029 Stampede foods, draining lakes, lost historic sites and summer crowds

Story 1 - New Stampede Foods Every year, the Calgary Stampede introduces new menu items for the midway…and this year is no different. As usual, some are tasty, and others nasty. Last week they announced 40 new foods to their usual fare of corn dogs, French fries and pizza. Wait…did someone say pizza? How about the world's hottest pizza…yup you heard that right, this year the Stampede offers pizza infused with ghost peppers. If that doesn't make you want to head on down to the grounds, how about some crispy chicken feet on a stick…oh yah, that's a thing this year. Like always, there are a million ways to have your fries, starting with the Tropical Bobster. Think poutine topped with lobster and garnished with mango salsa and fresh coriander. Or how about clam chowder poutine. On top of a bed of fries, you'll find "creamy clammy goodness" garnished with crispy crab meat and parsley. This list only scratches the surface as to the entire list of new food offerings. If you'd like to check out the complete list, check out this link: 2017 Stampede Foods Story 2 - Johnson Lake Johnson Lake has been a fixture in the news ever since whirling disease was discovered in the lake last August, and subsequently throughout the entire Bow and Oldman River systems. While Bow River downstream of Johnson Lake has been impacted by the parasite, rivers upstream still seem to be free of the disease. Johnson Lake has the potential to form as a buffer between the lower Bow and the Upper Cascade River system. The Upper Cascade is important as it is home to 4 of the most important populations of the endangered westslope cutthroat trout. These include Sawback Lake, Sawback Creek, Cuthead Creek and Elk Lake. Johnson Lake is separated from these upper rivers by the dam on Lake Minnewanka, but with the ease with which whirling disease can be transferred from one lake to another, the lake can form an important buffer helping to make the transfer a little more unlikely. How does it spread? It can carried by fishermen on their gear or in the tread of their boots - especially felt-tipped waders. The myxospores can also be carried on the feathers of birds from one lake to another. Park managers are currently using electro-fishing and gill nets to remove as many fish from the lake as possible. The lake will reopen to public use for the summer, but after Labour Day weekend, they'll resume their electro-fishing and gill netting to try to kill more fish. They'll also bring in a contractor to help lower the water level to force the fish into a smaller area to enable their capture. The hope is that by removing all of the fish from Johnson Lake, that the disease will naturally die out over time. Story 3 - Living with Wildlife There's a new film that everyone living and traveling to the Canadian Rockies should definitely watch. It's called Living with Wildlife and has been produced in cooperation with Necessary Journeys, Bear Conflict Solutions and Front Range Films. Check out the show notes for this episode for a link to watch the actual film. Story 4 - McDougall Church On May 22nd, 2017, Alberta lost an important piece of its history when the McDougall Memorial United Church was lost to fire. The church, first built in 1875, the same year the Northwest Mounted Police marched westward, has been an important place of worship for more than 140 years. The fire is currently believed to have been accidental and arson is not suspected. Cochrane RCMP reported that they could find no signs of arson at the scene. In a CBC story, they quote an investigator who felt that the cause will likely be listed as "inappropriate use of, or disposal of, an unknown ignition source". Story 5 - The Crowds Cometh For months I've been talking about the crowds that will be heading to Banff and Jasper National Parks this summer. Well this year's Victoria Day weekend shows that the pilgrimage has begun. Throughout the park, the campgrounds and hotels were full, the highways choked and the townsite was incredibly busy. Traffic counters showed that a record 31,600 vehicles arrived at the townsite - and this doesn't count vehicles that were already there. The congestion limit for Banff is 24,000 vehicles so we were way above that on just the first long weekend of summer. I ended up calling the Warden's office when I arrived in Banff to find the highway exits were backed up beyond the exit and were stretching into the driving lane. It was a scary situation as cars were suddenly braking when they noticed that traffic in the right lane had stopped. With Canada's 150th birthday, park passes are free this year and so we may see numbers exceeding all previous records. If you are planning on visiting, it is worthwhile to look at some of the public transit options that will allow you to visit without having to fight traffic or try to find elusive parking spots.