The topic for the next meeting of the Bow Valley Naturalists will be fish and what they can tell us about the ecosystems they inhabit.
On Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the Banff Seniors Centre, guest speaker Lorne Fitch, P. Biol. will present a program titled The Zen of Fish and Watersheds.
Fish are remarkably well suited to their watery homes where they exist largely beyond our vision in an environment alien to us. Fitch maintains that when you touch one it may feel cool, wet, and slippery but it is more than just a fish: “it’s the embodiment of a landscape.”
Native trout are in decline in Alberta. Those that live in the waters of the eastern slopes have adapted to a tough, rigorous landscape, but cannot cope with the scope and scale of changes imposed by humans over the last century.
What has happened and what is happening to native fish in the headwaters of Alberta rivers? Why would we, or should we, care? Fitch’s straightforward summary is that if we want a future with clean water, productive soil, fish, wildlife and the space for all of these, we must make one, starting today.
Fitch was brought up on a farm in west central Alberta and has been a professional biologist for over 40 years, working mostly in Alberta, but also in other parts of Canada with some international experiences as well.
His work on many issues has led him to conclude that the way we treat land and water is very much an outcome of how we perceive them, the value we attach to them, and the vision we hold for their future. It was this realization that issues are related to people and their knowledge levels that turned him in the direction of education.
He is the provincial riparian specialist with the Alberta Cows and Fish program and also is an adjunct professor with the University Of Calgary. He has made his home in Lethbridge for many years, but much of the time he can be found on the road, speaking to groups throughout Alberta and elsewhere.
The program is free and open to the public.
