At the opening of training camp in June 2012, even though he was already five years into his tenure with the Calgary Stampeders, Rob Cote felt anything but secure.

"So, a very stressful time to be doing anything else but concentrating on football,'' said the Cochrane-born fullback. "Especially to be making a huge financial decision like buying a house.

Nose Hill Park looms large over Calgary's northwest – an expanse of unspoiled grassland enveloped by the vastness of an ever-evolving city. Nearly unchanged from the days when herds of buffalo roamed the Prairies, the park now serves as a stomping ground for the herds of Calgarians that jog, walk and bike their way around its 300 kilometres of trails every day.

How Calgarians banded together to protect nature and create Nose Hill Park

In the early 1970s, the booming city of Calgary was expanding ever outward.

Developers looking for new areas to build communities cast their eyes upward in the northwest to Nose Hill, which dominated the area landscape.

Nose Hill was prime real estate, untouched by residential development, but it was also viewed by some Calgarians as an important remnant of the fast-vanishing prairie grassland ecosystem.