| Pearce Estate Wetland | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Pearce Estate Wetland | |
| Type | Urban park |
| Location | 1440 17A St. S.E. Calgary |
| Nearest city | Calgary, Alberta |
| Coordinates | 51°02′30″N114°00′53″W / 51.041552°N 114.01474°W /51.041552; -114.01474 |
| Area | 21 hectares (52 acres; 0.21 km2) |
| Operated by | City of Calgary |
Pearce Estate Park is acity park located inCalgary,Alberta. The park occupies 21 hectares (52 acres; 0.21 km2) along theBow River to the east ofdowntown Calgary. The park containsPearce Estate Wetland, described as "constructed wetlands filled with native plants and animals". The land was donated to the city around 1929 by then prominent CalgarianWilliam Pearce.[1]
The park is located west of theWilder Institute/Calgary Zoo and the neighborhood ofInglewood, at the western end ofInternational Avenue, inside a bend of theBow River. An interpretative trail was opened to the public in 2004.[1]
The main parking lot for the park is located at 1440 17A St. S.E. Calgary, to the east of the neighborhood ofInglewood. It is east of theWilder Institute/Calgary Zoo, at the western end ofInternational Avenue, inside a bend of theBow River.
The park is named afterWilliam Pearce (1848–1930), who served as the Inspector of Dominion Lands Agencies where he oversaw the "development and allocation of all land, forests, mineral and water resources" from "Winnipeg to the eastern foothills of the Rockies"—representing 400,000 square miles of land. With such influence, he earned the nickname the "Czar of the West".[2] On October 21, 1880, theCanadian Pacific Railway (CPR) signed an agreement with the federal government to build a 1,900 mile-railway fromKamloops, British Columbia toCallander, Ontario. The railway was to receive "$25 million and 25 million acres of land 'fairly fit for settlement.'"[3] Pearce convinced the CPR to build the line through Calgary, with theBow River watershed used to irrigate lands in southern Alberta.John Palliser who led the 1857-1859 BritishPalliser expedition to Western Canada, and for whom thePalliser's Triangle was named, had said the land was "unfit for settlement."[4][5] By 1915, Pearce's vision of a vast irrigation system had been realized; land that Palliser thought would never support settlement, was "fertile and valuable". A 1915 article inScientific American described it as "America’s Greatest Irrigation Project."[4] According to E.J. (Ted) Hart, director of theWhyte Museum in Banff, who is the author of "several histories" of the Bow River watershed region, the "irrigation history of the Bow is one of the great industrial projects of Canada’s history. It created an economy out of an area that was considered useless."[4]
Pearce moved toCalgary, Alberta in 1884 and worked for twenty years for the CPR. A year before he died he donated his estate in the southeast of Calgary, which occupied about 80 hectares (200 acres; 0.80 km2) in a curve along the Bow River as it flows through the city.[2]
Pearce's land, on which the Pearce Estate Park is situated, was "devoted to experimental methods."[4] Before Pearce owned the wetlands, they were once part of a "riverine forest complex".[2] Pearce used some of the land for agriculture.[2] Pearce "believed in urban parks" and he "is the reason so much of the Bow remains accessible" to the public as it runs through the city core.[4]
In 2004, the city opened the newly developed wetland area andinterpretive trail to the public.[2]
Pearce Estate Park includes naturalized, reconstructed wetlands with ponds and streams along its pathways. It has a playground, picnic sites, seasonal washrooms, cross-country skiing, walking and biking trails, and access to the kayak rapids. Trails include the "Walking on Water Trail," theBP "Discovery Trail," and theDucks Unlimited "Webbed Foot Lane". The Sam Livingston Fish Hatchery, which is operated by the province, and provincially operated Bow Habitat Station are on the site. The nature interpretation facility is "jointly developed and operated" by the province of Alberta, the City of Calgary, along with private and non-profit sectors.[2] The park occupies 21 hectares (52 acres; 0.21 km2) hectare which includes 15 hectares (37 acres; 0.15 km2) of wetland area and the adjacent Bow Habitat Station.[2]
The Estate ecosystem is aBalsam Poplarriverine forest, where willows, including thesilver willow,Water Birch andRed-osier Dogwood thrive. Balsam PoplarPopulus balsamifera, which are also known as call Black Cottonwoods, prefer a very moist soil and can tolerate flooding. The bark of the balsam poplar is thick and gnarly and their leaves are large and pointed leaves. These trees provide habitat for a diversity of native fauna. In the small streams and ponds, submergent vegetation, likeSago Pondweed can be found.Common Duckweed floats on surface waters.[2]
Thewhite-breasted nuthatch andgray catbird are very common. Birds that nest in cavities, such ascommon goldeneye,tree swallows, andnorthern flickers, are attracted to the older balsam poplar trees. Some of these trees can live up to 200 years.[2] Pond birds includeamerican coots. Invertebrates include thewater boatman,midges, anddiving beetles that the ducks feed on.[2]
Pearce Estate Park is part of the proposed Bend in the Bow project which seeks to connects Pearce Estate Park and the adjoining green spaces on the banks of the Bow River to the Inglewood Wildlands andInglewood Bird Sanctuary (IBS).[6]
Pearce Estate Park provides access to the Harvie Passage, which was officially reopened for recreational use in 2018.[7] The passage is a high water channel, for skilled kayakers and a "low water channel for novice paddlers." It was closed to recreational following the 2013 flood, and reopened in 2018.[8]
Harvie Passage, formerly the Calgary Weir, is part of a network of canals and ponds originally created by the CPR in the early 20th century to divert water from the Bow River. This water was diverted from the Bow River as part of the Western Irrigation District (WID), which first opened in 1914. This was one of two irrigation districts in southern Alberta that supplied water from the Bow River, the other being the Eastern Irrigation District (EID).[9][10] The Bow River has been an "engineered and managed river" since the early 20th century.[11][Notes 1] The CPR construction of the diversion weir at the bend in the Bow River in Calgary was the first stage in what would become a network of irrigation canals and reservoirs.[12][13][14] According to a 2011 series by the Alberta Water Portal, WID receives much of Calgary's storm water and has more rainfall than the EID, and supports the needs of the City and those of the southern Alberta agriculture sector.[15]
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