Park oasis exposes
Police Point Park interpreter Corlaine Gardner, right, takes a walk through the park with fellow Nature Centre staff member Kit Hilsden.
By TIM KALINOWSKI
In the fading light of evening amidst the trees and powdery snow, nestled in the heart of the city, is a very special place. Here the trees grow tall and bent, shaped and twisted by river ice, wind and time. Here the Great Horned Owl watches ever vigilant from its perch in the hollowed out tree and the Merganser ushers its parade of ducklings down to the river in spring. Deer walk through the woods feeding on the bark of the trees, and the fox disappears with a flash into the denser brush. And here too, families come to be in nature. And those who love the wild seek refuge, and find it, on the winding and whispering trails of Police Point Park.
And at the heart of this oasis stands the place which ties it all together and gives it meaning: The Medicine Hat Nature Centre. Founded in 1982, the Nature Centre has been showing Hatters the beauty of nature for over 30 years; and for much of that time Corlaine Gardner, the current director, has been a part of it. She has watched the Nature Centre grow from an idea into a fixture of Medicine Hat life with its dramatic cliff and river views and its gentle woods. For Gardner, to work in a place like Police Point Park is still an unbelievable privilege.
“I’m very fortunate to come to work in a place like this every day,” says Gardner. “There's wildlife out our windows, the trees growing, the light on the cliffs, which is always changing and interesting. And people who come down here are generally happy. So to share with all the people who come down to enjoy it — what better job?”
Gardner sits looking out the window at those far off sloping South Saskatchewan River cliffs, contemplating the transition of the afternoon toward sunset. As she watches, a family comes around the corner, children yelling at the top of their lungs, their voices full of excitement at the prospect of snowshoeing ahead. Gardner nods once and smiles. To her, this sight is what makes her job at Police Point Park so completely worthwhile: Families getting out to enjoy nature together.
She feels very strongly that 21st century society is suffering from what she terms a Nature Deficit Disorder, a disorder which the Medicine Hat Nature Centre helps to address. Gardner explains this idea further.
“It’s like how separate so many of our children, in particular, are from the natural world. They are plugged in electronically — they're whizzes in anything technological — but they don’t have a wealth of
32 | 2013 REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA
wonders of nature
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