Blazing a new trail for Banff
OFFICIALS LOOK TO ENHANCE THE VISITOR EXPERIENCE AT NATIONAL PARK, BUT SOME CRITICS WORRY FOCUS COULD BE ON QUANTITY, NOT QUALITY
It’s important that we provide a range of people with opportunities to really learn about and celebrate and enjoy the national park. People’s interests have changed, they are always changing
BANFF NATIONAL PARK SUPERINTENDENT DAVE MCDONOUGH
Faced with budget cuts and fewer staff, Banff National Park will focus on bringing in new visitors this winter and maintaining the ecological integrity of the park in the coming year.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Herald, superintendent Dave McDonough said the budget reductions made by the federal government in 2012 have been a challenge.
“We still have a significant budget in Parks Canada,” he said. “Like all government departments, we had to reduce, so what we are doing is really looking at focusing on key priorities.
“It’s looking at new ways of doing things, really focusing on key priorities that will improve ecological integrity, really improve Canadians connection to the park and engaging others to help us do that.”
Banff National Park lost staff, contracted out grounds maintenance, started the process to privatize the hot springs and reduced the hours at the Banff Avenue visitor information centre this winter.
Kevin King, regional vicepresident for the Union of National Employees, said the moves will have a noticeable impact.
“This cut was so significant, it truly is going to be a bellwether regarding how Parks operates and looks to Canadians and our international visitors going forward,” he said. “If the origins of the national park system can be commercialized, what else can be commercialized?
“The origins of our national park system, in terms of a topflight, quality visitor experience, wasn’t made necessarily by the location of those hot pools ... it was how people felt and the top-flight, quality service by Parks Canada staff providing those services to the visitors.”
But McDonough, who became superintendent of the Banff field unit in September, said he doesn’t believe the cuts will affect the visitor experience.
“I don’t anticipate that visitors will see a major change in Banff park,” he said.
“In terms of reductions, every function had to reduce a little bit, but we were clear that we still ensure visitor safety is a priority, ecological integrity is a priority and providing people with opportunities to really connect and have a memorable experience is also a priority.”
To that end, McDonough said he’s currently focused on the winter season.
“The winter offers the most opportunity right now, ” he said. “As we move i nto the shoulder seasons and particularly the winter, that’s where ... there’s room to grow.”
It includes providing more access to cross-country skiing and snowshoeing trails, and promoting opportunities for winter walking.
“These are activities people like to do and we have the terrain,” he said.
“Our success in Lake Louise really shows that there is a real interest and it’s a great opportunity to get out and really enjoy the park.”
In Lake Louise, the park collaborated with the tourism industry to improve the trails in the area.
McDonough, an avid cross country skier himself, said they are working with partners to determine whether
More and more, it’s becoming Banff national playground than Banff National
Park MIKE MCIVOR OF THE BOW VALLEY NATURALISTS
they can do additional track setting around Banff.
They are also looking at plowing pullouts and parking lots to provide better access for visitors to the existing areas such as the Cascade fire road.
In addition to winter activities, he said the park is trying to find ways to make the park relevant to all Canadians — including options such as additional cycling trails and Norquay’s summer use plan.
Although tourism groups have applauded the moves, conservationists suggested the changes show a changing focus for the iconic park.
“My big concern is that when they talk about improving visitor experience, their measuring sticks have to do with quantity, not quality,” said Mike McIvor of the Bow Valley Naturalists. “They just want to get as many people here as possible.
“The numbers don’t begin to account for the quality of the experience.”
For example, he said a group of guys going to Banff for the weekend to hang out in the bar isn’t the same as visitors who spend time in the park to appreciate its natural beauty.
“More and more, it’s becoming Banff national playground than Banff National Park,” said McIvor, referring to such activities as the glass-floored walkway in nearby Jasper or the via ferrata — a mountain path fixed with cables, ladders and bridges — proposed at Mount Norquay.
McDonough, however, suggested they need to provide activities for all types of visitors.
“All activities undergo environmental review ... They undergo planning processes,” he said, noting the Norquay plan had been open for public comment until Friday. “We have processes in place to make sure these are well thought through and appropriate for a national park and will not have a significant negative impact.
“It’s important that we provide a range of people with opportunities to really learn about and celebrate and enjoy the national park. People’s interests have changed, they are always changing.”
Another celebration being planned for 2013 is the reopening of the Cave and Basin — the birthplace of the park — on the May long weekend.
McDonough said there’s also a continued focus on the ecological integrity in the iconic park.
In the new year, the twinning of the TransCanada highway will see additional overpasses and underpasses built to prevent collisions with wildlife; traffic restrictions on the Bow Valley Parkway will take effect with closures from 8 p.m. until 8 a.m. in the springtime to protect the wolves and grizzly bears; and, several native species could be reintroduced to the park.
Notably, a draft plan to reintroduce bison in the park will be released in early 2013, a project to return native cutthroat trout to several lakes in the park will continue and a plan to return caribou to the area is in the works.
“Banff still remains an international icon,” said McDonough. “Parks Canada is very well respected in terms of our leadership in conservation. I am quite confident that we’ll continue to be leaders in conservation and in visitor experiences.
“We adjust, we’ll focus our resources where there can have the most bang for their buck, the best impact. We’ll move forward.”