Seventy million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous, this part of Alberta would have been forest and swamp. Many of the plant fossils in this area from that time are relatives of plants found in modern day China and South America. A walk through UBC's Asian Garden with its dawn-redwoods, ginkgos and magnolias (or the future Araucaria Grove) can well be imagined as experiencing an environment not unlike the one roamed by the dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous.

Horseshoe Canyon is partially protected by The Nature Conservancy of Canada. The Nodwell family, particularly the late Leila Nodwell (interview and article), have contributed greatly to preserving the site.

I'm going to start a new addition to Botany Photo of the Day today - a link to an extra resource that I've found helpful to learn about botany, or photography, or some other topic. I figure if it's been useful to me, it might also be useful to you. I'm also going to bookmark and tag each link on this del.icio.us page.

Photography resource link: The Luminous Landscape - I particularly found the “Understanding Series” and “Essays” of value.