Town, Parks clean roadways

Jasper’s two governing bodies came together last Thursday to help make the park just a little bit greener and the Discovery Trail a little easier to navigate.

When the Municipality of Jasper and Jasper National Park combined their efforts, the 110 employees managed to remove more than 3,000 kilograms of waste from the ditches along Highway 16 between the east and west gate park gates.

Lori Rissling-Wynn, environmental stewardship coordinator, was working the line. She said there were all sorts of trash to be found along the roadside.

“It was just about anything you can imagine,” she said, “trashy trash, fast food garbage, often heavier items, hub caps, things left from accidents along the highway.”

Rissling-Wynn said the weirdest find of the day was in a pull off on Highway 16, where people had “dumped a bunch of miscellaneous stuff” such as box springs and mattresses.

While wandering along the highways, participants were asked to sort their trash so that recyclables wouldn’t end up at the Hinton dump.

As a result, the environmentally conscious employees made an extra $267.15 by cashing in refundable items found along the way.  

It wasn’t just the highways getting a re-vamp. The Discovery Trail signage was the special project for the stewardship day.

About ten people including Marcie DeWandel, the communication officer for Jasper trails project, walked the trail, installing new maps and ensuring directional signage was correct.

DeWandel said the team installed about a dozen permanent signs along the trail, which would help people to identify where they were on the trail.

According to DeWandel, the Discovery Trail’s signage will be completed this summer with the installation of hardened interpretive panels along the trail.