The Friends are proud to announce that The Great Kananaskis Flood – A Disaster that Forever Changed the Face of Kananaskis Country is now available for retail sale!
In December 2014, Gillean Daffern, author of the indispensable Kananaskis Trail Guides book series and member of the Friends Advisory Council, approached the Friends Board with the idea for the book. We were all aware of the significant number of photographs that were available documenting the extent of the flood on K-Country. But we also all felt that the extent of the damage – especially in the back country – was not generally recognized.
As the Friends were heavily involved with Alberta Environment and Parks on doing flood restoration work on back country trails, we felt a book showing what we were all up against would be of interest.
Gillean asked if Derek Ryder, Friends of Kananaskis Chair, would co-author the book with her, which for a K-Country lover was a pretty easy request to say “Yes” to. Alberta Parks, and in particular Jill Sawyer, jumped on board, eager to show off both the work that needed doing and the work that was being done. Volunteers donated photos, included noted professional photographers who had snapped iconic shots, and many of the people who were living and working in K-Country when the flood hit. Local Canmore radio personality Rob Murray, who almost single handedly kept communication going in the Bow Valley during the disaster, authored the preface. Rocky Mountain Books stepped forward as publisher, and magically, after sorting through literally thousands and thousands of photos, our book was born.
All of the author and editorial proceeds from the book are coming directly to the Friends. The Board is committed to use the funds to continue doing flood restoration work, and to fund future trail work in K-Country.
We urge you to purchase a copy at the low price of just $25. Not only will you get to see 175 pages of pictures of rubble and how it’s all being fixed, you’ll be giving back to the Friends and helping us continue to restore the K-Country we love. It’s available in most bookstores including Indigo, Chapters and Coles, on line through such retailers as Amazon and Google Books, independent book stores like Pages and Café’ Books, through the folks at Rocky Mountain Books or even from the Friends office in Canmore.