Table of Contents

Foreword   ix

Acknowledgements    xv

      Overview Map    xx

Invocation The Magnificent Seven xxi

Part One The West We Had: Foundations ofPlace

1. A Walk into the Past: Setting a Context of Place   3

2. The Creation: Monumentality and Place    17

3. The Creation: People and Place Before European Contact   27

4. Exchanging What We Had for What We Want: The Fur Trade Era in theCanadian West    33

5. The Coming of Death: Diminishment and Loss among the FirstPeoples of the West    41

Part Two The West We Have: Making theMountains Our Home

6. Giving Meaning to Mountains and Making Them Ours: Mountaineeringand the Aesthetics of Place    47

7. Brushes with Eternity: Landscape Art and Photography in theCanadian Rockies    69

8. Crystal and Cold Blue Chasms: The Literature of the CanadianRocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site    77

9. Stemming the Tide of Loss: The Give and Take of Modern ManagementIn and Around the Mountain Parks    91

10. Countering Dispossession: Saving Our Unique MountainCulture    105

The East Slope: Flowing Toward the Atlantic

11. The Birthplace of Canada’s National Park Ideal: BanffNational Park    115

The North Slope: Flowing Toward the Arctic

12. The Birthplace of Western and Northern Rivers: The ColumbiaIcefield and Jasper National Park    145

The West Slope: Flowing Toward the Pacific

13. The Roof of the Canadian Rockies: Mount Robson ProvincialPark    187

14. Small, Remote, but Utterly Wild: Hamber ProvincialPark    201

15. The Geography of Wonder: Yoho National Park   215

16. The Road to Radium: Kootenay National Park   243

17. Matterhorn of the Rockies: Mount Assiniboine ProvincialPark    257

Part Three The West We Want: Creating aCulture Worthy of Place

18. Respecting and Honouring the Great Bear: The Grizzly as a Symbolof the West We Want    273

19. Seeing What Is Hidden in Plain Sight: Triumphing OverDiminishment and Loss    299

20. Expanding the World Heritage Site Designation: Managing forFuture Integrity Instead of Loss    313

21. Creating a Culture Commensurate with Place   321

Notes    339

Index    347

Promotional Information

A must-read for anyone who appreciates Western Canada’sbreathtaking landscape, Ecology and Wonder looks at how preserving theRocky Mountains may be an important defence against climate change.

About the Author

Robert W. Sandford is the author or editor of over 20books on the nature, history, and culture of the Canadian West. He isthe Canadian Chair of the United Nations International Decade“Water for Life,” an initiative that aims to advancelong-term water quality and availability issues in response to climatechange in Canada and abroad. He is also an Honorary Member of theAssociation of Canadian Mountain Guides. He lives in Canmore, Alberta.