WELCOME TO WEASELHEAD

One in five Albertans get their drinking water from the Weaselhead area. The Weaselhead Society is a non-profit society that serves to preserve this area and to protect the integrity of south Calgary's water supply.

With five distinct habitats and over 1000 species of flora and fauna clustered around a meandering mountain-fed river, Calgary's famous Weaselhead is our most ecologically interesting natural area and our most highly protected park.

Calgary's Weaselhead Society

The Weaselhead Society is a non-profit society registered with the province of Alberta and the Government of Canada. We are Calgary's largest group of park users and nature enthusiasts.

Weaselhead Society Programs & Initiatives: --

1. A number of curriculum-based education programs for Calgary students in grades 4 though 9 that include the following: --

G4 Science: Plant life in a Natural Community
G5 Science: Wetlands, Important to a Health Environment
G6 Social: Can Weaselhead Be All Things To All People?
G7 Science: Ecosystems Up Close and Personal
G8 Science: Water: Life's Most Important Commodity
G9 Science: Abundance of Life in a Natural Area

2. An extensive summer day camp program that brings hundreds of Calgary kids into the Weaselhead Area to learn about nature and conservation and about the importance of protecting our water supply.

3. A volunteer-based park maintenance program that brings the Society's large volunteer force together with professionals from the City's Adopt-a-Park Program and which results in the removal of trash and pet feces that would otherwise end up in our drinking water reservoir.

4. A volunteer-based park maintenance program that brings together volunteers from the Society's Invasive Plants Committee with professionals from the City's Natural Areas Management Team and which results in the eradication of invasive plants that threaten the ecological integrity of the Elbow River Valley both in Weaselhead an for hundreds of miles downstream of Weaselhead.

5. A growing ecotourism program which introduces visitors and area residents to the natural wonders of the park and which seeks to introduce ecotourists to some of the basic concepts of conversation and ecology.

6. An growing outreach program that assists other Elbow River Valley stakeholders (such as the newly formed Stanley Park to Glenmore Dam Preservation Society) to get established and find supporters in their efforts to protect and preserve the valley.

7. A growing public education outreach program that sees Society volunteers staffing information booths at such public education and awareness events as the Mayor's Environmental Expo, Oakridge Community Association Annual Stampede Breakfast, Harry Hays (Government of Canada) Environmental Expo, Lakeview Days, Calgary Annual Tower Climb, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Run for Wildlife and others.

8. A massive non-profit website that serves the Weaselhead Natural Environment Area as well as all parks and natural areas in Alberta by allowing users to report the varieties of wildlife they seen in their yards, communities, parks and natural areas.

9. A large online encyclopedia of more than 1000 species of animals and plants found in Weaselhead -- and in most other areas of western Canada -- that includes text, audio, video and still images.

10. A small but growing adult education program that seeks to create awareness of the national historical significance of the Weaselhead area as a First and Second World War training facility.

Beneficiaries of the Society's Activities: --

Park users in Calgary who enjoy the Weaselhead Natural Environment Area.

Park users in Calgary who enjoy North Glenmore Park.

Park users in Calgary who enjoy South Glenmore Park.

Calgary area scouting and guiding groups who take advantage of free ecotours.

Calgary area students whose schools take advantage of free ecotours.

Calgary area students whose schools buy into our curriculum-based education programs.

Calgary area day camp kids who get to spend one or more days every summer learning about nature in an important and historic natural environment area.

Calgary area residents who enjoy cleaner water in the Glenmore Reservoir.

Western Canadians who enjoy cleaner water in the Elbow River downstream from Calgary.

Rural landowners downstream from Weaselhead whose lands and pastures are less likely to be invaded by noxious weeds.

Anyone, resident or tourist, who learns something important about conservation or ecosystems at one of our information booths.

Anyone, Canadian or otherwise, who learns something important about the wildlife covered in our online encyclopedia.

Future generations of Canadians who see that a site with some historical significance has been preserved.

History

The Weaselhead/Glenmore Park Preservation Society was officially incorporated on June 20, 1994 as a non-profit society in the Province of Alberta.

Click here for a history of the Weaselhead Natural Environment Area.

Click here to join the Society.

Adopt a Park

Click here for information about our Adopt-a-Park program.