Bearberry is an unincorporated community in central Alberta in Mountain View County, located 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of Highway 22, 107 kilometres (66 mi) northwest of Calgary. It is named for the bearberry that grows in the vicinity. [1]
Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta.
Mountain View County is a municipal district in Division No. 6 in the central Alberta, Canada. Located between the cities of Calgary and Red Deer within the Calgary-Edmonton corridor, its municipal office is located north of the Town of Didsbury. Mountain View County is a member of the Central Alberta Economic Partnership, Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties, and the Municipal Area Partnership.
Alberta Provincial Highway No. 22, commonly referred to as Highway 22 and officially named Cowboy Trail, is a 584-kilometre (363 mi) highway in the Canadian province of Alberta. It generally parallels Highway 2, beginning in the foothills of southern Alberta at Highway 3 near Lundbreck Falls. It proceeds north along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains passing through the foothills and ranch country to the aspen parkland of northern Alberta, ending at Highway 18 near Mayerthorpe.
There was a major forest fire, the Dogrib Fire, in 2001, which threatened the community. [2] In 2003, a major bridge was reconstructed in Bearberry. [3] Shell Oil has a plant near the community. [4] "Sour gas" is mined in and around Bearberry. [5]
Sour gas is natural gas or any other gas containing significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
It is a tourist destination with snowmobile trails, [6] and is also the site of a bed and breakfast. [7] The area west of the community is described as "pristine wilderness area [that] is also home to the bear, wolf and cougar whose prey includes wild horses." [8]
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, with six being the average. In addition, a B&B usually has the hosts living in the house.
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern Hemisphere and partially in the Southern Hemisphere. Bears are found on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. Common characteristics of modern bears include large bodies with stocky legs, long snouts, small rounded ears, shaggy hair, plantigrade paws with five nonretractile claws, and short tails.
The cougar, also commonly known by other names including catamount, mountain lion, panther, and puma, is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae native to the Americas. Its range, from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, is the widest of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. An adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in most American habitat types. It is the biggest cat in North America, and the second-heaviest cat in the New World after the jaguar. Secretive and largely solitary by nature, the cougar is properly considered both nocturnal and crepuscular, although daytime sightings do occur. The cougar is more closely related to smaller felines, including the domestic cat, than to any species of subfamily Pantherinae, of which only the jaguar is native to the Americas.
