Craig Gilbert | [email protected]
Canada 150. Friends of Jasper National Park.
Sue Cesco confirmed this week she had an agenda.
She wanted to find a way to recognize the scores of volunteers who pass through her doors every year in the light of Canada’s sesquicentennial.
But who? And how?
“I was starting to think about something I could do that’s a gesture of goodwill about the community effort put into the national parks service,” the Friends manager said. “Loni is such a positive role model in connecting community with place.”
Cesco’s experience with Loni Klettl dates back about a quarter-century to before the days of the Jasper Trails Alliance. She lol’d in real life at the suggestion that Loni, the recipient of a 2018 Mayor’s Recognition Award, believes she’s done “hundreds” of hours of volunteer work on the trails around JNP. Between two and three hundred, to be specific.
“More like thousands of hours,” Cesco said. “It was important to nominate someone like that, who represents the citizen relationship with Jasper National Park. People are drawn to her by word of mouth to find out trail conditions or report areas where trails need help. She’s the centre in the hub in the wheel.”
The former Crazy Canuck has long since accepted her role as an unofficial ambassador for the park, if not the unofficial ambassador. The stream of visitors seeking insight flows from Lake Infinity.
“For some reason, people spill to me on the trail,” Klettl told the Fitzhugh this week. “We take very seriously the comments we get from people. We always write them down, and have meetings to discuss them. Is this a Parks thing? We’re still trying to represent trail users.”
It’s an an eclectic assortment that is at times at odds with one another. It’s not unheard of for Klettl to take heat from hiking enthusiasts who believe Klettl is only making the trails better for cyclists.
“Everyone uses the trails for different things,” she said. “Like on the ski hill, you all take the lift together, but as you start to ski down, it’s your ride, however you do it. That’s your space. The trail is the same way, you just have to remember that others use them and keep your head up.”
Sometimes it’s her alone out digging water bye-byes on Andretti’s, but often she’s surrounded by volunteers, or students, or both. Group JTA sessions will tend to take place on evenings this season, she said, looking forward to working on Water Tower, which runs from the end of Patricia Lake Bungalows Road back to Trail 15.
“Everyone needs volunteers, but it’s how you treat them on-site that’s important,” Klettl said, “and the Friends treat volunteers with respect. I’ve won lots of stuff for competing athletically, but I’ve never won one for volunteering. I think of the volunteers who helped me to get to that place when I was successful as an athlete. Now I get to volunteer outside in a national park. There are a lot of volunteers who work somewhere that isn’t as visible, like a church basement, doing hidden things that make a difference. They’re the ones who really deserve recognition.”
