A group of former Parks Canada employees, environmental groups and business owners came together in Banff to launch a grassroots campaign to stop the commercialization of Canada’s national parks, Sept. 16.
The campaign is called Fight For Your Parks.
“Fight For Your Parks is a collaboration of groups asking Canadians to stand up for their national parks to stop inappropriate commercial development and inappropriate privatization of our parks,” said Alison Ronson, executive director of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society for northern Alberta.
“This issue came to a head with the quick approval of the expansion of the Lake Louise ski hill,” said Ronson. “That was the catalyst to launch a larger campaign.”
She said similar campaigns in the past, such as the petition against the Glacier Skywalk in 2012, garnered thousands of signatures and she expects this campaign to have a similar impact.
“We know that Canadians do stand up for the parks when the issues come forward so we’re hoping this will stir the passions of people who care about our wilderness,” said Ronson.
The group, which includes the Jasper Environmental Association (JEA), made the announcement nearly a week after a CPAWS report slammed the government for approving several commercial projects in Banff and Jasper national parks.
During the press conference, the group pointed to the Glacier Skywalk and the new accommodations proposed for Maligne Lake as examples of public space being used for private gain.
The group also condemned the recent approval to expand Lake Louise Ski Resort.
“[The public] was given three weeks to go through a very large environmental assessment and there were literally hundreds and hundreds of opposition letters that came in and they changed absolutely nothing at all,” said Jill Seaton, chair of the JEA.
“My concern nowadays is that the process has become an absolute farce. They bring out this environmental assessment, which is paid for by the proponent, so you know exactly how it’s going to lean, and then you’ve got this public input they ask for and they pay no attention to it whatsoever, but there’s an overwhelming demand for protection of our national parks,” said Seaton.
The expansion plan at Lake Louise includes a reduction of the ski area’s leasehold by 669 hectares, or 30 per cent of the area. To put that into context, that is roughly equivalent to Marmot Basin and Banff’s Mount Norquay combined.
In exchange, Lake Louise has the option to develop areas such as the West Bowl, Hidden Bowl, Richardson’s Ridge and West Juniper, allowing the resort to accommodate up to 11,500 visitors a day, nearly double the resort’s current capacity.
The changes will also allow the resort to build reservoirs for snowmaking that would reduce the need to draw from streams, as well as allow parking for up to 3,256 vehicles and 50 buses.
Lake Louise will also be allowed to build a new lodge at the top of Grizzly Gondola, providing additional space for skiers in the winter and allowing the resort to close the mid-mountain Whitehorn Lodge in the summer to reduce the proximity of visitors to important grizzly bear habitat.
With the recent approval to expand Lake Louise, all eyes are now on Marmot Basin’s second long range plan, which is expected to come forward in 2015 or 2016.
In June, Parks approved the first of two long range development plans for the ski area. The first plan focuses largely on the already developed areas of the ski hill, such as expanding the resort’s snow making operations.
The second plan, will likely focus on proposed expansion into areas outside of the ski resort’s current boundaries, and could include the development of ski lifts in the Tres Hombres and Outer Limits areas.
Expansion into these areas will depend on a caribou risk assessment, which has already found that any new development would threaten the Tonquin caribou herd, which is listed as threatened by the federal government.
The long range plan could also include extending the Knob Chair outside of the ski area’s current boundaries. Before this can be done, a mountain goat study must be completed.
The organizers of the Fight For Your Parks campaign have pledged to work toward reversing the expansion plan for Lake Louise, as well as pushing Parks to return to its long standings policy that no new lands will be released for commercial development. Organizers also want Parks to honour the Canada National Parks Act which makes the ecological integrity of Canada’s national parks the agency’s first priority and they want a commitment that legally protected wilderness will stay that way forever.
The campaign is supported by CPAWS, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, Alberta Wilderness Association, Wildsight and Wild Canada Conservation Alliance.
For more information about the campaign or to sign the petition, go to www.fightforyourparks.ca
Paul Clarke [email protected]
