Connie Simmons cares about the land between the Eastern Jasper National Park gate and Hinton. So much so that she and nine other community members are attempting to preserve its character with an eye on the province’s land use framework.

Simmons is part of a group hosting a community landscape vision process. 

“We’re finding out values that exist in these communities and asking what do people want on these lands,” Simmons said. “This will create a clear, coherent voice and give an idea of how people are using the landscape and what do people want in the future.”

The group is bringing in the Canmore-based Chinook Institute to help mediate discussions, which will include open house forums and working groups.

While municipalities usually host such events, Simmons said she hasn’t received a lot of response from local government at this time. She said this effort doesn’t preclude them from participating.

So she decided to take it upon herself.

“This is grass roots, broad based and democratic,” Simmons said. “We have a ten-person working group with people from Brule, Overlander, Hinton and more. We’re a committed group of people, and the process will be facilitated by a professional.”

The provincial land use framework is expected to roll out in the next year, and Simmons said the area between the park boundary and Hinton requires special attention.

“We felt local values have to have a strong and coherent voice in this process,” Simmons said, noting that there have been development pressures within the area.

Some of the issues Simmons hopes the community will speak about include grazing land near Brule, and ATV use near the sand dunes. The Brule dunes are environmentally significant, but also used by ATVs groups.

She also wants to examine grazing land near Brule. The area was logged 50 years ago, but has been pasture land for horses since then. She wants the public to voice their opinions if that is the type of landscape that should be preserved in the area.

Other issues the group wants to examine are trail creation, economic diversification, identification of wildlife corridors and recognition of the character of unique communities in the area.

“This is a leap of faith. We hope provincial planning will listen,” Simmons said.

She’s also hoping more people from Jasper will get involved with the group’s work.

The next event, a public information and working group organizational meeting, will take place on Oct. 27 at the Hinton Community Centre at 7:30 pm. This will be followed by a public input forum later in November in Hinton.