Repeat photography, historical

ecology, and climate change in

the western Canadian Cordillera

Eric Higgs, Professor

School of Environmental Studies

University of Victoria, Canada

Acknowledgements Library and Archives Canada

Province of Alberta Ministry of Sustainable Resource

Development

Parks Canada

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Universities of Victoria

University of Alberta

Phototopographic

surveys

1888-1958

British Columbia, Alberta, Yukon

Dominion Topographic Survey

Geological Survey

Boundary surveys

One of 16 map sheets prepared for the interprovincial

(BC/Alberta) boundary survey based on 1915

photographic data.

>140,000 glass plates

4,000 repeat photo pairs

hundreds of locations

focusing to date on the

eastern slopes of the

Rockies

J.J. Macarthur, 1888: Banff National Park

Research and management

applications Interdisciplinary graduate research

Vegetation change (Levesque 2005, Rhemtulla 2001)

Climate change (Roush 2009, Shaw 2009)

Analytic techniques (Gat 2011, Watt 2007)

Fire management (Kubian 2011, Gray 2011)

Cultural studies and history (Smith 2004, 2010)

Research collaborations Roger Wheate (Univ of Northern BC)

Dan Smith (UVic)

Jeanine Rhemtulla (McGill)

Brian Luckman (Western Ontario)

Ian MacLaren (Alberta)

Chris Stockdale (Alberta)

Agency management priorities

Alberta Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development (fire prescriptions and public awareness)

Parks Canada (public awareness, historic ecosystem classification, vegetation and fire management)

Library and Archives Canada (archival research, collections management, public communications)

Roush 2009

The Mountain Legacy Project | mountainlegacy.ca

Securing the legacy

Repeat photography

Interpretation & analysis

New techniques for visualization

Communicating the legacy

The Mountain Legacy Project | mountainlegacy.ca