Each fall The King’s University’s second-year physical geography class takes a field trip to Jasper National Park to learn about Alberta ecosystems and practice fieldwork techniques. “Over the summer we were deeply saddened to learn that the Jasper wildfires had destroyed the class's usual lodging and field sites, and it looked like this year's trip would be cancelled,” the Edmonton, Alta., university said in its November King’s Insider newsletter. “Thankfully, Emmanuel Christian Reformed Church in Calgary opened their doors and invited students to stay in their facilities free of charge, making it possible to spend this year's field trip in Banff (National Park).”
Professor Michael Ferber alternates with colleague Harry Spaling in teaching the course. Ferber led this year’s trip and Spaling accompanied, along with 38 students. Ferber said he started pivoting plans soon after the July fire when it became obvious that most of the regular field trip stops were out of commission. The King’s vice president for institutional advancement, Shannon Tuininga, connected Ferber to Emmanuel CRC as a possible accommodation alternative.
“King’s has a long history with Emmanuel, and they have been faithful supporters of the university,” Tuininga said. “Over the years we have hosted various events there, and several of our supporters are or have been members of this church.”
Ferber was grateful for the ready hospitality from the church and its office manager, Yvonne Bosgra, despite it being an unusual request. “To my knowledge this is the first time we have had an overnight group stay at the church,” Bosgra said. But to Ferber she offered the space: “We can definitely make this work at Emmanuel. … Upstairs we have 5 classrooms that your group can settle in for the evening. There is also a youth room with some couches, a pool table, and a ping pong table for everyone to hang out in.” Bosgra said the professors hosted the group. “I just met them and opened the rooms up for them.”
The Emmanuel stay was halfway through the group’s itinerary, after stops to see Dry Island Buffalo Jump, a Badlands tour, examples of hoodoos, and before tours of Banff’s Cave and Basin hot springs, the Johnston Canyon, Crowfoot Glacier, Lake Abraham, and the Big Rock glacial erratic at Rocky Mountain House, Alta. Ferber said they arranged to visit the same kind of terrestrial formations, just in a different part of the province or in a different order than the typical trip.
“In Jasper, we would visit Miette hot springs, so in Banff, we went to the Cave and Basin and also stopped at the waterfalls. Instead of the Athabasca Glacier, we stopped at the Crowfoot Glacier, and instead of Maligne Canyon, we visited Johnston Canyon. We also added a new stop to look at Drumlins between Calgary and Canmore.”
Ferber will teach this one-semester course again in the spring and he’s unsure whether the Jasper sites will be available. “If all goes well we will be back to Jasper. However, if it is not possible to return yet, I'll definitely reach out to (Emmanuel CRC) to see if it might be possible to return.” Otherwise the group will be seeking lodging in Jasper or Hinton, Alta.
Besides needing to adjust itineraries around wildfire devastation, Ferber recognizes the wider impact of weather and climate events. He posted a lament “Jasper's Call: Reality, Grief, and Hope in Alberta” on YouTube shortly after the Jasper fires and is collaborating with English professor Philip Mingay at The King’s on an edited volume of poetry and reflection on processing grief over climate losses and hope from seeing things as they are. The book is expected to be completed in June.