Banff cycling event needs traffic, wildlife plans
Parks Canada says the approval of next summer’s GranFondo Banff is contingent on organizers developing both traffic management and wildlife response plans.
Earlier this week, GranFondo announced it will return to Banff National Park after holding the event in a national park for the first time last August.
“The event was quite successful,” Dave McDonough, superintendent of the Banff field unit, said in an interview Friday. “Cycling is very popular. It’s a great, healthy way for people to come in and enjoy the park.”
On the morning of the event, five grizzly bears feeding along the Bow Valley Parkway forced a last-minute route change and shortened the cycling ride by almost 40 kilometres.
Organizers acknowledged this week that they weren’t totally prepared for the possibility, despite repeated warnings from parks staff.
“What we didn’t do this year very well was have contingency plans,” said Kevin Thomson, president of GranFondo Canada. “So, in 2013, we’re working closely with Parks Canada and the Town of Banff to have these contingency plans in the event of wildlife.
“We did it on a wing and prayer in 2012.”
McDonough said those contingency plans still need to be approved by Parks Canada.
“We had a detailed review of what worked and what didn’t work last year, so we’ve identified a number of mitigating measures that GranFondo Canada will put in place,” he said, noting organizers need to prepare a wildlife response plan to deal with any animals along the route and a traffic response plan to allow better access to campgrounds and address traffic flow in and around town. “Currently, it’s conditionally approved pending the approval of these response plans.”
The second GranFondo Banff is scheduled to be held Aug. 24, 2013.