Rafting groups and tourism officials are turning to the Jasper National Park management review in order to restore rafting on an 18 kilometre strech of the Maligne River between Maligne Lake and Medicine Lake.

Richard Leavens, executive director of the Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment (AMPPE), has requested Jasper National Park revisit the Maligne River rafting closures as part of its management review. 

“The area is one of the most stunning and iconic parts of the mountain parks. “We’re not saying absolutely there should be rafting on the river, we’re just asking Parks to take another look at it,” Leavens said.

“Parks Canada uses science to close things, why not use science to open things. There’s not a balance.”

The river was originally closed as a precautionary measure in 1999 after Parks Canada said the rafting boats could pose a threat to nesting Harlequin ducks on the river. Parks Canada has since agreed to revisit the issue, and Leavens is expecting word from them ‘by the end of May.’

Shawn Cardiff is overseeing the management plan review. He said the plan is the appropriate place to make the request.

“We’ve seen no new scientific information that causes us to rethink the basis for our decision,” Cardiff said. “(The decision) was well informed by available science at the time of the decision to close.”

Leavens has been lobbying Parks for some time to review the closure, and said the management plan review is another avenue.

Pat Crowley, general manager of Maligne Rafting Adventures ran a rafting route on the river between 1987 and 1993, before the closure. She said the closure is a definite loss for the community. 

“It’s the best river to raft in Canada. It’s consistent throughout the season, it’s not silty, the rapids are good and the facility is there.”

Crowley said more information is being discovered about harlequin ducks, and that science wasn’t behind the initial closure. 

“New science is being discovered, and the original science wasn’t conclusive,” Crowley said.

“It was never science that closed the river... the precautionary principle closed it.”

Crowley described the closure as ‘draconian’.

Cardiff said the ducks are still there, and that paddlers have access to 220 kms of river for rafting. Public feedback for the Jasper National Park management review will continue until the Fall. 

The public can access the management review plan discussion by emailing Parks.chats@pc.gc.ca