This episode: Parks for Tomorrow. We’re going to look at one protest in Banff on a drizzly October day in 1977. And we’re going to peek behind the scenes to see how and why organizers tried to get media attention.

Parks for Tomorrow was a coalition of scientists and environmental groups from across Canada who came together to protect national parks from commercial exploitation. Most urgently, they wanted to stop expansion of the Sunshine Village ski resort in Banff, and cattle grazing and haycutting in Waterton and Prince Albert National Parks. Their campaign was centred around a march down the streets of Banff on October 23, 1977. The Parks for Tomorrow demands were endorsed by conservation groups from across Canada who said they represented over 750,000 members. The ground-level organizing work was done by a small group of volunteers, many from the Banff-based Bow Valley Naturalists.

We went through Bow Valley Naturalists’ records at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies to learn why they valued media coverage so highly – and ask how much these lessons would apply outside of a park.

Campaigners got most of the media attention they were looking for. CBC and CTV both sent TV news crews from Calgary, and radio stories aired on CBC, CFCN, and CKXL.

Some of the print coverage of the protest from The Albertan, Crag & Canyon, Calgary Herald, and Edmonton Journal:

This is Part 2 of our mini-series… You Can Change the World! Or… Why Would I Talk to You? We’re sharing three stories about Albertan environmental groups and journalists way back in the 70s.

Part 1: Hilary McDowall and the Kicking Horse News

Join us next month as we wrap up the mini-series with a live show – Let’s Find Out: About the Whale Society of Edmonton.

Yes, Edmonton really used to have a save-the-whales club. No, they weren’t based at West Edmonton Mall. But they did make a big splash.

Join Let’s Find Out host Chris Chang-Yen Phillips for a live podcast recording, exploring the fascinating history of the Whale Society of Edmonton.

Tuesday March 3 2026
6:30 – 8 PM

City of Edmonton Archives
Prince of Whales Wales Armouries
10440 108 Avenue

Learn more here. Get tickets through Taproot Edmonton: luma.com/q45148xe

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Research for this mini-series was supported by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies’ Lillian Agnes Jones Scholarship. They hold a complete collection of Kicking Horse News issues, and many drafts and letters Hilary McDowall wrote.

Read Chris’ full research paper on this topic: “‘You Can Change the World’: Environmental Advocacy and Media in 1970s Alberta.”

This episode is brought to you by SkirtsAfire, Edmonton’s annual festival featuring the work of women in the arts. This year’s festival takes place from March 5 to 15, 2026, in Old Strathcona and the French Quarter, plus a new venue: ArtsHub Ortona!

This episode is also brought to you by The Pulse, Taproot Edmonton’s daily newsletter. Subscribe to The Pulse and you’ll get original journalism from Taproot’s team of reporters, summaries of recent news and upcoming event listings, and The Taproot Mini crossword.

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Further Reading

“Louise Swift Full Interview,” John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights (Youtube), December 9, 2025

“Beware of predatory black bears,” Labspaces Video Feed (Youtube), May 11, 2011

Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance, Lyons Press, 2002.

“Protest march slated Sunday,” The Albertan, October 22, 1977.

“Marchers protest Parks policy,” Crag and Canyon, October 26, 1977.

“Marchers protest Sunshine expansion,” Calgary Herald, October 24, 1977.

Jessica M. DeWitt, “Parks For and By the People: Acknowledging Ordinary People in the Formation, Protection, and Use of State and Provincial Parks,” in Environmental Activism on the Ground: Small Green and Indigenous Organizing, ed. Liza Piper and Jonathan Clapperton, Canadian History and Environment Series (University of Calgary Press, 2019)

Margery McDougall, “History of the Bow Valley Naturalists,” May 1980. Document file. 1967-2010. Bow Valley Naturalists fonds. M186. Archives and Library, Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies

Louise Swift, “From Nuclear Disarmament to Raging Granny: A Recollection of Peace Activism and Environmental Advocacy in the 1960s and 1970s,” in Bucking Conservatism: Alternative Stories of Alberta from the 1960s and 1970s, ed. Leon Crane Bear, Larry Hannant, and Karissa Robyn Patton (AU Press, 2021), 241–52