Fish Creek Park is an

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

provincial park Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to t ...

that preserves the valley of Fish Creek in the southern part of Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is bordered on three sides by the city, and on the west by the territory of the Tsuu T’ina Nation (Sarcee), a

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. Much of the park remains in a natural, forested state. Fish Creek flows throughout its length, joining the

Bow River The Bow River is a river in Alberta, Canada. It begins within the Canadian Rocky Mountains and winds through the Alberta foothills onto the prairies, where it meets the Oldman River, the two then forming the South Saskatchewan River. These w ...

on the east side of the park, and there is an artificial lake that offers swimming. With more than of paved and unpaved trails, the park is a popular area for hiking and biking, as well as for picnicking, swimming, fishing, and observing wildlife. Fish Creek Park is the second-largest urban park in Canada after

Rouge National Urban Park Rouge National Urban Park is a national urban park in Ontario, Canada. The park is centred around the Rouge River and its tributaries in the Greater Toronto Area. The southern portion of the park is situated around the mouth of river in Toron ...

in the Greater Toronto Area,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and followed by

Pippy Park Pippy Park is a urban park located in the city of St. John's, Newfoundland. It is the second largest provincially-managed urban park in Canada, after Fish Creek Provincial Park in Calgary, Alberta. The park is a popular camping, hiking and recre ...

in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. It is also one of the largest urban parks in North America, stretching from east to west. With an area of , it is more than three times the size of Vancouver's

Stanley Park Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and ...

Amenities

Fish Creek Park features more than of trails for walking, hiking and biking, of which more than are paved. These trails connect the park to Calgary's extensive pathway system, and the

Trans Canada Trail The Trans Canada Trail, officially named The Great Trail between September 2016 and June 2021, is a cross- Canada system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic oceans. The trail exten ...

passes through the park along the

. Facilities at the park include a visitor centre, an environmental learning centre, picnic shelters, group day-use areas, a restaurant, concession stands, the Sikome Lake Aquatic Centre, a boat launch at the Bow River, and the Mackenzie Meadows Golf Course. Swimming is permitted at Sikome Lake, and fishing is permitted in Fish Creek and the Bow River. Much of the park is forested and is home to a variety of natural wildlife, including

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

, coyotes,

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

s, and beavers, as well as several species of

garter snake Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus ''Thamnophis'' in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus ''Thamnophis'' can be found from the ...

s and

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

s. More than 200 bird species have been seen in the park, including great blue herons.

Geologic setting

The Fish Creek valley was formed at the end of the last Ice Age, carved by meltwater from retreating

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s in the mountains to the west. Fish Creek itself is now an underfit stream; that is, its current flow rates are not great enough to have carved the valley through which it flows.Benham, P., Ryan, C., Yingchun, G. and Dolph, J. 2019. Hike 68, Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, AB; In: Benham, P. McKenzie, B., Chatellier, J.Y., and Tippet, C. (eds.); Go Take A Hike, the geology of trails in the Canadian Rockies and surrounding areas, p. 236-239. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, 284 p. . The bedrock exposed in the lower parts of the valley consists of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s, siltstones, and mudstones of early

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

age. They belong to the upper part of the Willow Creek Formation, which grades into the upper Scollard Formation in the Calgary area. The unconsolidated sediments that overlie the bedrock are exposed in some of the cliffs along the upper edges of the valley. They may include

glacial till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

at the base, overlain by post-glacial stream deposits, loess, and

paleosol In the geosciences, paleosol (''palaeosol'' in Great Britain and Australia) is an ancient soil that formed in the past. The precise definition of the term in geology and paleontology is slightly different from its use in soil science. In geolo ...

s, and are topped by recent soil horizons. The

Mazama Ash The Mazama Ash (formally named the Mazama Member in some areas) is an extensive, geologically recent deposit of volcanic ash that is present throughout much of northern North America. The ash was ejected from Mount Mazama, a volcano in south-cent ...

, a layer of white

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, created during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to refer ...

a few centimetres thick, can be seen within these sediments in a few places. The Mazama Ash was produced during the eruption that formed

Crater Lake Crater Lake ( Klamath: ''Giiwas'') is a volcanic crater lake in south-central Oregon in the western United States. It is the main feature of Crater Lake National Park and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake partly fill ...

in south-central

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

. It was spread to the north and east by the prevailing winds, and remnants of it have been identified as far east as the Greenland ice sheet.

Contemporary issues

As a result of the heavy rains and floods experienced by Alberta in June 2005, half of the park's trails were washed away, and the other half damaged. Seven pedestrian bridges over the Fish Creek were destroyed and seven others were rendered unsafe. The park officially reopened in September 2007 following the construction of new bridges and a redesigned pathway system. The park was again damaged by severe flooding in June 2013, necessitating the clearing of debris and further repairs and upgrading to the bridges and pathways.

Friends of Fish Creek

The Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society is a non-profit, volunteer society that delivers programs such as trail maintenance, courses such as bird watching, events such as the Ghost Tour and activities such as park tours throughout the year to help create informed users and preserve the ecological integrity of the park. They provide Wellness programs including yoga, guided meditation and running clinics to help people relax, rejuvenate and reconnect with nature in Fish Creek. Their office is located in the cookhouse near the Bow Valley Visitor Centre.Friends of Fish Creek Park website
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References

External links