While it’s not unusual for Jasper National Park to host visitors from around the world, this year, Parks Canada was particularly happy to welcome two specific groups of international travellers.
Ready and willing to get down and dirty in the park (and not just while hiking or biking the trails), these particular visitors were literally getting into the weeds as volunteers in the park and community.
A collaboration with Go International’s unique “voluntourism” program, each group, with participants from England, Wales, Spain, France, Italy, China, Germany and Switzerland, spent two weeks in Jasper, as well as time in Banff National Park. The program promotes opportunities for people from around the world to play a hands-on role in conservation and stewardship in the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks.
While in Jasper, the travellers had opportunities to explore the park like other visitors do, but they also made significant contributions as volunteers. Some highlights include:
- Helping clean up the Pyramid Lake beaches as part of the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup;
- Removing invasive toadflax from grassland areas at the town’s east entrance off Highway 16;
- Collecting black and grizzly bear scat samples along park trails, contributing to Jasper’s Scat Seekers Program;
- Restoring sightlines for the Jasper House National Historic Site viewpoint across the Athabasca River, as well as improving access to the site from the river;
- Completing several hundred metres of sightline restoration on the Pocahontas mine loop trails;
- Removing wire from an old abandoned goat trap, remnants from a Canadian Wildlife Service study in the 1960s, on the slopes of Mount Kerkeslin.
As part of their experience, each group also had opportunities to help out in the community. This included work with the Friends of Jasper National Park, rock-lining the upper Whistlers summit trail and helping out in their gift shop, as well as working on the restoration of Trail 3, a Jasper Trail Alliance project, and providing support during the Tour of Alberta in early September.
Volunteer contributions in Jasper National Park are invaluable to the conservation and stewardship of this special place.
Interested in putting in some hours? Volunteer projects are available for groups or organizations who would like to gain some experience and play an active role in the park.
Opportunities are also available for individuals both with Parks Canada and through the Friends of Jasper National Park.
For more information on how to get involved, email [email protected].
Parks Canada
Special to the Fitzhugh
