As a former superintendent of Banff National Park and an avid outdoorsman he has seen first hand the impact humans have had on Alberta鈥檚 landscape over the past 35 years.
To share his experience and thoughts he recently published Our Place: Changing the Nature of Alberta. The book is a collection of essays and articles inspired by his experience in the wilds of Alberta and the ways in which the province have often failed 鈥� and sometimes succeeded 鈥� at the challenge of sustaining the province鈥檚 natural environment.
鈥淚t鈥檚 basically a compilation of almost a lifetime鈥檚 worth of writings,鈥� said Van Tighem. 鈥淲hen you put it together you end up with a historical picture.鈥�
From the devastation of the Little Smokey watershed to the rescue and protection of the Whaleback region and Waterton front, his book explores Alberta鈥檚 stewardship failures, its conservation successes and offers suggestions for how Alberta could still get things right.
鈥淚 went into the Little Smokey in 1988 with Carl Hunt who was the fisheries biologist at the time based out of Edson. I went in to help him tag Arctic grayling and when we went in the Little Smokey was pristine, there was one cut line leading into it that we went in on. It was an untracked boreal wilderness valley and it was just spectacular. I鈥檝e never seen such a productive river,鈥� recalled Van Tighem.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e seen the controversy more recently about the caribou issue and the wolf kill and that鈥檚 because in those subsequent years the place has been absolutely shredded by industry.鈥�
He said that experience is just one example of the changes he鈥檚 witnessed in his life time.
鈥淲hen you see that happening in just your adult life you realize that landscape change is huge in Alberta. We treat it as normal, but it鈥檚 actually abnormal in terms of the rate of change.鈥�
A common thread found throughout his book is the way that people talk about the landscape.
鈥淲e need to talk about nature and place differently than we do because the conversations we have lead to the decisions we make and we鈥檝e been making some bad decisions.鈥�
He pointed to the recent discussions about the mountain pine beetle, which is making its way eastward through Jasper National Park and the province.
鈥淓veryone thinks that mountain pine beetle is such a disaster. Mountain pine beetle is probably the best thing that鈥檚 ever happened to our eastern slope forests. It鈥檚 an essential way in which those forests are adapting to a changing climate, but because we have conversations that treat it as a disaster it leads us to do things which are actually harmful to those forests, which is salvage logging,鈥� said Van Tighem.
鈥淔ortunately in the national parks the pressure to salvage log has been really resisted because of the national park鈥檚 mandate, but elsewhere we鈥檝e taken what was in fact a healthy process of forest change and turned it into just another way we strip the trees off the landscape.鈥�
While his book takes aim at some of Alberta鈥檚 failures it also offers examples where the province got it right.
鈥淭he one that stands out for me is the protection of the Whaleback area in southern Alberta,鈥� said Van Tighem. 鈥淭he foothills in southwestern Alberta have huge real estate value because they鈥檙e scenic, they鈥檙e close to Calgary and there鈥檚 money to be spent on land so that whole landscape has been under threat for the last 20 or 30 years and ironically, considering he didn鈥檛 do much for the environment, Ralph Klein did a couple of good things and one of them was to protect the Whaleback.鈥�
According to Van Tighem, when he first wrote an essay about the Whaleback region there was no guarantee it was going to be protected, but by working with local ranchers and environmental organizations the provincial government turned it into a wildland park, protecting it from industrial development.
鈥淭he whole concept of a wildland park is an Alberta invention that says we鈥檙e going to keep places protected, but not as national parks. We鈥檙e going to keep industry out and welcome people in so they still have hunting and they still have fishing.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of south western Alberta is protected now, either as public protected land or private land that has conservation agreements and that鈥檚 all happened in my life time so it鈥檚 not all bad news. We can get things right here.鈥�
Van Tighem will be in Jasper on April 27 to talk about his book Our Place: Changing the Nature of Alberta. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be held at the Jasper Library and Cultural Centre. Prior to his book talk he will also be hosting a writing workshop with Habitat for the Arts from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The workshop is free for members otherwise there鈥檚 a $5 drop in fee.
鈥淢y life has flowed in out of Jasper every since university and in many way this book is a product of Jasper so it鈥檚 particularly meaningful to bring it to a Jasper audience and share it with the community that helped me create it.鈥�
Paul Clarke
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