The mountain landscape is not a gymnasium.
Wilderness, such as the protected backcountry areas of the national and provincial parks surrounding the towns of Canmore and Banff, is a multi-dimensional, wholly inter-related world that is essential to the survival of all life on Earth, from the forest canopy to the insects to mega fauna including grizzlies and wolves.
This universal truth formed the basis of the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival’s Hot Topics Seminar titled Wilderness – On the Razor’s Edge, which took place on Sunday (Nov. 4).
“We all have this incredible history of being connected, and it’s only in the last few hundred years that we’ve lost it,” said panelist Karsten Heuer, the Canmore wildlife biologist, Parks Canada warden, author and adventurer who will assume the position of president of the Yellowstone to Yukon conservation initiative in January.
In his youth, Heuer said, like many others he viewed the mountain wilderness as a place to fulfill his recreational desires. Over the years, however, his experiences of spending long periods of time in wilderness settings watching wildlife interact in their natural environment led him to view the natural world as far more intricate and invaluable.
The fact that those in power more than a century ago possessed the foresight to protect unique landscapes by designating them as national parks ought to be celebrated, he said.
“Those were visionary steps, but where are the equivalents today?” Heuer asked. “Where is that vision and foresight?”
Since then, Heuer added, science has shown that national parks are not sufficiently large to ensure survival of the larger species that require more space to roam in search of mates and food. Humans, he said, need to change the way they currently view wild places.
“I truly believe we need some new tools,” Heuer said. “We need another layer to look at landscapes.”
That new way, he suggested, should include a combination of First Nations and Buddhist beliefs in conjunction with scientific knowledge of how animals actually use the landscape.
Panelist Leroy Little Bear, a Blackfoot elder from the Blood Indian Reserve and former director of Harvard University’s Native American program, agreed, saying mankind needs to embrace a new paradigm on a global scale.
“When we’re talking about the environment, we’re always talking about management,” Little Bear said. “That’s like saying we should manage water, instead of saying water is me. A newborn baby is 80 per cent water; an adult is about 65 per cent water. It’s like talking about managing yourself.”
Whether one bases their decisions on a cultural, scientific or religious foundation, that base is simply a story a person or government chooses to follow.
“Which story am I going to believe? Which story am I going to run with?” Little Bear asked.
The consumption-based paradigm of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is but one story which the majority of governments and people have chosen to believe.
“That’s the story we’re running with,” Little Bear said. “We have to step back and have a look at the ways of keeping our systems going. Where are they leading us to?”
A crucial step, said Dasho Kinley Dorji, secretary of information and communication for the mountain kingdom of Bhutan, is for people to shift their focus from wants to needs, and to seek happiness as an overall state of well-being, not the fleeting, superficial “happiness” of schussing down a ski run.
Dorji was at the Banff festival sharing his country’s concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), a measure of quality of life and social progress developed in response to how many countries have arrived at their “developed” stages at the price of their forests, cultures and identities.
Even in Bhutan, Dorji said, TV and Internet present a constant barrage of pressure on the younger generation to consume.
“It’s a huge force,” Dorji said. “There’s a very powerful system in play by an establishment that doesn’t want this (GNH).
“If we can’t come together on this realization, we’re not going to get there.”
A new paradigm, Heuer suggested, should be geared toward systems rather than individual places.
“The best model is the ecosystem itself,” Heuer said. “It is everything combined.”
Taking questions from the audience, Heuer replied to former Canmore resident Baiba Morrow, who asked panelists if they thought there was merit in countries following Bhutan’s example of prohibiting climbing on any of its mountains.
Citing how Parks Canada does implement closures and restrictions, Heuer replied, “If there’s a good reason, then yeah.”
“If we had some places we couldn’t go and climb, that might help us with our view of nature,” Heuer suggested. “If, as a society, we could do that ourselves, outside the national parks, we’d be well on our way.”
