The Jasper Trails Project presents plan and encourages feedback

Focusing on the Three Valley Confluence area, those running the Jasper Trails Project (JTP) presented their plan on Thursday night at the upper curling lounge of the Activity Centre.  

The JTP is an initiative by Parks Canada intended to reconfigure and expand the 190 km of trails surrounding Jasper using a $1.7 million grant from the federal government.

Thursday’s event was presented as a series of seven stations which took people through the process by which the plan was developed. The final station listed all 104 trails in the Three Valley Confluence, laid out in chart format, including information about why a particular trail was part of the plan, the public input that was addressed, as well as recommendations for trail improvement.  

This information session was an opportunity “for the community to come out and get informed,” said Jennifer Dubois, Project Manager of the JTP. The information session was followed up on Saturday with a workshop, which was “the working group’s opportunity and Parks Canada’s opportunity, to listen,” she said.

Honing in on three interconnected objectives – one, improving ecological health while enhancing opportunities; two, collaborating with trail users (explore new ways to work together, ie. public participation); three, fostering stewardship and ownership – the workshop was structured in two parts.  

First, groups of about four or five people spent 20 minutes working on and discussing how well the proposed plan meets the goals of the project.  

Second, groups spent another 45 minutes exploring how well the proposed trail network plan will meet the needs of users, specifically focusing on what aspects should work well and where the plan falls short.  

Members of the all-volunteer working group were spread amongst participants and provided answers to questions.  Each of the four groups then presented their thoughts on the trail plan.  Some of the suggestions that were emphasized were the addition of lots of loops, providing connections to the town, and accurate and abundant of signage, which “is key” to the plan, said Marcia Dewandel, communications officer for the JTP.  

Some of the concerns raised were keeping the good quality of existing trails (do not “dumb down” trails as group one said), how are visitors, who make up 75 per cent of trail users, going to be encouraged to respect the trails, how will trail maintenance get done and how will unofficial trail use be curbed.  

This plan will be phased in over a number of years, said Dubois.  “It won’t happen overnight.  It’s an expensive and ambitious plan.”  The setting of priorities will be extremely important, she said, as there is not enough funding currently to put this plan on the ground tomorrow.  

However, Jill Seaton of the Jasper Environmental Association (JEA) expressed reservations about the proposed trail network. “You can’t just have the views of people from Jasper in this. We have also looked at all the studies that were previously done indicating that this was a critical wildlife area in here that has got to be freed up,” she said. “We’re wondering how much they’re following these studies which were done at taxpayers’ expense.”  

Dubois dismissed the concern, saying that JTP has “absolutely” followed these studies. She added that “the ecological information we considered, most of it comes from Parks Canada’s own studies” and “the other piece to consider is that Parks Canada’s biologists, who are responsible for a lot of this information, worked with us all the way along and were quite comfortable with our progress.”  

It should be noted that the JEA chose not to participate in the working group, which is made up of volunteers from all outdoor disciplines, or in the public consultations, even though “they were invited to sit on the working group,” said Dubois.  

The JEA’s fundamental aversion to participating in the formal process is because “the JEA had been involved with the original trail stewards that started in 2002 and went on for three years.  Two JEA members went to that... who finally became so frustrated with it that they left it. That’s ridiculous,” said Seaton. “It was completely run by mountain bikers and Parks was not prepared to take a stand.”  

Grizzly bears are Seaton’s primary concern, but “wildlife will absolutely benefit because areas that presently have a high density of trails will be seriously or significantly reduced,” said Dubois.  “That creates more opportunities for freedom of movement and more security of habitat.”

Even though the trail plan’s approval will be subject to an environmental assessment by Parks, Seaton is not particularly hopeful that the JEA’s concerns will be addressed.  “They usually go through these things if Parks has made up its mind what it wants to do and wants to see their results in it...” she said.  

Dubois took a more congenial view and stated that she thinks “there’s often more common ground than the JEA would think.  Trail users absolutely respect the park and they do want to see long-term protection for wildlife.”

The Trails Project will end March 31 at which point an environmental assessment will be conducted to determine whether it will be approved.