BIGHORN AREA SHOULD BE PARK
We have an opportunity to create a lasting legacy for future generations, say Joe Lougheed and Jay Cross.
Forty years ago, Kananaskis Country was created to protect mountain areas for people and wildlife to enjoy, building on the rich history of Banff National Park. Protecting and enjoying these wild areas is woven into the fabric of what makes us Albertans. We only need to look to the Alberta flag to see what matters. It shows snow-capped mountains and intact foothills, recognizing they are a birthright as well as a source of water and quality of life for Albertans. It is also, therefore, our responsibility.
Banff was created in the 1880s but was initially very small. Our forefathers had the wisdom to understand that Canada needed something more significant, on the scale of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Alfred E. Cross was a rancher, brewer and one of the Big Four who created the Calgary Stampede. But he also left a legacy of conservation as he led a successful lobby to expand Banff National Park in the 1890s, forever securing Alberta and Calgary as a defining destination in the minds of the world. A.E. Cross would have worked with Sen. James Lougheed at the time to achieve this result.
In the early 1970s, the government of Premier Peter Lougheed, grandson of Sen. Lougheed, recognized that Banff was under pressure and that conserving additional provincial lands could also provide additional recreational opportunities for Albertans in the mountains. With extensive advice and public input, Kananaskis Country was born. Today, it is widely used and much loved by Albertans. So much so that subsequent leaders later expanded upon it — Premier Ralph Klein subsequently added Elbow-Sheep Wildland Park and Spray Valley Provincial Park.
Forty years after the creation of K-Country, we face the same challenges with global tourism increasing, making Banff National Park an even busier place. Alberta’s population has also grown from one to four million people. As a result, Kananaskis has become a busier place too.
Fortunately, we have the luxury of an opportunity that parallels the conservation visions of the past. That is to consider an area known as the Bighorn Backcountry, an area between Banff and Jasper National Parks that includes David Thompson Highway and the North Saskatchewan River. Following the “Kananaskis Model,” areas could be designated for conservation and protected habitat while others could be designated as recreational, with planned and appropriate public facilities, venues and trails. In addition to the environmental benefits, the Bighorn could provide muchneeded tourism and economic development opportunities to central Alberta while providing another place for Albertans to access quiet recreation and enjoy mountain beauty and wildlife.
Bighorn has the opportunity to create a new legacy just like those of Banff and Kananaskis Country. Just as we needed Kananaskis Country to ensure that Albertans could have recreation in the face of the increasing demand of Banff National Park 40 years ago, today we need to seize the opportunity of the Bighorn Backcountry.
In considering the Bighorn opportunity, however, we urge the provincial government to consult widely. What areas should receive greater environmental protection? What areas should be set aside for more recreational uses? What should those recreational uses be and what uses will provide the most tourism and economic development benefit to the region? Kananaskis, for example, has protected spaces, but also the McLean Creek off-highway vehicle area, an RV campground, limited paved trails and William Watson Lodge, where physically challenged Albertans can access nature and the mountains.
Appropriate and meaningful consultation on Bighorn can balance recreational interests, regional interests and conservation interests and leave a legacy for the future. Ranchers, farmers and more urban Albertans have worked together in the past to achieve this balance and we can do it again. We owe it to future generations to try.