Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park in Spring

Spring comes slowly on the prairies. Most years, it creeps and leaps in and out of the forecast until summer slips in by surprise. Most prairie dwellers complain a lot but just get used to the “flipping” forecasts, all too often with a spread of 20 degrees from day to day.

Bow River, Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park in Spring

So, at a time when most folks have been enjoying a real season slowly merging into the next, prairie folk are often surprised when summer supplants the on again/off again tease that spring is east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. In the meantime, how many shades of brown are there?

Prairie Fescue at Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park, near Calgary

While most of the northern hemisphere enjoys a gradual change from brown to green, the prairie continues limping along in neutral until the big bang of summer hits. These images show the prairie fescue, once common terrain cover throughout western North America, now rare in most parts due to settlement and resultant agricultural development. You can still find large swaths of native grasses at Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park where preserving these grasses for future generations is high on the park agenda.

Alberta Prairie Landscape at Glenbow Park