Heart Waters: Sources of the Bow River (Official Book Launch) October 18, 2015

Kevin Van TIghem (right) and his son, Brian, collaborated on a book about the Bow River called Heart Waters. Gail Van Tighem / For the Calgary Herald

Almost sold out!! Only 5 tickets left! 

 Ticket info here: http://bit.ly/1KDaSxM | Trout Unlimited Canada

Kevin Van Tighem | RMB | Rocky Mountain Books | Trout Unlimited Canada | Trout Unlimited Canada - Bow River Chapter
 
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Water Woes

Kevin Van Tighem, former superintendent of Banff National Park, spoke at a CPAWS event in Calgary on Friday Feb 27.
Photo, Leah Hennel / Calgary Herald

Water Woes

A local conservationist highlights the water woes plaguing the eastern slopes of the Rockie

The CBC Calgary Eyeopener podcast for Friday Feb 27

Listen here: http://bit.ly/1BNNola

Conservationist calls on province to manage eastern slopes for water

A young female grizzly feeds near the Fairmont Banff Springs Golf Course in Banff National Park on June 11, 2014.
Photo, Leah Hennel / Calgary Herald

Conservationist calls on province to manage eastern slopes for water

by Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald, Feb 25, 2015

Alberta needs to stop managing the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies for timber and start managing the landscape for water, says a well-known local conservationist, biologist and author, noting it would also improve the habitat for grizzly bears.

Kevin Van Tighem, who retired as superintendent of Banff National Park in 2011, will speak Friday night at Wild Soiree: Bears & Water, hosted by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in Calgary.

 Read more here: http://bit.ly/1ESpqCH

A dam could exacerbate future flood damage

A dam could exacerbate future flood damage

By Kevin Van Tighem, Calgary Herald January 16, 2014

Major floods are inevitable. It’s also inevitable that when there’s too much water and sediment for the river channel, the overflow will spread across the floodplain. Floodplains are, quite simply, part of the river — but only during floods.

That’s why any houses, roads, bridges, berms or other infrastructure on the floodplain are likely to be damaged during a flood; they’re in the river, after all.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/LgrTRd

"Floods come off landscapes, not rivers"

Click directly on map for larger image

"Floods come off landscapes, not rivers"

Kevin Van Tighem writes:

I've learned a bit more about this. Calgary: brace yourself for an inundation the likes of which you have never imagined in your worst dreams when (not if) this proposed dam fails.

A dam of this sort has never been placed on a live river before. Even in the seasonal desert streams where they've been tried, there have been many failures. No river hydrologists were involved in the scheme before it was announced. They plan to put the whole river through a culvert (a culvert!!) that will be at least half a km long.

The entire river here is a shifting floodplain of loose gravel. Upstream are forests and slopes that will die and collapse into the floodwaters. In the first or second big flood, the culvert will fill with sediment and be plugged by flotsam.

Dry dam in provincial flood mitigation plan ‘doesn’t cut it’

Kevin Van Tighem, biologist and former superintendent of Banff National Park, says a proposed dry dam upstream of the Elbow river won’t do much to help with future flooding, and could be harmful to the natural environment.
Photograph by: Leah Hennel , Calgary Herald

Dry dam in provincial flood mitigation plan ‘doesn’t cut it’

Former Banff Park boss raises environmental concerns

By Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald November 25, 2013

The former superintendent of Banff National Park says the Redford government has tunnel vision with some of its flood mitigation projects, particularly plans to construct a dry dam upstream of Calgary’s Elbow River.

Read story here: http://bit.ly/18IuLPH