Wilderness Defender: The Future of our National Parks

January 18, 2017

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• National Parks

Dear Wilderness Defender,

You may already know that Parks Canada is holding consultations on National Parks across Canada. Christyann and I have been invited to participate in a session being held in Calgary today and we want you to know that Parks Canada is asking all Canadians to weigh in on the status and future of National Parks. You can write or call to send your ideas or experiences to them, to be part of making sure we have a better future for our National Parks. The deadline is January 27.

-Andrea Johancsik, Conservation Specialist

Undertake Action

We hope you will find time to write an email in your own words  to the Let’s Talk Parks Canada email address, parlonsdeparcscanada.letstalkparkscanada@pc.gc.ca. This is a great opportunity to share your experiences and stories to folks who will make decisions about the future of National Parks – whether it’s a great, bad, or indifferent.

Perhaps it is a story of someone illegally feeding wildlife in the Bow Valley? Did you get stuck in traffic at Lake Louise? Were you listening to the news this fall about the UNESCO visit to Wood Buffalo? How have you found the hiking trails or are you a horseback rider who found the trails impassable? What about Waterton, or even a story about your visit to Grasslands National Park in Saskatchewan? Those are all examples of what to write about. The Minister is required to provide responses to written recommendations so you can count on getting a reply! Please copy me at ajohancsik@abwild.ca.

You can also visit www.letstalkparkscanada.ca to participate in the E-Workbook or submit an idea to the Ideas Forum.

The Issues

We’ve noticed an increase in commercial developments and proposals, like the Glacier Skywalk, Lake Louise Ski Resort expansion, Jasper bike trail proposal, and Maligne Lake Cabins, to name a few. Commercialization often comes at the expense of the wildlife and natural beauty that visitors come to the Parks to see. We’ve also noticed broken decision-making processes, like Banff going over its permanent resident population cap with no consequence, and no legislated environmental assessments for projects within Parks since 2012.

• Restoring funding to science and conservation
• Increasing and improving educational programs
• Slowing and eliminating further commercialization of our National Parks

Thank you for helping the wilderness of Alberta’s National Parks!