Editor:
Does Parks Canada have any intention of listening to those of us who have valid environmental concerns?
Although we are invited to comment on Mt. Norquay’s plans to expand into summer use, it really is an exercise in futility and a waste of time. Friends who live in Jasper National Park are heavily involved in attempting to halt proposed summer use of the Marmot Basin ski area.
In the pamphlet outlining the Jasper Environmental Association’s concerns, a question is asked that is just as pertinent to the Mt. Norquay situation – Why is Parks Canada allowing the destruction of critical wildlife habitat in a National Park?
While Parks Canada seems intent on luring more tourists to Banff, I have increasing concerns about the looming water crisis. I have witnessed the waste of this most precious resource in Banff, even around the Cave and Basin area, and am appalled that xeriscaping is not prominent.
Also, why is Parks Canada proposing to re-introduce caribou, a species which does not fare well with human encroachment, while wanting to increase human activity? And who thought of re-introducing free-ranging bison?
It is obvious that the creatures who are supposed to be protected in a national park will lose out yet again – how outrageous that the very places where it should be possible for them to live without harassment or harm will be developed even further to accommodate business.
And, while Mt. Norquay is anxious about its future, it is a fact that businesses survive or fail.
In closing, I remember a bus trip up to the Sunshine area a few years ago. An interpreter was informing us that it was against the law to pick a flower or take a rock from the environment because we were in a national park. Yet only a few moments later we saw a helicopter bringing in loads of building material, and the side of a mountain was being ripped out to build a ski run (And I haven’t even started on the shameful destruction of the Wheeler house).
Carol Tracey,
Calgary
