Parks Canada has come under fire from a national conservation organization for what it sees as a dangerously increasing trend towards commercial development in Banff and Jasper national parks.
The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) released its fifth annual report Monday (July 15) on the state of Canada’s national and provincial parks, titled One Step Forward/Two Steps Back.
The group praised Parks Canada for its intention to move ahead with a mandatory seasonal restriction on Bow Valley Parkway in Banff next year, as well as the delay of backcountry skiing in certain areas of Jasper to protect declining caribou herds.
But, the national conservation group said plans for summer use at Banff’s Mount Norquay and Brewster Travel Canada’s construction of a glass-floored platform in Jasper, are “inappropriate developments” for national parks.
“We’ve seen an increased trend towards commercialization and inappropriate development in the mountain parks,” said Anne-Marie Syslak, executive director for the southern Alberta chapter of CPAWS.
“Canadians aren’t asking for these kinds of activities and developments. The people of Canada don’t want to see that for their parks and I think we have to keep that in mind.”
Brewster’s Glacier Skywalk – a glass-floored platform extending 30 metres out over Sunwapta Canyon – is currently under construction and, according to Brewster’s website, is due to be completed by September. The opening is slated for May 2014.
Summer use at Norquay is expected to happen next year, after Parks Canada announced approval of a long-range plan for Mount Norquay in May. Summer use could draw as many as 10,000 visitors to the area each summer.
Part of the summer use plan is the installation of cable and ladder-assisted climbing and hiking routes, known as via ferrata, on the cliffs above the teahouse, accessed by the North American chair.
CPAWS say they are concerned the summer use could increase the risk of encounters between people and bears. The area is considered important summer habitat for grizzly bears and other animals.
With fewer than 60 grizzlies in Banff National Park, and the lowest reproductive rate of any grizzly population in North America, CPAWS says Banff’s precious grizzlies are vulnerable to any further development.
The home ranges of bears in the narrow Bow Valley in and around Mount Norquay are already heavily fragmented by the Trans-Canada Highway and other roads, a major railway line, and the Banff townsite.
Bears die every year on the railway and roads. The human-caused mortality rate of grizzly bears in Banff National Park surpasses Parks Canada’s acceptable threshold every year.
Syslak said CPAWS believes any management decisions that result in further reduction in the security of wildlife habitat in Banff contravene Parks Canada’s responsibility to prioritize ecological integrity.
She said CPAWS is urging that a comprehensive scientific monitoring system be put in place to track the cumulative impacts of this and other development on park wildlife. If negative impacts are detected, the decision should immediately be reversed to try and prevent irreversible harm to grizzly bears and other wildlife.
“This is sensitive wildlife habitat and putting thousands more people in that area over summer is going to make it even tougher for bears,” said Syslak.
Officials with Parks Canada say the report is overly negative and fails to mention Norquay’s long-range plan and Brewster’s Glacier Skywalk underwent rigorous environmental assessments and public review.
“We’re of the opinion that they don’t constitute any significant ecological impacts,” said Rob Prosper, Parks Canada’s Ottawa-based vice-president of protected areas establishment and conservation.
Prosper said both Parks Canada and CPAWS share a passion for national parks, noting their differences are ideological.
“Parks Canada sees itself as protecting special places for Canadians, not from Canadians, and we are working hard at looking at ways to have projects that allow access to a wide variety of people with wide-ranging capabilities to experience these areas and become life-long supporters of Parks Canada,” he said.
“We manage 350,000 square kilometres of area and the Glacier Skywalk is half a hectare in an existing pull-off area. I personally would not like to characterize that as being commercialization of national parks. I find that troubling.”
The Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment (AMPPE) says the CPAWS report is one-sided, saying it is manipulative to send out headline grabbing reports that keep claiming the “sky is falling”.
Monica Andreeff, AMPPE’s executive director, said Canada’s national parks are healthy, are meeting their legislated mandates and help visitors connect with the wilderness.
“The report is not fair to Parks Canada, especially when we’re talking about an existing ski resort that gave back more than 40 per cent of its leasehold to the national park, which is a substantial gain for environmental integrity,” she said.
“When you look at the Glacier Skywalk in Jasper National Park, we’re talking about a thin ribbon of highway, and as we know, 97 per cent of the park is declared wilderness.”
The CPAWS state of the parks report also spoke to provincial parks and included a call to the Alberta government to declare the 1,000 square kilometre Castle wilderness in southwestern Alberta a wildland and provincial park.
The Castle region, running along the spine of the Rocky Mountains, is incredibly rich in biodiversity and provides important habitat for threatened grizzly bears and pure-strain westslope cutthroat trout, as well as many other species
This wilderness area supplies nearly one-third of the Oldman River basin’s water, providing a vital supply of drinking and agricultural water to 70 municipalities across southern Alberta.
But in spite of this, CPAWS said the area continues to be threatened by logging, oil and gas development, and off-road vehicle use, noting its current status as a forest land-use zone fails to address the ongoing environmental degradation.
“In Alberta, we’ve got 12.4 per cent of land use designated for park, but 8.2 per cent of that is because of national parks,” said Syslak. “The Alberta government needs to do a better job.”
