ASN 2002 Field trips


Note: As of 5/23, the trips to Burgess Shale are now filled, with a waiting list for any cancellations. We can no longer accept applications. However, there are plenty of spaces still available for the montaine ecosystems trip. Email Joel Trexler (trexlerj@fiu.edu) about the waiting list.


Overview.  Formal conference sessions at the Banff Centre  (http://www.banffcentre.ca/) begin with a mixer on the evening of 11 July.  Rooms at the Banff Centre become available that night.  The final sessions, and the last night for accommodations take place on 14 July.  We have two all-day field trips on 11 July, and one on 15 July.  


  1. 11 July, Montane ecology transect along the Lower Bow and Kananaskis Valleys. The Bow River is the river that flows through Banff.  The Kananaskis River flows parallel to the Front Range of the Rockies and meets the Bow outside of Banff Park.  This field trip should include visits to a montane grassland, a spring area with about a dozen species of terrestrial orchids, the field station, montane forest, subalpine forest, alpine meadows, beaver dam, lakes, and first and higher order streams.  Maximum of 48 participants.


On the evening of 10 July, participants will be housed at the Barrier Lake Station of the Kananaskis Field Stations (maps, photos and details at http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/research/KFS/), in the lower Kananaskis Valley.   Dinner on the 10th, and breakfast and sack lunches on the 11th, will be included (dinner served at 6 PM).   Locals, or those with their own transportation, should get to the BLS on their own.  For others, we expect to rent a maxivan to provide a shuttle service between Calgary Airport and BLS, with departures from Calgary at roughly 10:30, 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30.  Exact times and rendezvous points will be set when we know the air schedules of participants. 


On the 11th, transportation on the field trip will be by one bus, leaving BLS at 8 AM.  It will return to the Banff Centre in the late afternoon, in time for conference check-in and for the evening mixer.  The bus will then continue to the town of Field to pick up the participants of the Burgess Shale Trip and deliver them to the Banff Centre.  


  1. 11 July, Burgess Shale (Walcott Quarry) hike.  Because of National Parks regulations, this is limited to a trip size of 15.  This trip is guided and organized by the Yoho-Burgess Shale Foundation.  It is a physically demanding hike at altitude:  prospective participants must read and consider carefully the warnings and advice at http://www.burgess-shale.bc.ca/.   If you are not in very good physical condition, you should pass up this hike.


Participants must get themselves to the town of Field, B.C.  The trip leaves at 8:00 AM, 11 July from the Yoho Brothers' Trading Post (Field and Trans-Canada Highway intersection).  A guidebook is available at the Trading Post.   Most hikers will want to reserve accommodations in Field for the night of the 10th.  The web address above has a list of accommodations.  We strongly suggest booking as soon as you receive confirmation that you have been accepted for the trip.   The hike should return to Field at 6:30 PM, at which point a bus will take participants to the Banff Centre for conference check-in, showers, and the mixer.   Note:  the Burgess Shale web site lists these times as Mountain Standard Time (as opposed to Daylight).  We must verify this.  


  1. 15 July, Burgess Shale.  Details as for Trip 2, except that participants must arrange their own transportation to Field for the night of the 14th and for their own return to Calgary Airport or other point of departure.