Jasper’s network of multiuse trails to get serious upgrade

Relying on information gathered over the past two-and-a-half years, the Jasper Trails Project will present its draft concept trail plan tonight, Dec. 4, outlining a long-term approach to improving the extensive network of the 200 km of trails surrounding the townsite.   

According to project manager Jennifer Dubois, the plan has two main goals.  “It had to look at how we can make recreational improvements and how we make improvements to the trail network that would result in benefits for the ecological conditions, or improve the ecological integrity of the area,” she said.

The community of Jasper, along with the volunteer working group, has, in collaboration with Parks Canada, created a plan that looks at where trails around the townsite need to be improved, where trails may need to be rerouted, whether new trails are needed to improve linkages and where trails currently exist in ecologically sensitive areas, said Dubois.  

Working group members, including Loni Klettl, have put in a tonne of volunteer time.  Klettl said she estimates she alone has put in over 200 hours, but it’s all worth it.  “I’m from here, I’ve grown up here... and I thought I had a lot to offer from my local knowledge,” she said.  

There are about nine or ten members of the working group with backgrounds in different outdoor pursuits.  “I might be the mountain bike person, someone else might be horses, someone else might be from Friends of Jasper National Park, someone might be from the guides association... we try to represent all user interests,” said Klettl.  

Part of the plan has already been implemented.  “We’ve built 15 km of new trails,” said Dubois.  The trails project will finish March 31, 2009, when the trail plan will be approved by the superintendent of Jasper National Park, pending an environmental assessment.      

Included in the plan are other trail management issues such as signage and trail etiquette.  “It’s an ambitious plan, it will be costly and it will take us a number of years to implement,” said Dubois.  

The Thursday night information session will take place at the Curling Lounge in the Jasper Activity Center from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.  

The goal for this session is to “check back in with the community,” said Dubois.  “It’s for the community to come out and get informed.  See the plan, learn what it looks like and understand how we arrived where we did.”  

On Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Curling Lounge between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., there will be a workshop, which is both the working group’s and Parks Canada’s opportunity to listen and get feedback from the public on the proposed trail plan.