Group saves native plants from being bulldozed, gives them 2nd chance in Fish Creek Park

A Calgary group is leading the effort to restore native plants to Fish Creek Provincial Park — by rescuing them from private development sites before they're bulldozed over. 

The Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society, in partnership with Alberta Native Plant Rescue, began the pilot project in 2024.

Last year, they salvaged over 15,000 plants and relocated more than 80 per cent of them to the park, according to Katrina Terrill, the society's executive director. 

The other 20 per cent went to members of the public and to a nursery space that will supply the park with plants for years to come.

"We're really looking to restore the whole diversity of the grasslands, not just one or two species," she said.

Now, in the program's second year, the group is working with three developers (Genesis Land Development Corp., Calbridge Homes and Qualico Communities) to rescue native plant species on the land before construction takes place, according to Terrill.

"Because we're going to multiple different salvage sites, we're taking plants from all across these areas. We're able to put them in the park and have this really incredible diversity of species as well as individual genetics," she said. "That's much healthier for the ecosystem in total."

The group plans to take some plants from the site of Qualico Communities' Southbow Landing development, near Cochrane's southern boundary.

"It does have a lot of that natural space," said Emily Smith, Qualico Communities director of marketing and customer care.

"We want to keep as much of that as we can. But also, knowing that we can't keep all of it, if we can contribute to areas that need [native plants], why wouldn't we?"
 
The site is under development now, but according to Smith, much of it hasn't been touched yet, including land along the Bow River where native plants are growing. 

"These are areas that are essentially sitting and waiting to be developed. So they're kind of the perfect opportunity for groups like these to come in before any construction work happens," said Smith.

Terrill said she's mainly looking for plant species like rough fescue and oat grass to put into the park, but also plants like wild rose, Saskatoon berries and sage grass.

"Long term, it's going to increase the resiliency of the park," Terrill said. "Native plants are more drought tolerant, so they're going to survive better in changing conditions. They're also a lot more tolerant to fire and present a lower fire risk because they don't grow as much over ground."

Most of the restoration work for the program is happening in the Bow Valley Day Use Area — where new plants are being put directly into the ground.

Less than one per cent of native grasslands that once swept across the Fish Creek Provincial Park area are left, according to Terrill.

"We have a huge task ahead of us, for sure. Obviously, restoring the park is going to be the work of generations. It's not going to all happen within the next five to 10 years," said Terrill.

The group is also planting trees and shrubs along the creek to stabilize the bank and create shade for fish. 

In a statement, Genesis Land Development Corp. said it's proud to support the restoration program.

The developer added it's sharing seeds from these native plants with homeowners moving into its Logan Landing community, to help "carry that connection to the land forward."