Northernlightswolf’s Weblog

Well, we attended Banff National Park’s annual Parks Management Plan Review on Oct. 29th, and were more horrified than 2 nights later when the ghouls were patrolling the streets.  The park superintendents were presenting to a panel of about 20 representatives made up of stakeholders, First Nations representatives, mountain guides, and environmental groups (only 2!).  The public were also invited to attend, however there were only about 20 addition bodies.  All attendees were presented with very vague ideas and candy-coated incentives with lingo such as “virtual visitors”.  However, the plan did nothing to CHALLENGE, or even address the biological concerns for the ecosystems suffering within these national parks.  Rather, the focus was on visitor enjoyment.  Will visitors “enjoy” seeing the LAST grizzly in the park 10 years from now, because the real concerns of the park were never addressed?

Another topic on the management plan program was “Managing Development to Enhance the Park Environment”  Does the park need to develop wildlife these days at the rate it is being lost to unnatural causes?  Indeed, filled potholes and the smell of asphalt were touted as “successes” within the park.  Along with the grand installation of new outhouses!  Jim Pissot representing Defenders of Wildlife was quick to point out that Parks’ only showed 2 topics on their report card that may have earned a B minus.  The wolves, bears, and elk would have likely given Parks and Banff superintendent Van Tighem a failing grade.