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Welcome to my first podcast, I’m Lindsey and I love to relate science to everyday things. Today we will explore some aspects of rivers often forgotten about.
Calgary is my home, and it is a city that relies on its rivers. From indigenous communities, to the first European settlers, they were drawn by the bounty of the waterways. The Bow river is the major source for drinking water for many Albertan communities, and provides recreation, beauty, and a cool breeze on a hot day. A 2020 study by Dr. Sinnatamby and her colleagues characterizes our river into four sections, each with its own challenges and influences, I like to think of these as stages in a life cycle: birth, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Let’s follow Bow on his journey.
BIRTH: a natural beginning
Bow river is born in the pristine Canadian Rockies, fed by precipitation and a bit of glacial melt, surrounded by dense vegetation in sub-alpine and montane regions. His waters are cool, and the nutrients are governed by natural forces. He has a lot to learn, and a long way to go, but what a beautiful way to start life. Flowing through Lake Louise and Banff he sees the sights and plays with the locals. He meets up with Pipestone and Cascade for his journey, together they are strong.
ADOLESCENCE: moody but productive
Once Bow hits more populated areas, he discovers life is more than rainbows and sunshine, and picks up more friends. Kananaskis and Ghost keep him out of trouble, and Elbow joins the ranks once they hit the city. Humans corral Bow’s power with dams, weirs, and reservoirs, Elbow understand this, he went through it too. Bow feels useful, with his water being pumped for drinking water and irrigation. His humans do for him what they think is best, using wastewater treatment plants to return his resources to him once they have taken what they need. They do try to help, but their management causes increased nutrients and alters natural flow patterns. He wants to meander! He has places to explore! They ensure he stays on their prescribed course, armoring his banks for their own protection and playing with flow levels to suit their own needs. His shores are characterized by the foothills, cityscapes, and hard edges. He pines for his past.
ADULTHOOD: recover and find yourself
Once he reaches adulthood, he finds new friends and mellows out. He meets Highwood river, and they flow together. Her influence lets him return somewhat to the flow he prefers, some gentle meanders, a little wandering, and more fish friends. His waters are warming up, and the creatures that call this area home like it that way, filled with filter feeders and warm water fishes. He still feels under the thumb of his humans, as they litter his shores with towns and cities. Subjected to wastewater treatment plants, and agricultural runoff, his nutrients fluctuate more than is natural, but he enjoys the dense mixed grass vegetation he runs through. This is life now.
OLD AGE: last stop
Bow finally reaches the last dam, Bassano. He is tired, he has travelled over six hundred kilometers in his life. His discharge isn’t what it used to be, sure, his flow is still high - but he is riddled with dissolved phosphates and nitrates. He thinks back to the cool waters of his youth, and his full journey. Once he was surrounded by conifers, mountains, cities… now he finds himself meandering through dry flat farm and grasslands with a greater richness of fish species following along. His humans are no longer his major problem, but natural fluctuations occur at his age. Flowing eastward, this journey is finished when he meets the Oldman, but they will carry on together as the South Saskatchewan.
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Thanks for listening to my dramatization of the Bow river. Please look closer next time you are walking on the river shore, there is more to discover than you realize and there is a lot of story to tell. Think about where it has come from, think about where it is going, what kind of changes are happening along the way. These are really important questions that we often don’t consider. We just look at what’s in front of us, instead of noticing the big picture… and that is where the really good stuff is hidden.
Goodbye!
Special thank you to Pixabay.com for the music, and my co-host the Microsoft Text-to-Speech voice.
References
Downing, D. J., and W. W. Pettapiece. 2006. Natural Regions and Subregions of Alberta. Natural Regions Committee. Edmonton, Alberta.
Rahel, F. J., and W. A. Hubert. 1991. Fish assemblages and habitat gradients in a rocky mountain-great plains stream: Biotic zonation and additive patterns of community change. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 120:319–332.
Romanuk, T. N., L. J. Jackson, J. R. Post, E. McCauley, and N. D. Martinez. 2006. The structure of food webs along river networks. Ecography 29:3–10.
Sinnatamby, R. N., B. Mayer, M. K. Kruk, S. B. Rood, A. Farineau, and J. R. Post. 2020. Considering multiple anthropogenic threats in the context of natural variability: Ecological processes in a regulated riverine ecosystem. Ecohydrology 13:1–19.
Vivian, B., M. C. Wilson, and L. Amundsen-Meyer. 2013. The Bow River flood study: a tale of past, present, and future.
Rahel, F. J., and W. A. Hubert. 1991. Fish assemblages and habitat gradients in a rocky mountain-great plains stream: Biotic zonation and additive patterns of community change. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 120:319–332.
Romanuk, T. N., L. J. Jackson, J. R. Post, E. McCauley, and N. D. Martinez. 2006. The structure of food webs along river networks. Ecography 29:3–10.
Sinnatamby, R. N., B. Mayer, M. K. Kruk, S. B. Rood, A. Farineau, and J. R. Post. 2020. Considering multiple anthropogenic threats in the context of natural variability: Ecological processes in a regulated riverine ecosystem. Ecohydrology 13:1–19.
Vivian, B., M. C. Wilson, and L. Amundsen-Meyer. 2013. The Bow River flood study: a tale of past, present, and future.
