Park superintendent not swayed by appeal to marketing

Unless commercial raft companies come up with new natural science or a petition, they won’t get a review of the decision that reserved the Maligne River for Harlequin ducks most of the past decade.

“We’ve made it fairly firm that there are some pre-conditions that would have to be in place prior to a review: new natural science or full support from the public,” Greg Fenton, superintendent of  Jasper National Park, said on the weekend.

Raft companies, supported by Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment, had hoped to take advantage of a stated shift in policy at Parks Canada that calls for equal emphasis on social sciences and natural sciences and regain access to the Maligne.

As outlined by Carol Sheedy, director general of Parks Canada’s visitor experience and external relations directorate, the mandate now places equal emphasis in issues management on protection, experience and education.

“They were separate, now they are integrated,” Sheedy told an audience in Sydney, Australia this spring. “We have lifers in Parks Canada who have grown up with one mindset. But there have been enough early adopters so that people can see this is not threatening. Protection and experience can be the same.”

The rafters were looking for a review of the ban, especially during July and August when a checklist of birds published by Friends of Jasper National Park says that Harlequin ducks are an uncommon to rare sight on the Maligne River. 

Fenton said that in a meeting with rafting companies, he was told that the process that led to the ban “was not open or fair or provided them sufficient opportunity to state their case. They want that opportunity to be heard, whether that results in a re-opening of the river.”

“If there is some new information that comes forward it’s possible that this could be revisited in the up-coming management plan review, but at this time we’re not anticipating re-opening it as part of that process,” Fenton said, and added:  “but you never know.”

Fenton said that could include new information “about the Maligne River or the Harlequin duck as a species or other aquatic environments that bring new information that wasn’t taken into account in the previous decision making process.”