It was a great year for people and dogs!
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
May/June 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
It was a great year for people and dogs!
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
May/June 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
TBA – September 2016
Why? For the love of River Park and our pooches.
Please come dressed for the weather and bring your choice of gloves/bags or a pail/shovel. We’ll pick up poop, garbage, cigarette butts and whatever else doesn’t belong in the park.
There’ll be volunteer sign up sheets at a table near the south end of River Park by the parking lot or with Candice who will be wearing her blue volunteer vest.
This event is weather-dependent. If it snows we’ll postpone. Watch for more details on the website or through our Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Hope to see you there!
We’ve all observed someone who hasn’t noticed their dog pooping. Most times it’s unintentional but the fact is, there’s a missed opportunity to keep the park clean.
Many people struggle with this situation. What to do?
If you choose to approach the person, what are some polite, non-confrontational things to say? How about the following:
Depending on the situation, you could follow up with one of these comments:
There are so many ways to approach the subject but we feel these are a few gentle and effective ways to gain compliance. Best wishes with your approach and thanks for your help!
River Park is an extremely valuable recreational area for local residents as well as people from other areas of the city. All users of the park agree that people want a healthy, clean, safe environment that everyone can enjoy. In order to achieve this goal, everyone needs to share and be respectful, reasonable, responsible and considerate. Green spaces in Calgary are here for all residents and we appreciate the challenges the City faces related to developing and managing appropriate use of space. We applaud the City in their efforts to maintain the health of the park for all users.
Dog Owner Support for the Wellbeing of River Park
Dog Owners’ Opposition to changes/Support for off-leash access
Upon hearing proposals and council-approved plans for two pathways, dog owners are concerned about losing their off-leash status in River Park.
To summarize, dog owners wish to maintain their off-leash status, but want to be respectful of initiatives to maintain the health of River Park and considerate of all other users.
To be successful, we suggest to keep things simple. Enforce the rules we have and don’t create a bunch more.
Best practices include consultation, education and cooperation. In other words: meet with users, inform them of issues and work together toward solutions and common objectives.
Do you adore your dog? Are you thankful for having off-leash privileges in River Park? Are you willing to lend your support to ensure we maintain off-leash access?
There are various ways to support River Park:
Hope you’ll lend a hand in one or more ways. All efforts are welcome and appreciated. Have more ideas or suggestions? Please let us know by emailing riverparkoffleash@gmail.com. Thanks for your consideration.
Our team advocates for healthy lifestyles through walking with our dogs. We lead by example and educate fellow park users about respectful use whenever possible. We find much value in the old saying “There’s strength in numbers” and we hope you will too. Here’s what we mean:
We hope you’ll support the cause. For regular updates about River Park, visit our website and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Thanks for your consideration.
Representation
Leadership team members meet regularly to discuss strategy and tactics. In the early days of meetings for the park (2006 to 2011) it was decided the best tactic was to educate and inform fellow dog owners about respectful and responsible park use.
Goal
Ultimately FRPS’ goal is to preserve off-leash access in this multi-use park. FRPS continues to conduct bi-monthly clean-ups and its members do their own efforts on a daily basis.
Affiliations
The leadership team has affiliations with The Southland Natural Park Society, The Friends of Nosehill, The Friends of Bowmont and The Varsity Off-leash Group.
Other Efforts
In 2008-2009, Linda and Candice from the leadership team created an off-leash presentation after visiting and researching each of the 141 off-leash areas listed on The City of Calgary’s website. The purpose was to learn about off-leash parks in Calgary and log pros and cons with each one. We were surprised to discover that many parks were near busy roads, were very small or were unusable and undesirable areas.
It was sent to aldermen and Bill Bruce,The City of Calgary Bylaw Director as well as several radio and television stations. The presentation along with an off-leash advocacy speech was presented by Linda and Candice to the Standing Policy Committee at City Hall early in 2009.
Fortunately for dog enthusiasts, River Park gained off-leash status around 1987 as a result of Calgary Alderman Barb Scott, as she was a person with dog-related interests.
In 1987, Kate Currey, a local resident and dog person noticed fellow dog people were at times negligent about cleaning up after their dogs. She started a group of concerned dog people who began holding clean up efforts in the park.
Among Kate’s group of supporters was Candice Lee, a fellow dog person and local resident. Candice happened to have a large network of dog friends at River Park who gathered at various times for walks, supported clean ups and also socialized outside of the park. By the late 1990’s Candice’s group had grown to approximately 200 people.
In 2007 Candice learned about potential paving of trails and reduction of space affecting off-leash access in River Park. She discovered people from competing interest groups in the park had been meeting since 2006 about various matters. As the only dog representative, Candice was invited to the table early in 2007. As a result of this new direction, Candice’s group morphed into the Friends of River Park Society (FRPS) with an elected six-member leadership team. Followers grew to over 800 email addresses, representing single and multiple person households.
Meetings continued where competing interest groups expressed four main concerns:
The FRPS leadership team immediately addressed concerns by educating fellow dog owners about competing interest groups’ concerns, influencing behaviour of people and dogs, and keeping the park clean. Candice’s group began clean-up efforts every second month throughout each year.