(Love) Notes from the Field

The Barrier Lake Field Station is well known as a centre for research in the Canadian Rockies, but it is also a lesser-known centre for love. Throughout the years, many romances have blossomed along with the wildflowers as couples spend field trips, field schools, or field seasons together in this idyllic location. As we celebrate our 75^th anniversary in 2025, we’re celebrating 75 years of research, education, community…and love.

Some love stories are written in the stars. Grace and Sam first met on a grade 11 ecology field trip, where they went stargazing with a field station educator. While learning about the constellations, Sam saw an opportunity, and asked Grace her star sign. Years later, the couple got engaged at Barrier Lake and revisited the field station, where they reconnected with the same educator who had taught them about those fateful stars. 

For another couple, the Olympic torch was not the only flame lit in Kananaskis in 1988. Leo and Vicki attended the XV Olympic Games volunteer training, which was held at the Barrier Lake Field Station. Over the course of the multi-day training session, and the Olympic games, they realized they made a perfect team. In 2023, they returned to the field station and shared the story of how they met and were celebrating 35 years together.

Jodie and Adam’s story truly encompasses the “biogeo” in Biogeoscience Institute. She was an ecology student, he was studying geomatics engineering. Their paths crossed in the dining hall and an interdisciplinary love story began. Late nights spent chatting in the dining loft, and watching shooting stars over Barrier Lake, followed by exhausting days of field work, were all worth it in the end, even if it meant falling asleep in the moss while sampling. Jodie and Adam were inseparable after the field school and have now been married for almost eight years. They originally asked to get married at the field station, but the station does not host weddings as it is dedicated to research, education and community in the Canadian Rockies. Love might just come as an unexpected result.