Mayor John Borrowman and Canmore council are to be congratulated on their unwavering support for the Provincial Conservation Easement Agreement on the Stewart Creek section of the Three Sisters Primary Along Valley Wildlife Corridor and a portion of the Stewart Creek Across Valley Corridor, which has been signed by the Province and Three Sisters Mountain Resort (TSMV).
Council’s support is consistent with their election promise to give priority to the protection of Canmore’s wildlife corridors and other environmentally sensitive areas.
It is also consistent with: (1) the April 2003 written commitment of the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB) that “The NRCB has a responsibility to see that the substantive commitments and undertakings with respect to wildlife corridors on the Three Sisters property are met and this responsibility will remain until the corridors are finally designated for the entire property”; and (2) the April 2004 written commitment to TSMV that “The NRCB accepts as reasonable the approach that the planning of these corridors will continue such that the final design will precede development for that portion of your project.”
Although it was in 2005 that the Town had TSMV’s written agreement to proceed with this Conservation Easement (CE), it is good news to have their signature in 2015 on a CE which we understand will provide permanent protection for this section of the Along Valley Corridor.
In addition to the two conservation easements now in place in the Three Sisters Resort Area, with a provincial easement on the core Along Valley Corridor and the Across Valley Corridor and corridor buffers (2003), and another on the 35-metre corridor buffer to the Along Valley Corridor to “widen the effective width of the wildlife corridor” (2007), this CE in the Stewart Creek Area marks a significant step toward protection of the entire 14-kilometre Along Valley Corridor as legally required by the 1992 NRCB Decision on Three Sisters Golf Resorts Inc.
However, while the two CEs in the TSMV Resort Area are free of development, Stewart Creek Golf Course was approved in 1991 by the Municipal District of Bighorn, even though 60 per cent of the golf course lies in the Three Sisters Along Valley Corridor and the Stewart Creek Across Valley Corridor. This approval came just prior to the annexation of the Stewart Creek Area by the Town of Canmore, the formation of the NRCB, and the 1992 NRCB Decision on Three Sisters Golf Resorts Inc., where one of the legal conditions for development is the provision of connecting wildlife corridors which are to remain in “as undeveloped a state as possible.”
The Stewart Creek section of the Along Valley Wildlife Corridor
The ‘Stewart Creek’ Corridor section comprises approximately 2.3 km of the Three Sisters Primary Multi-Species Along Valley Wildlife Corridor. To the northwest lies the Resort Area section of the Along Valley Corridor and to the southeast is the corridor “disconnect” with the Wind Valley section of the Primary Corridor proposed for protection by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD).
Since almost two-thirds of the golf course is comprised of wildlife corridors, the Stewart Creek section of this primary wildlife corridor connecting Wind Valley to the Bow and Spray Valleys and Banff Park is only fully functional in late fall, winter and early spring. This is why permanent protection is crucial, and why it is imperative that Town and Provincial policies are applied to protect Canmore’s corridors and adjacent areas from further building and human use.
The Stewart Creek Conservation Easement Agreement
The Stewart Creek Conservation Easement protects a total area of 95.94 hectares of land, where over 60 per cent is comprised of wildlife corridors: approximately 58 per cent lying in the Along Valley Wildlife Corridor and approximately two per cent lying in the Stewart Creek Across Valley Wildlife Corridor.
About one-third of the CE (32.9 hectares) is made up of Crown/public lands which up to now have been leased for the golf course, and which lie almost entirely in the Along Valley Wildlife Corridor, and to which TSMV will now hold title in exchange for permanent protection of the corridors and adjacent lands within the easement.
The remaining two-thirds of the CE (63 hectares) are owned by Stewart Creek Golf Course/TSMV where in this area over 44 per cent of the golf course lies in either the Across or Along Valley Wildlife Corridor.
According to Kyle Fawcett, Minister of AESRD, “the easement restricts development and activity to (existing) golf-related activities – no other development or recreational activity will be permitted.”
Final protection of the Three Sisters Corridor
In addition to championing the 2003 and 2007 conservation easements in the TSMV Resort Area, the Bow Corridor Organization for Responsible Development (BowCORD) has, from 2004 to 2015, supported the permanent protection of the Stewart Creek section of the Along Valley Corridor under a Provincial Conservation Easement Agreement before development of golf ‘cabins’ adjacent to the corridor proceeds under Bylaw 2013(Z)23. We did request that these resort accommodations be located as far from the corridor as possible, consistent with Policy 5.9.2 f) of the Stewart Creek ASP, where the “2002 recommendations of the Golder report as a minimum” are to be applied by the independent biologist.
We hope that signing this 2015 CE in the Stewart Creek area will herald a final agreement with the Province where TSMV meets their legal obligations under the NRCB ruling for completion and protection of the Three Sisters Along Valley Wildlife Corridor in the Smith Creek Area with functional corridors that are consistent with AESRD recommendations, thus ensuing the safe movement and survival of wildlife through the Bow Valley and connecting regions of Kananaskis Country, the Wind and Spray Valleys and Banff Park.
Heather MacFadyen, Chair
Bow Corridor Organization for Responsible Development
