BCEC – Sep 2025

BRAGG CREEK ENVIRONMENTAL COALITION: WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO?

We focus on projects that contribute to evidence-based knowledge, which we can use to help defend our local eco-system.

BCEC Bird Group works to foster protection of birds/bird habitats, especially in the face of planned logging. We’ve done breeding bird surveys, participated in the Alberta Owl Survey, and training to be bird banding assistants. We’ve been supported by bird biologists who’ve volunteered time to ensure the validity of our work.

Bird Club – the social arm of the Bird Group – meets monthly for excursions, discussions, with a WhatsApp group to share sightings, information and photos.

Freshwater Friends Club – a collaboration between the Elbow River Watershed Partnership and BCEC – is a social/ educational group for sharing knowledge, raising awareness, and collaborating on projects in the Elbow River/Upper Fish Creek watersheds. We’ve had ‘Walks in the Watershed’, speakers, data collection ‘blitzes’, invasive weed pulling, fish inventory etc. Volunteers have trained to perform water lab samplings, and as angler outreach educators.

The Bragg Creek Elbow River Environmental Reserve is an ongoing project to establish an Environmental Reserve along the Elbow River Floodway, an area that’s home to rare orchid species as well as important wildlife river crossings and breeding pools for endangered fish species.

Working with RVC, in discussion with local indigenous leaders, plans are under way for pathways, signage and interpretive information on natural and human history in the area. Thanks, Rocky View, for the generous grant to move this forward.

Wildlife monitoring
Life for large mammals here is often hard and monitoring helps us understand animals’ movements, and better design human flow to ensure they thrive and not merely survive. We’ve worked with the Bragg Creek Trails to instal 55 wildlife cameras in West Bragg Creek Trails area. They’ll record grizzly, black bear, cougar, wolves, coyotes, moose, elk, deer and (we hope) some more rare species. See details in the West Bragg Creek Master Plan (p.46) braggcreektrails.org/west-bragg-creek-trails-master-plan/

Old Growth Project
Old growth trees are successful trees that have withstood fire and escaped logging. We currently plan two initiatives: GIS mapping specifically where old growth trees are, to protect them more successfully; and launching a local family contest to find the largest/oldest trees of our most common species. Look out for more on this in local media.

Fire Smart
A BCEC board member sits on the Fire Smart Committee. Recent rains may have abated fears somewhat of catastrophic right now, but it remains a concern. Local initiatives have investigated ways of protecting homes/businesses via fire smarting, as well as inviting speakers on topics like sprinkler systems. More details soon in upcoming articles.

In the meantime, we have very recently received initial (and minimal) information about an extensive provincial fuel reduction plan for West Bragg Creek (in addition to the commercial logging areas as currently defined), and the hamlet of Bragg Creek. For more on this, see the article in this edition of the HCN by Conrad Schiebel (President of Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association).

ASP
A BCEC Board Member sat on the RVC Area Structure Plan visioning committee. This phase of the current ASP process is now complete, and the ASP team has moved on to the technical studies phase, with the new ASP being finalized in Fall 2025. The visioning committee identified 5 key areas of focus:

– an inclusive community,
– a vision for regenerative development,
– a sustainable visitor economy,
– a community living within limits
-the governance challenges Bragg Creek faces.

It’s crucial that we all stay aware of what’s happening with this process, and engage with RVC whenever there is an opportunity.

If you’re interested in volunteering/helping out, let us know. Follow us and like our posts on Instagram @braggcreekenvcoalition

Photo caption: A Chlosyne palla butterfly pollinating Blanket Flowers (Gaillardia aristata) evokes the delicate and interconnected nature of life in our Foothills.