The City of Calgary has begun the process of consolidating several open green spaces along the Bow River into a regional park – Bend In The Bow. Phase 1 includes the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary and the Wildlands Park. Calgary birders need to be aware of what is planned for the sanctuary.
Please read the Open House Presentation Materials from a November meeting in Inglewood. Once you have calmed down from reading that (or not) there is an online survey that all Calgary birders should complete before the Dec 30 deadline. A word of warning though – you have to be determined to complete that survey. Spaces for responses are black, on a black background. You can’t submit your answers unless you give each section from 1-5 “thumbs up”. There are no options for thumbs down.
The Presentation Material and the survey can be accessed at calgary.ca/bendinthebow
If you live in Ward 9, please email Gian-Carlo Carra, our City Councillor, with your comments on the new park. His office can be reached at ward09@calgary.ca. Posted by Pat Bumstead.
A play area! Shocking. I am so glad I saw this. Filled out the survey and sent it to all of my birdy friends in Calgary. I hope there will be enough voices of concern to stop any major development. Good luck.
It sounds like you are not in favor of this initiative and i wonder if you could share why.
Bob Lefebvre – I’m not sure of Pat’s views but many of Calgary’s long-time birders are very concerned about this. The plan calls for an increase in built pathways, buildings, art installations, etc. inside the bird sanctuary, all with a view to increasing the number of people that use the park. Although we do want people to have access to parts of IBS, it is supposed to be a sanctuary, to protect migrating birds. We shouldn’t do anything that will detract from that mission. We will be posting more information about this during December but I urge you to read the proposal and decide if it is a positive thing for nature. Here is Nature Calgary’s page about the project with some more links.