L to R: Singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn; Heather MacFadyen; Jed Goldberg, President of Earth Day Canada; and Hubert Bolduc Vice President, Communications and Public Affairs of Cascades
Earth Day Canada is pleased to recognize Heather MacFadyen as the 2010 Hometown Heroes Individual Award winner. Heather, a psychologist, faculty member at the Banff Center, and former professor and administrator at the University of Calgary, has been instrumental in seeing a functional wildlife corridor established between Wind Valley, Bow Valley, Spray Valley and Banff Park.
Over the course of 9 years, Heather coordinated awareness and information meetings, petitions and letter writing campaigns to rally public support to protect local wildlife and habitat. With a long list of supporters, Heather has been successfully pressuring decision makers to establish scientifically functional wildlife corridors over a 14 km stretch of land that is now known as the Three Sisters Corridor in Canmore Alberta. These corridors increase wildlife protection, biodiversity and survival, while representing the interests of local citizens and acknowledging the responsibilities of the stakeholders. In 2009, Heather organized a campaign to gain Provincial agreement to return 57 acres of land, previously leased to a private developer, to the Bow Valley Wildland Park and the Wind Valley Corridor.
As an environmental steward, Heather is extensively involved with conservation boards and committees, including:
- Current Chair, Bow Corridor Organization for Responsible Development (BowCORD) which helped protect the Wind Valley
- Board of Directors, Bow River Keeper (Banff Chapter)
- Board of Directors, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association (CPAWS/ Calgary/Banff Chapter)
- Representative of BowCORD and CPAWS to Banff Park
- Member of the Environmental Advisory Review and Community Monitoring Committees, Town of Canmore
- Chair, Community Services Committee, Town of Canmore
- Feature columnist for the Rocky Mountain Outlook, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal and contributor to the Toronto Star
