Canmore wildlife and landscape defender Karsten Heuer dies peacefully at 56

Karsten Heuer, a biologist, a park ranger, conservationist, author and activist, died peacefully in his backyard in Canmore, Alberta. He was 56. (Photo: Facebook/ Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative/Heuer family)

Canmore conservationist Karsten Heuer, who was a biologist, park ranger, author and activist, has died.

He just turned 56 and had been diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy. He died peacefully with MAiD (Medical Assistance in Death).

Born and raised in Calgary, Heuer spent every weekend with his family hiking and fishing in the mountains, which prompted him to fall in love with being outdoors. He studied ecology at the University of Calgary, then moved to Canmore and spent 30 years working as a wildlife biologist for Parks Canada.

One of those tasks included working as the reintroduction manager monitoring the return of the bison to Banff.

“It’s a tremendous privilege,” Heuer said in a 2021 interview with CTV News. “I think it’s a wildlife biologists’ dream come true to work on behalf of all Canadians to bring back what is Canada’s largest mammal to Canada’s first national park.”

The experience led to a book of essays, Buffaloed, which will be published by Greystone Press in the fall of 2025.

Yellowstone to Yukon

In 1998-99, Heuer hiked 3,400 kilometres from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon, to promote the need for wildlife corridors.

In 2002, Heuer and his partner Leanne Allison followed a herd of 150,000 caribou across Yukon and Alaska to highlight the threat of oil development.

In 2008, with their two-and-a-half year old son Zev, Heuer and Allison canoed down the Bow River all the way across the country through the settings of the stories of author FarleyMowat until they reached his house in Nova Scotia. They got to meet Mowat, and it all turned into a film, Finding Farley, that won the Grand Prize at the 2009 Banff Film Festival.

In 2020, Zev, then 15, canoed 2,100 kilometres from Canmore to his summer job in north-central Saskatchewan as a reaction to the boredom of being forced to study online during the early days of the pandemic.

Karsten tracked Zev’s journey that summer and even joined him to help him navigate some tricky bits of the route.

“He’s moving from boyhood to manhood, so I think it’s really important to know yourself during that critical transition of life,” Karsten said.

“A big impetus for that (original Finding Farley) trip was to actually go out with our son and allow him to feel the rhythms of being four months outside, camping, being on the water,“ Karsten said. “We just really wanted that to be something that laid down in his brain connections.”

Heuer received numerous awards for his conservation advocacy and writing. He donated some of those awards to Bow Valley Engage, a group that advocates for responsible development in the mountain community.

The group has been at the centre of a fight against a large proposed development called Three Sisters Mountain Village.

'An inspirational leader'

Thursday, on the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation initiative facebook page, a tribute to Heuer was posted.

“Karsten Heuer was a biologist, wildlife and landscape defender, storyteller, author, husband, father, son and friend and will be greatly missed by many.

“Karsen passed away peacefully on Nov. 5, just as his lived his life – on his own terms. All of us at the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initative are saddened to lose an inspirational leader and mentor, champion of our cause and a great friend.”

To donate in Heuer’s memory, send an e-transfer to [e-mail].

A memorial service to celebrate Heuer’s life will be held Nov. 16 at the CreekSide Hall in downtown Canmore.

With files from CTV's Timm Bruch, Kevin Fleming and Bill Macfarlane