2005 Run Off Photos June 18 PM

The flooding on the Bow River is so incomprehensible that only photos can do justice to this event. The written word pales by comparison. Normally I would reduce the size of the photo to save space but this time the photos will be as they came to me by email. Again I have to thank Michelle and Armand of Bow River Shuttles for documenting the devastation on the river.

This is the old Fish and Wildlife house on the flood plain just downstream of the McKinnon’s Flats access.

This picture is of the island upstream of McKinnons. Armand tells me it is now totally under water.

This shows the water flowing over the mainland and into the launch area at McKinnons. Body language portrays the helplessness of the situation.

This photo is the McKinnon’s Flats parking lot looking in an upstream direction. Notice the Trout Unlimited kiosk and the water level with the bottom of the kiosk. The entire parking lot is under about 3 feet of water.

This photo shows the Bow where it breached the bank at the rock wall that was the inflow for the wetland. The wall is under water or blown out and is somewhere downstream.

The new back channel has washed out the road heading into the Policeman’s Flats parking lot. This channel looks to be 40 to 50 feet wide.

Here you can see what once was the Policeman’s parking lot and launch area. The port-a-potty has tipped over, the kiosk looks to have about 3 feet of water at its feet and the parking lot, staging area is totally submerged. I guess we have sewage in the river now!

Another shot of the “deceased launch site” from the road. Just to the left would be the part of the road washed out. Policeman’s Flats is now an island.

This gives you a better idea of the newly created island at Policeman’s Flats.

At this time I have to say that once the river becomes fishable it is undetermined if there will be any river access points left that will be usable. From the photos on this page it is clear that Policeman’s is no longer and possibly McKinnons is unusable. Photos from other pages would indicate that Jensen’s and Carseland are doubtful. We won’t know definitively the state of river access points until the water recedes. My best guess is that we don’t have usable access points left. I could be wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time – but I think not.

I would ask all local anglers that might see this web site and these pages relating to this epic 200 year flood event to contact anyone that might be in a position to help restore these access points or create replacement river access points in close proximity to these ones.

A viable suggestion for the Policeman’s access would be at the new Deerfoot Bridge, which as we all know, crosses the Bow just above Policeman’s. It would be a quick fix as the highway is there. All they need do is open up the fence so a launch and parking lot could be situated under the bridge. This could be accessible to traffic from either direction. This is a no brainer as this location is on a straight stretch of river, unlike Policeman’s that is on the outside bend of the river, and therefore would not suffer any significant damage should we have another flood event.

If any of you wish to contact some Government people you might start with these email addresses. All these email addresses below are available on the following Alberta Government web site.

http://www.gov.ab.ca/home/index.cfm?Page=16 Be sure to contact Premier Ralph Klein, Community Development Minister Gary Mar, Environment Minister Guy Boutilier, Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Lyle Oberg and Sustainable Resource Development Minister David Coutts. Also contact your own MLA. Any one else you can think of I would Cc: them in the email. I have already done so and spoke of the urgency of this matter. If the access points are gone we will not have a guiding season. This may not encourage a local angler to get involved, but if there is no guiding season a lot of people are hurt. Your favorite fly fishing shop will suffer and this might affect you. Also if the guides can’t get to the river neither can you with your own drift boat. All that might be left is to walk the bank – not nearly as enjoyable as a full days float of our river.

Email addresses of Provincial Gov’t Ministers:

calgary.mackay@assembly.ab.ca, lethbridge.west@assembly.ab.ca, livingstone.macleod@assembly.ab.ca, fortmcmurray.woodbuffalo@assembly.ab.ca, donna.ballard@gov.ab.ca, calgary.buffalo@assembly.ab.ca, strathmore.brooks@assembly.ab.ca, innisfail.sylvanlake@assembly.ab.ca, premier@gov.ab.ca, calgary.elbow@assembly.ab.ca, barb.walline@gov.ab.ca, barrheadmorinvillewestlock@assembly.ab.ca   

Some other people to email might be: clint.dunford@gov.ab.ca, Mayor Dave Bronconnier at themayor@calgary.ca Trevor Rhodes - Head Fisheries Management at trevor.rhodes@gov.ab.ca I’m sure there are more people that could take up the fight – be creative!

I would like to thank anyone in advance that believes this is a disaster and feels motivated to step up to the plate for the betterment of fly fishing on our Bow River.

BOW RIVER FLOOD INFORMATION JUNE STREAM FLOWS STREAM FLOW ALERT ACT 3