Ecology and Wonder in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks Heritage Site
Ecology and Wonder in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks Heritage Site
The greatest cultural achievement in the Western Canadianmountain region is what has been preserved, not what has beendeveloped.
Protecting the spine of the Rocky Mountains will preservecrucial ecological functions.
Because the process of ecosystem diminishment and species losshas been slowed, an ecological thermostat has been kept alive. This maywell be an important defence against future climate change impacts onthe Canadian west.
Ecology and Wonder is a must-read for those who appreciateWestern Canada’s breathtaking landscape.
Acknowledgements xv
Overview Map xx
Invocation The Magnificent Seven xxi
Part One The West We Had: Foundations ofPlace
1. A Walk into the Past: Setting a Context of Place 3
2. The Creation: Monumentality and Place 17
3. The Creation: People and Place Before European Contact 27
4. Exchanging What We Had for What We Want: The Fur Trade Era in theCanadian West 33
5. The Coming of Death: Diminishment and Loss among the FirstPeoples of the West 41
Part Two The West We Have: Making theMountains Our Home
6. Giving Meaning to Mountains and Making Them Ours: Mountaineeringand the Aesthetics of Place 47
7. Brushes with Eternity: Landscape Art and Photography in theCanadian Rockies 69
8. Crystal and Cold Blue Chasms: The Literature of the CanadianRocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site 77
9. Stemming the Tide of Loss: The Give and Take of Modern ManagementIn and Around the Mountain Parks 91
10. Countering Dispossession: Saving Our Unique MountainCulture 105
The East Slope: Flowing Toward the Atlantic
11. The Birthplace of Canada’s National Park Ideal: BanffNational Park 115
The North Slope: Flowing Toward the Arctic
12. The Birthplace of Western and Northern Rivers: The ColumbiaIcefield and Jasper National Park 145
The West Slope: Flowing Toward the Pacific
13. The Roof of the Canadian Rockies: Mount Robson ProvincialPark 187
14. Small, Remote, but Utterly Wild: Hamber ProvincialPark 201
15. The Geography of Wonder: Yoho National Park 215
16. The Road to Radium: Kootenay National Park 243
17. Matterhorn of the Rockies: Mount Assiniboine ProvincialPark 257
Part Three The West We Want: Creating aCulture Worthy of Place
18. Respecting and Honouring the Great Bear: The Grizzly as a Symbolof the West We Want 273
19. Seeing What Is Hidden in Plain Sight: Triumphing OverDiminishment and Loss 299
20. Expanding the World Heritage Site Designation: Managing forFuture Integrity Instead of Loss 313
21. Creating a Culture Commensurate with Place 321
Notes 339
Index 347
