Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley

The Biosphere Institute is guided by the understanding that as a community, we have the capability and responsibility to create enduring change for our world.

OUR MISSION: The Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley empowers community leadership to address environmental challenges.

Company History

With its stunning views, charismatic wildlife, and clean air and water, the Bow Valley is one of Canada’s most popular places to live and recreate. But the Valley has not always been as busy as it is today.

In the 1970s, Canmore was a quiet coal mining town with fewer than 2,000 residents. When the last mine closed in 1979, the municipality began to explore tourism as an alternative economic model. The 1988 Winter Olympics, hosted in Calgary, Kananaskis Country and Canmore, put the Bow Valley on the map as a regional, national and international outdoor recreation destination.

Today, Canmore is home to over 15,000 permanent residents and an additional 4,000 part-time residents. Another four to five million visitors come to the area each year, reflected in statistics like the number of Canmore’s hotel rooms, which has increased more than 12 times since 1979, and daily summer traffic on the Trans Canada Highway, which has nearly quadrupled in the same time. Meanwhile annual visitation to Banff National Park grew by an average of 6% each year between 2013 and 2018.

As the Bow Valley’s population and recreation footprint have increased, so too has pressure on wildlife and other natural resources. By the 1990s, the challenge of balancing growth and conservation was clear to community leaders. In 1997, these leaders established a small resource centre called the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, whose mandate was to make ecosystem information available to decision makers and the public.