Happy May everyone! April was a fun mix of country western and family dances at Square Butte Hall. Sandi, Meghan and all our volunteers sure know how to host some great events, with more to come!
Nature has inspired my imagination this month. We live in the most amazing place along with a biodiverse mix of birds, mammals, pollinating insects, annoying insects, frogs, snakes, worms, and beneficial soil creatures. As Spring comes back to the land, it also brings forth a symphony of vegetative life. The valley is alive with the song of trees, shrubs, flowering perennials, mosses, lichen and fungi. Our ecology brings intrepid explorers from miles around to step among trails and walk in the woods. They are greeted by pink vetch, orange wood lily, yellow arnica, green clovers, blue flax, purple crocus, and red paintbrush!
And how, you may ask, can I enjoy these beauties up close? Reposed in that casually dominating way of mountains, Square Butte is just east of the Mesa Butte Recreation Provincial Recreation Area. Interestingly in an area full of trails, I could not find a Square Butte Hike in any of my field guides. According to Google Maps, one might venture up Mesa Butte West Trail to get there. Interested to know if anyone has made the trek!
Heading east along Plummers Road, just ‘over the next hill’ from Square Butte Hall, lies beautiful Brown-Lowery Provincial Park. This forested day-use only area hosts 12 kilometers of trails winding up hills to incredible outlooks, down through mossy bogs, and across small streams. Not bad for one of Alberta’s smallest Parks! You can spot birds, bear, squirrel, skunk, fox, coyote, deer, and many more critters. Here’s some history:
“This natural landscape was donated to the Government of Alberta in 1968, by Home Oil Company Limited in memory of its founders Robert Brown Sr. and Major James Robert Lowery. Both men were pioneers of Alberta’s oil industry and took part in the early development of the Turner Valley oil field.”
Prior to that, according to Foothills Echoes, the land was owned by V.N. de Mille who operated a sawmill and ranch on the NE 1⁄4 of the section. Over the years the land was logged many times. Fortunately, the new owners recognized the value of mindfully tending and reciprocating ecosystem gifts – an intrinsic role for those like me who follow the First Instructions. We are thankful for such a generous gift of being able to enjoy Brown-Lowery Provincial Park to this day.
As Janet MacKay notes in Foothills Echoes: “There is a great variety of flora and fauna, if we just take time to observe and really listen. If you…photographs the flowers close up, you will realize how beautiful they really are. The rare flowers should never be picked. In the case of the tiger lilies and orchids, the bulb of each flower that is picked dies, because the leaves that feed it for the following year are on the stem.” Now I would say don’t pick anything, especially if you don’t know whether it is rare. Once you get to know your flowers, you probably won’t want to pick them anyway!
Square Butte Hall is on hwy 762, 3km north of hwy 549. Connect with us any time:
Direct: info@squarebuttehall.com
Web: squarebuttehall.com
Social: facebook.com/squarebuttehall
See you next month!
Lindsey Kindrat, SBCA – Director, Property Management (and interim Archivist)
