National parks gird for busy weekend as hazy air clears

National parks across the province are gearing up for a busy Labour Day weekend, despite the smoky weather many experienced throughout August.

While it’s still too early to determine exactly what impacts the weather had on visitor numbers over the last month, there’s indication particularly smoky days meant fewer visitors.

“We did see evidence of day visitors planning ahead and some days were slower just due to the smoke in the air, which is pretty understandable,” said Angela Anderson, communications lead for Banff and Lake Louise Tourism. “In terms of longer haul visitors though, it’s really early for us to say for sure but we didn’t see evidence of many people cancelling their trips.”

As for this weekend, the smoke has cleared and a recent fire ban for the park has been lifted. Fires are now allowed in designated pits in campgrounds and day-use areas, with campers required to purchase fire permits to use pits in road-accessible campgrounds.

Anderson said she’s expecting it to be a busy weekend and strongly recommends visitors use transit. The On-It bus runs all weekend from Calgary to Banff for $10, which includes a transit pass that can be used throughout the town.

And for those planning to visit Lake Louise, Anderson said people should consider taking shuttles from Banff, or park in the overflow lot on Highway 1 and shuttle from there.

Waterton Lakes National Park also had a smoky season. A wildfire that is currently active in Montana’s Glacier National Park (which borders the Alberta park) led to an evacuation alert in Waterton last week, and has closed the Akamina Parkway for the rest of the season.

But the alert for Waterton was lifted on Monday and the park is expecting a busy weekend.

“Long weekends are always a great time for people to get out and adventure,” said John Stoesser, Parks Canada communications officer.

Parks Canada will have special programs running throughout the weekend at Waterton Lakes National Park, including theatre programs and walks led by tour guides.

The Canadian Rockies’ largest national park is also expecting an influx of visitors for the long weekend. Jasper National Park saw a huge jump in numbers during May — an increase of roughly 10,000 people from the year before — but the numbers still aren’t in for August.

“We had a lot of smoke here in August so we could very well have had less visitors, but until we get them we’ve been pretty much on track for the season,” said Steve Young, communications officer for Parks Canada.