Don’t let visitor experience trump wildlife

I had a dream.

There was an island. A paradise in a far eastern sea which was famous for its exotic birds and island wildlife. This is about the birds; parakeets, cockatoos, cuckoos, gerygones, kingfishers and others.

Governing the island was Ahkmutullah, Supreme Vizier, strict but fair. He was an ardent bird lover, like most of the islanders, and for years he stood on a high headland, looking for the migrating departure or returning birds.

Island tradesmen that sold fish were not satisfied with their profit and pestered El Supremo to bring more tourists to the island. He resisted their pleas until a Stakeholders group courted El Supremo’s harem, who then turned the old man around.

El Supremo bought a fleet of catamarans which plied to the mainland, passage free. More and more visitors came, two per cent of the island population each year. Huge numbers of fish were sold, tradesmen got richer, fatter but still wanted more profit.

One year El Supremo went to the headland to see “his” birds come home and all he saw was less than a hundred birds. Distraught and devastated, he returned to his palace, called out the Palace Guard and burned down all the fish vendor stalls.

When I woke up I realized the moral of the tale:

Don’t ever let Visitor Experience force Wildlife to flee their habitat.

Basil Seaton,
Jasper, AB

Shelter from the elements needed

Wake up Ken Quackenbush (Town of Jasper’s Director of Environmental Services). I work in the industrial park and sometimes leave work late at night, I walk to work. One memorable night it was -30 with a wind and I spent 53 minutes waiting for trains to clear the crossing. I have seen pedestrians crossing the trains rather than put up with the cold or rain.

These shelters were paid for by me and other Jasperites tax dollars.

Quackenbush’s statement that the shelters couldn’t be replaced because they, the shelters, might be damaged by high winds!!!  Well Director of Environmental Services, the shelters were put there and paid for by the tax payers of Jasper so that pedestrians would be “sheltered” from those same winds. 

Hugh Conway,
Jasper, AB