Jaclyn Angotti
Education Director
CPAWS Southern Alberta

It is snowing, yet again, as I sit to write this article on an early April afternoon. Spring storms are not uncommon in April, however, we have had a ton of snow and too much cold this winter. Lucky for us, a cold snowy winter is great for our snowshoe programs. But, I for one, am ready for it to wrap-up.

The snow this season did provide wonderful adventures for our snowshoe groups. Our interpretive guides Julie, Lauren, and Vanessa, led 20 classes on snowshoes through our beautiful Peter Lougheed and Brown Lowery Provincial Parks. Once the students learned to navigate on their snowshoes, they were absolutely thrilled to run downhill in the deep fluffy snow.

One of our guides, Julie, thinks that our snowshoe kids took a ‘lichen’ to playing out in our beautiful provincial parks this winter. Students aged 9 to 17 enjoyed breaking trail beside the main trail to look for animal tracks. They saw deer, pine marten, and snowshoe hare tracks. Julie and Vanessa were even gifted with the presence of a black wolf on Highway 40 as they drove to meet their groups one morning.

We are very grateful to those groups that supported our snowshoe program this year. Norseman Outdoor Specialist gave us a very generous friends and family discount in order to gear up our guides this year with brand new snowshoes! Nomad Mobile Gear Rentals provides discounts and free delivery on snowshoe rentals to our school groups. The Alberta Conservation Association and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada are both long-term supporters of our outdoor education programs and make it possible to connect kids with parks, science, and conservation during the winter months. Thank you all so much!

Please consider donating if you would like to support our education programs.

Alright winter… that’s a wrap! Bring on spring! We have thousands of kids to take out hiking in May and June. Here’s hoping for beautiful weather.