FLOWING through ALBERTA

explore the diverse eco-regions of Alberta
. from the Rocky Mountains to the Badlands

by Michael O'Brien, Red Deer River Naturalists

Next year's Canadian Nature Federation Conference will once again be a
birthday party. The CNF will be celebrating its 20th birthday; and the hosting
naturalist organization will be celebrating its 85th year of operation. We'd
like to invite you to the party.

Our group has been very actively involved in environmental issues and
battles, particularly in the past 15 years. However, our conference is being
organized on two tracks next year. One track will be issue oriented, but the
other track will be on straight natural history, and the enjoyment, through
knowledge of our natural world.

- Qur society, the Red Deer River Naturalists, and our community, Red Deer,
both derive their name from the river which runs through our small city of 55
thousand. Our river, we have decided, will also be the focus of the conference.
Both the sessions of the conference, and the trips which will bracket it, will
follow the river as it flows through the mountains, the parklands, and the
prairie zones of Alberta. Since the CNF will likely be dealing with water
management problems as its principal theme next year, the 91' Red Deer
conference will complement that investigation.

One set of speakers will deal with the environmental issues of these three
zones while another set of speakers will deal with the pleasures of seeing and
understanding the natural history of the three zones. So whether your interest
in nature is mainly issue oriented or pleasure centered, there will be lots for
you to enjoy. You can stay on one track or mix and match.

Prior to the conference we are preparing a major 5 day prairie zone trip,
as well as several 3 day to 1/2 day trips to various locations in the parklands
of Central Alberta.

The post conference trip will be a week long mountain trip. All of the
longer trips will be by motor coach. Some of the field trips within the
conference proper will be on the river itself, and others will be beside it and
will provide a look at the beautiful park our organization helped to plan and
which stretches the entire length of the city. The Sunday CNF birthday brunch
will probably involve a river rafting tour through our city.

Most bird walks will start at the conference hotel, since it borders the
bicycle and walking trail network which runs for nearly 40 kilometers through
the city - most of the trails through wooded and other natural areas. Bird life
is varied and abundant in Red Deer since we are, I think, the first city in the
country to have instituted a purely biological mosquito control program - a
program that is economical, inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and also a
program that works. Come and find out more about our mosquito control program,
a program which relies in part on the enhancement of natural mosquito
predators, part on Bacillus thurgenesis, and partly on an educated willingness
of the citizenry to swat what lites.

Besides the conference motel, there will be a wide variety of alternate
places to stay, including clean and economical motels. Red Deer has a very
pleasant camp grounds by the river, and there are spots for the RV enthusiasts.

Ty gs