Starting on the evening of June 19, 2013 torrential rains fell and water flows began to increase in many of the major tributaries that feed into the Bow River including, Carrot, Cougar, Three Sisters, Heart, Stone, Pigeon, Jura, Stoneworks and Exshaw
Starting on the evening of June 19, 2013 torrential rains fell and water flows began to increase in many of the major tributaries that feed into the Bow River including, Carrot, Cougar, Three Sisters, Heart, Stone, Pigeon, Jura, Stoneworks and Exshaw Creeks.
A large amount of Kananaskis Country was flooded, destroying much of the area and its beloved trails.
By June 20, municipal agencies had already initiated many of the protocols they had in place, but what became apparent in the days and weeks to follow was the enormity of the effort put forth by volunteers; people who just wanted to help.
Gillean Daffern is currently overseeing for Alberta Parks, Friends of Kananaskis Country and Rocky Mountain Books a book entitled The Great Kananaskis Flood that will document the flood of 2013 and the impact it had on the area and its people.
“It's mainly a picture book with before and after pictures covering the whole of K-Country,” Daffern said. “It's a fundraiser for trail rebuilding (the government money runs out after next summer), so everyone, contributors, including myself, and photographers, are giving their services for free.”
Photographers will receive acknowledgements for contributing, a free book and an invite to the book launch slated for this June in Canmore.
“It's being published by Rocky Mountain Books, and everyone involved with it is giving their services for free. With proceeds from the sale we can raise some money for trail rebuilding,” Daffern said. “The funds need to be raised since government funding runs out in March of 2017. So there's only one summer left to go and there's still a heck of a lot of work to do on it.”
Daffern is overseeing the project with Alberta Parks as a sponsor, and is co-authoring with local writer Derek Ryder. Ryder is also a chairman for Friends of Kananaskis Country, a federally-registered charity committed to education, community engagement and volunteer participation for the area.
“The book will include stories from people who witnessed the flood damage first hand, with some of that text at the beginning of the book, but it is mainly photographs,” Daffern said.
“The text at the beginning is about the flood itself, and the aftermath, and then the rebuilding, of course. The most interesting part is the flood itself because that's where I've got all these stories from people who were caught in it in Canmore and Kananaskis Country. That's been the interesting part; getting all the stories from everybody and the photographs taken at the time.”
Daffern says the writing is about two-thirds finished, with the project coming along quite well for such a large format book. Friends of Kananaskis Country will help in the rebuilding and restructuring on a volunteer basis in the area with money raised through book sales.
“There have been hundreds of volunteers from the public who are also involved in the trail rebuilding,” Daffern said. “I learned just how resilient people are after an event like this.
“What really struck me is how many people volunteered to help rebuild K-Country afterwards, just the general public, because people have a connection to K-Country, especially those living in Calgary, and view it as their playground.”
