The Municipal District of Bighorn has received an award worthy of the history books.
The municipality is the 2016 recipient of a Municipal Heritage Preservation Award for its continued commitment to local history conservation.
“The MD has made a commitment to protect and preserve the history of our community,” said Lynda Grischkat, MD Heritage Resource Committee (HRC) chair. “It’s nice to see our conservation efforts being recognized by this award.”
The Alberta Historic Resources Foundation presented the award in recognition of the MD’s “exemplary commitment to heritage conservation” to Councillor Erik Butters at the Heritage Awards Ceremony at Calgary’s McDougal Centre on Oct. 14.
“Bighorn has a rich and diverse history of people and places,” said Butters. “Their legacies have contributed to our sense of self and community in the landscape. It is important to recognize their unique contributions that have shaped our history and culture.”
The MD has made key preservations through its HRC for over the past decade from the foot of the Rocky Mountains to the grassy ranch lands such as installation of a bronze plaque at the mountainside Exshaw Cemetery to acknowledge the hamlet’s pioneers.
Designation of the Morleyville Methodist Mission as the first Municipal Historic Resource; the Oral History Project, a video and audio documentation of untold historical accounts told by long-time MD residents; and the preservation of the Reddy Kilowatt floor piece, a smiling logo that remembers the MD’s hydroelectric past.
“Our heritage initiatives,” said MD Reeve Dene Cooper, “demonstrate the MD’s ongoing commitment to preserve, protect, promote and appreciate the local history of our residents and historical sites in our community.”
The award recognizes the great work of council, the HRC and staff “to preserve and promote heritage resources in the municipality,” said Rob Ellis, Director of Planning Services for the MD.
It began in 2005 when efforts had been taken to conserve the MD’s rich heritage following the 2004 closure of Seebe, when the MD took action to form the HRC.
A once booming energy community just off Highway 1X, hydro electrical workers at Seebe helped shape and power Alberta for generations to come.
A heritage survey was completed once the HRC and Municipal Heritage Partnership Program partnered up after the closure. The partnership created the Heritage Inventory and Heritage Management Plan.
The documents act as a guide for planning and putting together future projects to preserve the MD’s history like the nomination of the Black Rock Fire Lookout to become a historic resource through an application process.
The HRC submitted an inventory list to Alberta Culture and Tourism, which had on it the retired wooden lookout at the peak of Black Rock Mountain.
The Black Rock Fire Lookout, north of Exshaw, was a prominent lookout from 1928-50.
Should it receive designation, possibly in the next 10 to 14 months, it would be protected and maintained by the provincial government.
