Mountain Legacy Project

Capturing change in Canada's mountains

Mountain Legacy Project

Capturing change in Canada's mountains

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About Mountain Legacy Project

The Mountain Legacy Project explores changes in Canada’s mountain landscapes through the world’s largest collection of systematic high-resolution historic mountain photographs (>120,000) and a vast and growing collection of repeat images (>8,000 photo pairs). Find out about our research and how we turn remarkable photos into real-world solutions for understanding climate change, ecological processes, and strategies for ecological restoration. Read more

Eric Higgs, PhD

Director
Office phone:
250-721-8228
E-mail:

Environmental Studies, University of Victoria

Mining, Memories, and Mountains

by | July 14, 2020 | MLP News | 0 Comments

by Sonia Voicescu, July 14, 2020 Have you ever come across towns whose very presence on the landscape hint at multiple stories and complex histories? Perhaps it’s the façade of a particular building that doesn’t quite fit with the more modern design of its neighbours....
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Introducing “A century of high elevation ecosystem change in the Canadian Rocky Mountains”

by | June 23, 2020 | Historic photos, MLP News | 0 Comments

By Mary Sanseverino, June 23, 2020 Just last week on June 16 two intertwined articles, both about landscape change in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, came out. Both were published under the auspices of the Nature Research family of journals, one of the world's leading...
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When the cat’s away: Wildlife’s response to human self-isolation due to the pandemic

by | June 17, 2020 | MLP News | 0 Comments

Alina C. Fisher and Tanya Samman, originally published on Science Borealis, reposted with permission Currently, self-isolation is the norm for people all over the world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While you’ve been staying home, you’ve been justifiably...
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Following their footsteps: Indigenous Territory Acknowledgement

by | April 2, 2020 | Historic photos, MLP News | 0 Comments

By Kristen Walsh and Mary Sanseverino. With Rick Arthur, Winston Delorme, Bill Snow, and Rob Watt. May 12, 2020. MOUNTAINS make up one quarter of the Canadian land mass. They have been home to a vibrant diversity of Indigenous Peoples for thousands of years. In this...
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Time Travel: The Portal from Library and Archives Canada

by | February 21, 2020 | Historic photos, MLP News | 0 Comments

by Alina C. Fisher & Sonia Voicescu Two weeks ago, we got to experience time travel. It wasn’t the thing of movies, where we sat in a time machine, amongst flashing colours and futuristic noises, which brought us to a stunning landscape we had never seen...
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Heeding Mountain Hazards

by | January 20, 2020 | MLP News, Notes from the Field | 0 Comments

Whether it’s mountain-work, fieldwork or play … acknowledge the environment you find yourself in, and take heed of its hazards. Check out how MLP teams practice personal responsibility, self-care, open communications, and situational awareness in the mountains.

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Looking back at “Big Ice”: Mt. Logan in the archives

by | December 9, 2019 | Historic photos, MLP News | 0 Comments

Zac's post was initially published Dec 7, 2019 on the Mount Logan Ice Expedition's blog under the title "Archives". IMAGE Courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, Vine Lynne Canada and Abroad Album, Accession number 1990-087 0576 Archives are special places. They are...
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Who do we want to be here?

by | October 1, 2019 | MLP News, Notes from the Field | 0 Comments

The story of ecological change in the Canadian mountain west over the last century provides powerful, poignant testimony about our very different histories and roles in the dramatic changes of the last century. The most important question becomes: who do we want to be here?

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Revisiting Waterton Lakes National Park

by | August 29, 2019 | MLP News | 0 Comments

The Mountain Legacy Project (MLP) repeat photography crew spent a week at Waterton Lakes National Park in mid-July. For most of the crew this was a first visit to Waterton; what we saw was a very different landscape than what was there two years ago. In September 2017...
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A Viewshed of the ‘Lenscape’

by | July 5, 2019 | Historic photos, MLP News | 0 Comments

The Mountain Legacy Project Explorer website provides a map-based tool for investigating MLP collections. But, unless you know the area the photos are from, it is sometimes hard to determine which way they are looking and how much of the landscape they cover. Viewshed analysis to the rescue — read on to find out how!

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Explore the photos

The Collection

A vast collection of historical mountain photographs created between 1861 and 1958 by surveyors establishing national and provincial boundaries, creating topographic maps, and exploring geological resources

Repeat Photography
Starting with a series of historical digital images, we puzzle out the exact location of the original surveyors. This is the first step in a chain of complex arrangements that places a repeat photography crew on a mountain summit or ridge… read more

MLP Works

Since its beginning in 1996 MLP Works has provided access to the publications, articles, media, and other scientific and creative products generated through use of MLP techniques and images.

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Explore

Explore is a map-based search tool designed to allow anyone with a modern web browser to view, compare, and download MLP’s vast collection of historic and repeat images.

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Analysis

Every image pair can be explored in depth with the Image Analysis Toolkit. IAT supports side-by-side image visualization, including categorization, annotation, scaling, cross and wipe fades, classification statistics, and more.

View the Image Analysis ToolKit

Projects & Galleries

The vast size of our collections means that diamonds—remarkable images that cue into contemporary concerns or historical fascination– are often buried. We present curated galleries that emerge from the work of our teams, whether driven by research questions or personal fascination. Check back regularly for new presentations.
 

View Mt. Robson and Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Parks: examining 100 years of landscape change

BC's Mt. Robson and Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park like you've never seen before - Really - that's because many of the historic images (1911, 1913, 1916) featured in this interactive web report are little-known or have not been seen since they were taken over 100 years ago.

 

View Muskwa-Kechika and the Finlay River: Looking back to look forward
 

View In his Footsteps: Repeating a Classic J.J. McArthur Station
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“In much of the Canadian west these are the first images of these landscapes and a vital baseline for studies of change over the last century. They are invaluable to conservation projects that seek to understand and/or restore pre-settlement landscapes and their dynamic ecosystems.”

Brian Luckman

Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography

University of Western Ontario

“In much of the Canadian west these are the first images of these landscapes and a vital baseline for studies of change over the last century. They are invaluable to conservation projects that seek to understand and/or restore pre-settlement landscapes and their dynamic ecosystems.”

Brian Luckman

Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography

University of Western Ontario

We depend on partners for critical support, including:

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