Editor:
In the face of new commercial development proposals, holistic planning and human-use management are more crucial than ever to preserve vital ecosystems in beloved Banff National Park.
As a municipality within the Banff National Park, development in the Town of Banff must align with Parks Canada’s principal mandate – to prioritize ecological integrity. While this has never been easy, the proposed Banff Railway Lands area redevelopment plan represents a recent heightened challenge to ensure Banff fulfills this mandate.
While presented as a multi-modal transportation hub, the proposed direction for the historic railway station risks far-reaching, long-term ecological impacts and insinuates questionable benefits to sustainable public transportation.
Located within the Montane subregion, which compromises less than four per cent of the park, the plan threatens unique forested valley bottom habitat on river floodplains and a wildlife corridor Parks Canada has spent millions to restore.
Despite the area’s importance to maintaining wildlife movement, avoiding broader biodiversity loss, and reducing human-wildlife conflicts, the plan includes a new 410 stall parking lot – adjacent to federally protected aquatic critical habitat for at-risk native trout – and terminus for a controversial gondola to the Mount Norquay Ski Resort, intertwining it with the plan.
If the gondola is not approved, the Railway Lands plan states: “the revenue stream. .. (which would provide the economic sustainability for free intercept parking, wildlife restoration and off-site improvements) would change … and result in a user pay model being adopted.” If it were to proceed, 575 parking stalls would be allocated to meet the 2029 winter weekend gondola parking demand; offsetting the purported benefit of reducing traffic congestion in the Banff townsite, with over half of the total 1,060 stalls designated to attracting gondola customers.
The gondola is a pipe dream – Parks Canada has already ruled it out due to non-conformance with policies based on extensive public input and scientific data intended to protect the park’s sensitive environment. The approval of the plan does not change that, so it begs to question why the proponent and the Town are entertaining the idea to begin with.
Finally, the plan includes a terminus for a passenger rail line from Calgary, ignoring the lack of sound evidence to suggest this would meaningfully reduce private vehicles into the Park and the Expert Panel on Moving People Sustainably in the Bow Valley’s recommendation to pursue near-term solutions, including expanded bus services – only four bus are included in the plan.
The questionable benefits of the plan should not come at the expense of concrete negative ecological impacts, especially with the need to clearly assess both climate and biodiversity issues in addressing these dual crises.
To steward a sustainable future for Banff, we need to stand against incremental development and voice support for holistic planning. The Railway Lands plan public hearing on March 20, 2024 is a chance to do so by communicating concern over the new parking lot within an important wildlife corridor and the controversial terminals.
Chloe Hahn,
Conservation coordinator for the Southern Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
