Posted in Pass Herald Waterton Addition June 20 2018.
Waterton is back in business.
For a number of years,
Waterton has been my favorite quiet
place. I used to be a frequent visitor to Banff
in the sixties and seventies, but slowly found myself crowded out by a steady increase in commercialism. For a while, Canmore retained the “little town in the mountains” character, but it didn’t last long
either. Only an hour from a city of over a million people left Canmore vulnerable
to a steady push towards mega development and altered its character. The next
place that offered majestic mountains, forests in natural state and lakes of
fresh mountain water was Waterton. Here I could still enjoy a one of a kind
natural Canadian Rockies beauty, meet thousands of international visitors and enjoy
a solitary walk on a natural trail without feeling that enjoyment in life is
directly related to my credit card limits.
I live in a
mountain forest and I am too old to start looking for another place even if I wanted to. As much as I try to never even
think about my peaceful haven being endangered, I could never forget the
warnings of those who made it their business to study major trends in the
environment. They predicted that the increase in greenhouse gasses would
eventually cause climate change, and steady increase in floods, droughts and
forest fires frequencies. Closing my eyes and burying my head in the sand didn’t
help.
One after another weather-related disasters came, each
time with a qualifier that this was rare events. Calgary had a hundred year
flood, the Crowsnest Pass had floods and fires and now the big one, the Kenow 2017 fire in Waterton National Park. Climate change is assaulting my home and my favorite
places. I know that forest fires are an integral part of nature, but natural
disasters are speeding up. My political leaders are saying that it should be
ignored for economic reasons, but our well-learned experts are disputing the
notion and are winning based on evidence.
Last summer
we heard the warnings of the weather experts, as we do now every summer. BC was
tinder dry and fires were erupting everywhere.
Alberta was still recovering from the Fort Mc Murray
disaster when the news splashed over the screens. A fire in Waterton Parks coming from
Montana and BC. I tried to ignore it so it will go away but I didn’t have an
alternate universe like the President of
the United States does. The ranchers were
being evacuated from what I call God’s
Country, and the huge wall of flames was
charging faster than any cavalry towards
that peaceful, simple town that I love,
Waterton.
Just like a
few years prior in the Crowsnest Pass, brave Canadian men and women don their orange suits and shovels in hands went to fight for their
country. Our brave pilots both helicopters, and fixed wings, worked to the point of exhaustion
while churches and community halls turned into evacuees centers. Money and volunteers
poured from all over and grandmas were baking for displaced
families. A wall of firefighters with determined
blackened faces stood their ground against a much bigger wall of flames and
smoke and defended the homes of other Canadians they never met but felt a strong
kinship with. Whoever or whatever attacks Canada, or any part of it, must know
that they will not win against our determination, hardiness and strong sense of
unity. We were not melted together in Canada; we “chose” to be one and you see the
benefits in action when we face a foe.
Last week I
went back to see how Waterton is fairing after the fire. Many trees are leafless and the surrounding mountains
don’t look like they used to. Everywhere there are scars, but nature and people
are fighting back. The lakes are still peacefully blue and the mountains remain
majestic as ever. They have been through fires before thousands of times. The ancient
people of Waterton, named Blackfoot after their ability to exist after fires,
opened a new information center and descendants of pioneers operate the quaint
little businesses in the area. Others are a testimony of new Canadians who
brought interpretership from the far east and prospered under our multicultural
system. You hardly find any chain stores or restaurants in Waterton. People don’t
come here for the predictable and familiar, but for the unique and creative experience.
I was
surprised to see the town already being under construction and even more astonished to see the number of tourists constantly
driving in or even arriving in busses. There are trailers and motorhomes in the
full campground and happy faces wherever you look. Just like every other year
before the fire, you hear every language on earth spoken on Main Street. People
are hiking and strolling about, looking with awe at the line that the fire was
not able to cross. Just like in our game Hockey, the defense did their job and
people are amused by our determination.
Every half-burned tree right on the edge
of town is a witness and the majestic hotel, the
Prince of Wales, stands defiantly amongst the burnt brush as a background for
the thousands of visitors who take “selfies” in front of it.
PHOTO CREDIT: P PHOTO CR
I watched a wedding party taking pictures with Cameron
Falls in the background and got talking to a
couple of teenagers who mistaken me for a tourist. The girl said wise words that can’t escape my
mind. She looked at her relative getting married and said: “it is more
important to love than to be loved.” So Canadian and so appropriate in a place
they call The Peace Park.
EDIT: Parks Canada I watched a wedding party taking pictures with Cameron
Falls in the background and got talking to a
couple of teenagers who mistaken me for a tourist. The girl said wise words that can’t escape my
mind. She looked at her relative getting married and said: “it is more
important to love than to be loved.” So Canadian and so appropriate in a place
they call The Peace Park.
Avner.
Photo Credit Parks Canada/ Ryan
Peruniak.
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