Does Alberta Need an Outdoor Recreation Advocate?
An upcoming event hosted by the Calgary Journal explores this question
Since we started this newsletter just over four years ago, Alberta’s outdoors has experienced a lot of turbulence. Big and small changes have affected beloved areas across the province — think new user fees in Kananaskis, logging plans for West Bragg Creek, devastating wildfires in Jasper National Park and changes to how people access iconic areas like Moraine Lake, just to name a few.
More and more people are going outside, at the same time that government and industry eye other land uses. We’re excited to be part of an event in Calgary on Friday, November 29 that explores these issues and more, asking the big question: does Alberta need an outdoor recreation advocate?
This free event at BLOX Arts Centre in the Beltline is hosted by the Calgary Journal and the department of journalism at Mount Royal University. Come enjoy food, music, and a presentation from Christian Bagg, founder of Bowhead Corp, a mountain bike and wheelchair manufacturer in Calgary. (Cailynn saw Bowhead’s adaptive bikes in action a few years ago at the Canmore Nordic Centre; they are impressive!)
There will also be a panel discussion, moderated by Journalist-in-Residence Doug Horner (watch the Calgary Journal for his upcoming feature story on if Alberta needs an outdoor recreation advocate). We’ll be on the panel, alongside Sarah Elmeligi, MLA for Banff-Kananaskis, Joey Reinhart from GROW Kananaskis and Albi Sole from the Outdoor Recreation Coalition of Alberta.
Head here for all the details and to reserve your free ticket. We hope to see you there!
P.S. Doug Horner, the Journalist-in-Residence at Mount Royal University, is also the author of a great new nonfiction book we think Go Outside readers will enjoy: Back From The Deep: How Gene and Sandy Ralston Serve the Living by Finding the Dead.
Here’s a synopsis. Gene and Sandy Ralston are a married couple from Idaho who spend their retirement years in an unusual way: searching for and recovering the bodies of drowning victims. Doug joins Gene and Sandy, who are in their mid-70s, for several search missions. He gets to know these self-taught underwater search-and-recovery specialists in great detail, as well as learning about the victims they’re searching for and the families left behind.
Cailynn really enjoyed this book — read her book review for Alberta Views magazine here. And note that while the topic at hand is grim, Back from the Deep is not a dark book. Doug approaches his subjects with curiosity and compassion, ultimately telling a vivid story about underwater search and recovery that will stay with readers for a long time.
