with Tako Koning and Steven Tannas
April 25, 2026 – 10:00 a.m.
Nose Hill Park (meeting location is the 64 Ave parking lot)
Difficulty – Easy

Join us to experience the unique geology, botany, history, and natural elements of Nose Hill Park. Revel in some of the first wildflowers of the season, crocuses!

The area is unique because it holds a large amount of native rough fescue grassland ecosystem, which is a rapidly vanishing ecosystem in the province. The planned ecology and vegetation topics of this hike will include a discussion of the fescue grassland ecosystem found on Nose Hill, its long-term ecological functions, key native species, along with threats to this unique ecosystem.

During the hike we will learn some of the defining geological features and history of the park, including glaciations, rock striations, the Nose Hill erratic, and various fossils that can be found. We will discuss how the hill came to exist on the landscape, and the historical uses of the region.

There is no doubt you will find fresh air, many spring flowers and other ecological surprises, and a sense of peace that the hills and time in nature can bring. Nose Hill is home to a wide range of species that we may encounter, such as white-tailed deer, coyotes, boreal chorus frogs, garter snakes, pollinators, and a diverse array of native bird species.

About the coordinators:

Tako Koning is a Holland-born Canada-raised geologist with a B.Sc. In Geology from the University of Alberta and a B.A. In Economics from the University of Calgary.  His work experience has been in oil and gas exploration and development in Canada and he also lived and worked for thirty years in Indonesia, Nigeria and Angola.  He also has significant experience with ground water resources in Africa and environmental geology in Alberta.  For the past seven years, he has been leading field trips for the Alberta Wilderness Association as part of the AWA’s “Adventures for Wilderness” program.

Steven Tannas is the owner of Tannas Conservation Services, Eastern Slopes Rangeland Seeds and GP Restoration Solutions. He has nineteen years of professional experience working in a wide range of technical areas with vegetation ecology as a central focus. He is a senior specialist in reclamation, environmental impact assessments, wetland science, regulatory approvals, research, rangeland management, bioengineering, and native plant propagation. Steven is regarded as a leading plant taxonomist and rare plant specialist who can spot ID over 1,000 species of plants and perform complex rare plant and vegetation inventories. His area of focus is western Canadian ecosystems (i.e., Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, N.W.T., Nunavut) but his work spans across Canada with clientele in the public, private, energy, agricultural, renewable, and environmental sectors. Steven has received recognition as an entrepreneur, for innovative reclamation protocols, research with native grasses, and using floating islands for bioremediation. Steven has sat on the Industry Advisory Committee with Olds College, the Registration Committee with the Alberta Institute of Agrologists, and has acted as a special faculty member for the University of Guelph and instructor at the University of Calgary. Steven is also a volunteer for the Alberta Native Plant Council (ANPC).

ANPC is a volunteer-run not for profit whose aim is to share knowledge and support the conservation of native plants and native plant habitat in Alberta through outreach, publications and guidelines, stewardship, advocacy, research, and funding and implementing native plant projects. Within the Calgary region, they run the Native Plant Garden Challenge (with a toolkit available to members) and Plant Study Groups (indoors in winter, outdoors in summer). Please stay tuned to their social media (Facebook: @ABNPC or instagram: @albertaplants) or website (https://anpc.ab.ca/) for more information about them and their programming.

 

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