topic:"water" found 2 records - Research Collections - Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Abstract: Every watershed has a story: this is the Elbow’s. The Elbow River watershed is a small yet significant watershed extending from the Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains to downtown Calgary. This geographical watershed is itself at a metaphorical watershed, due to increasing pressure for urban, industrial and recreational development which will alter the healthy functioning of its interdependent parts. Mountains to Metropolis combines the author’s own explorations in the watershed with comprehensive background information to place the reader in the watershed itself. Grizzly bears and mule deer, park wardens and cowboys, First Nations and first settlers, range cattle and coyotes, urbanites and beavers, city engineers and soldiers, Grey Nuns and missionaries – all are part of this watershed’s story. And each has shaped and been shaped by the physical and spiritual power of the river at the watershed’s core. While legislators, municipal managers, industry and residents all have a responsibility for making our watershed happy and healthy, in the end it comes down to the individual. The author lays out simple actions that we each can take in our daily lives. (from publisher's website)

Contents: Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introductions -- Part 1. In the high mountains -- Part 2. The Foothills between -- Part 3. To plains and metropolis -- Part 4. Whither the Elbow -- Appendices: 1. Historical timeline: Elbow River watershed and region ; 2. Scientific names.

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1 website

Subjects: Conservation; Water; Watersheds; Canada; Climate; Climate change; Climatology; Hydrology; Hydrology - Alberta

Abstract: Growing populations, increasing industrial use and heavy agricultural demand are beginning to tax water supplies in many regions of Canada. Since many rivers are already fully allocated to numerous uses, future economic and social development will depend upon how much we know about our surface and ground water resources and how effectively we manage them—especially in the face of climate change. The message to take home from this eloquent book is that it is time to dispel the myth of limitless abundance of water in Canada and throughout North America. We all need to be mindful that though our technologically sophisticated society is largely fuelled and lubricated by refined petroleum, it ultimately runs on plain water. In his conclusion to this authoritative book, Robert Sandford, chair of Canada’s United Nations Water for Life Decade, offers a realistic picture of the various issues and threats related to the future availability and quality of fresh water in Canada. (from Rocky Mountain Books website)

Contents: Invocation: through mist and rainbow the water speaks; One: water, weather and the west; Two: the drinking-water supply in Canada; Three: what can we learn from others; Four: reading the wind: reframing the climage-change debate; Five: future landscapes in the mountain west; Appendix One; Appendix Two; Written on the wind: a climate-change bookshelf; Index; Acknowledgements

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