

Celebration of the Bow River 2010

From June through September, six Public Art events in Calgary will give citizens and visitors the opportunity to celebrate and reflect upon the precious Bow River.

Each event will feature a different artist and provide an artistic opportunity to experience the Bow River and think about its importance as a life-sustaining resource.

The Bow River is our most precious natural resource and our source of drinking water. The celebration will highlight our connection to the river and create opportunities for citizens to further appreciate and protect this resource.

Learn more here: http://tinyurl.com/24yb8gg

Via: Fly Fish Calgary Forum http://tinyurl.com/2b33dj7

Views From the Shuttle Van

Each week, as we move in and out of the boat launches along the Bow River, we keep our eyes open for interesting images.

We call this one "Horse & Bird at Rest".

We share that collection each week in our “River Reports.”

We hope you enjoy them.

Montana Visitors

This group comes up from Montana every year to fly fish the Bow River.

They set up camp at the Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park.

Their first late afternoon float is from Legacy Island to Carseland Weir.