Despite a year that saw a substantial drop in gift-shop sales for the Friends of Jasper National Park (FJNP), the general manager, Sue Cesco, is optimistic about the rest of 2009.

With current membership at about 470 people, Cesco ran through what she called ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ of 2008 for FJNP at last week’s annual general meeting.

Greg Fenton, Jasper National Parks superintendent, was on hand to address the meeting and said that FJNP was “bar none, the most successful and cooperative organization... [and] is a foundation piece for the community, for people across the country and the world.” 

He congratulated FJNP for upholding the common mandate the organizations share and for upholding the integrity of natural and culture resources, reassuring members that Cesco was more than qualified to lead them into the future.

Reporting an operational loss of nearly $60,000 for 2008, Cesco attributed the loss to the closure of the Parks Information Centre for renovations, whereby FJNP’s gift-shop was relocated to the south side of Connaught Drive for much of the winter.

Since sales account for more than 80 per cent of the organization’s revenue, the decrease in foot-traffic was reason for the $60,000 drop in contribution from the store.

However, Cesco said that the historical and long-term integrity of the building was of the upmost importance to FJNP and was certain the revenue would be re-cooped in the upcoming year. 

The good part of FJNP’s story was the near-completion of the Discovery Trail that, apart from missing a few signs, is finished. The success of the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) bird-banding program was also lauded by the organization.

In its fifth year, Brenda Shepherd - who was given the FJNP volunteer of the year award - reported the MAPS program has experienced about a 30 per cent recapture rate this year so far and is now part of 500 networks of bird-banding across the globe. 

The volunteer trail days also had another successful year, with more than 90 people coming out over the year, which totals about 360 volunteer hours for the year. Due to the popular demand, visitors and residents now have the opportunity to give back to the park trails once a week.

Another priority for the organization in 2008 was developing some programs at the Palisades Centre working with wardens to teach about monitoring and poaching in the park. FJNP had organized some buses to bring out urban schools that were not utilized last year, but will be in 2009/10 school year.

These programs were one way Cesco suggested FJNP could begin to offer ‘voluntourism’ - an idea that was highlighted. Three presentations of Jasperites who have volunteered throughout the world highlighted volunteerism. 

Looking forward, Cesco said the organization was ready to start looking at a long 25-year plan as it steps into it’s second quarter.