Wilmhurst faced an emotional audience as he attempted to explain the position and reasoning behind Parks Canada’s controversial proposal. Parks Canada proposes to close the Tonquin, Brazeau, and North Boundary areas for backcountry use between Nov. 1 and March 1, in an effort to protect dwindling caribou populations. These important caribou habitats encompass 2,500 square kilometres of the total 11,220 square kilometres that make up JNP.
Parks Canada believes the Woodland caribou in Jasper National Park (JNP) are threatened, and unless certain measures are taken, could disappear from the park all together.
“We have an issue. We are in a national park. Our mandate is to protect ... the Species at Risk Act (SARA) dictates that we have to protect caribou in our landscape. We have to protect individuals. We have to protect their critical habitat. It is the law that we do so, we do not have a choice.”
Wilmhurst identified JNP as one of the few places in the southern mountain caribou region where caribou can realistically recover.
“We are proposing to adjust the season when people have access to the backcountry,” explained Wilmhurst. “We are doing that because we have found it is an important step in the protection of caribou.”
Wilmhurst explained that Parks Canada has identified five threats to caribou:
- Predator/prey dynamic – the scientific balance of predator and prey affecting populations.
- Human disturbance – direct interaction between caribou and people, including road kill.
- Habitat loss – the loss of old growth forest habitat that caribou require.
- Small population effect – the tendency for small caribou populations to continue declining.
- Predator access – the method predators, such as wolves, access caribou.
“It’s not about getting one of these things done and the caribou will be OK,” said Wilmhurst. “It’s about getting all five done.”
Predator access is the primary threat creating the need for the proposed closures.
“Wolves, the main predator of caribou, are dominantly using trails to access winter habitat for caribou,” said Wilmhurst. He stated that any packed trail, including ski trails, disadvantages the caribou and increases winter mortality. For emphasis, Wilmhurst displayed radio collar data and remote camera imagery suggesting wolves begin hunting caribou soon after trails are set.
During the question and answer session, many passionate residents and winter recreational users were eager to offer feedback. At odds with caribou conservation is the denial of key backcountry areas for recreational users and the attached economic ramifications for local business.
Many questions from those in attendance underlined the desire to explore alternatives to closures, such as combining herds or managing wolves directly. During the session, Wilmhurst admitted that delays in caribou conservation have been detrimental.
“We are about 20 years too late for our caribou conservation program,” said Wilmhurst. “We should have been making these decisions a long time ago.”
Residents like Chris Garnham questioned Parks Canada’s data.
“The problem that I have now is you are talking about closing the majority of Jasper National Park based on questionable numbers, without any data about human use of the park,” said Garnham. “When do we get that data? Can you present that to us and let us be part of that process? Has that process been part of your conclusions … has that ever been part of the process to close the damn park?”
The workshop included time for those in attendance to review maps of JNP in order to catalogue what areas backcountry users currently use, as well as select any possible alternative areas users may wish to use as a result of closures. While not all groups were able to present their findings during the workshop, Parks Canada assured those in attendance that staff would be taking all suggestions into consideration. However, those that did present believed viable backcountry alternatives were non-existent.
Even after the workshop, many residents were talking about the proposal.
Mayor Richard Ireland, speaking for council, expressed his concern that a balance is struck when it comes to addressing the proposal.
“It’s important that the message goes out that although there may be closures, and the extent of the closures is apparently still up for discussion, the park isn’t closed,” said Ireland. “The greatest concern is the absence of any alternatives.”
Ireland said council understands the need to protect caribou in the park.
“The question is, are these the right measures to actually preserve the caribou population and are they the measures that are least likely to interfere with sustainability of the park in a larger sense?”
Local resident and avid skier Loni Klettl has much experience with the proposed backcountry closure areas, which she believes have the best alpine access in the park.
“You can ski up these creeks and in two hours you’re in the alpine and that’s what you want,” said Klettl.
Klettl argues that the alternative areas proposed at the workshop would require a sizeable investment in infrastructure, such as bridges and overnight huts.
“But we all know there isn’t any more money for infrastructure,” said Klettl.
The alternatives would also require skiers to travel vast distances, between 12 to 24 kilometres, to reach the alpine.
“A lot of us are really really fit,” said Klettl, “ but a lot of us are, ‘oh god that’s too much.’”
In part two of the Fitzhugh’s series debating Parks Canada’s proposed closure of winter backcountry areas, we will look at the history behind the caribou in JNP, as well as look closer at the economic ramifications of the proposal. Part three of our series will explore innovative alternatives to backcountry use areas that may satisfy the needs of both caribou and winter recreational users.
