Why did it take so long to preserve Nose Hill, a natural prairie bluff, as public parkland? During the Ice Age, the area was covered by glaciers. About 19,000 years ago, there was a Glacial Lake. The large boulders found on Nose Hill were left behind and used as “rubbing stones” by bison. The last of the herds overlapped with use of the hill for cattle and sheep herding.
In 1980, City Council approved the Nose Hill Park Master Plan and, in 1981, the Nose Hill Park Communities Board was formed, with representatives from 12 communities. A series of court battles ensued between the City and private land owners. While residents opposed development, there were land swaps. The City and the province agreed to share the costs.
Nose Hill was described as “a blank page” and a challenge to keep its natural and archaeological features. The “founders” hoped that education of future generations would instill in them appreciation and concern for Nose Hill, ensure a sense of stewardship and show respect for the park. Some issues they anticipated were vandalism, rowdyism, picking native flowers, dogs running loose, campfires, and off-highway vehicles (such as golf carts).
Work on the Glenbow Western Research Centre (which opens at U. of Calgary in Sept. 2019) is progressing, as Glenbow’s Library and Archive material relating to the history of western Canada moves to the University’s Taylor Family Digital Library. The Glenbow held a small but significant collection relating to the environmental movement in the region (with a total of 35 collections), the Alberta Wilderness Association, Calgary Field Naturalists, Nose Hill Park Communities Board, Friends of Nose Hill Society, Sierra Club of Alberta, Calgary Eco-Centre Society, and others.
There are reports, plans, briefs, newsletters, correspondence, minutes, and notes. You will find legal papers, maps and drawings, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings about personalities and activities associated with the area and park. There are some aerial photos and views of Calgary from Nose Hill, as well as a distant view of Nose Hill, in the 1940s, as observed from 16th Ave. N.W.
