BANFF – A proposal to fence the entire recreational grounds next year will undergo an environmental assessment to be sent to Parks Canada.
Last week, council tentatively approved spending $175,000 on perimeter fencing, and the next step will be an environmental review to address issues such as wildlife movement or potential displacement.
Mayor Karen Sorensen voiced strong support for fencing the perimeter of the recreation grounds, where a grizzly bear walked onto the rugby pitch while the high school girls’ team was playing in May 2017.
“I think we need to fence ourselves in, in order to protect and coexist with the wildlife,” said the mayor, who was co-chair of the Bow Valley human-wildlife coexistence committee.
“I think it will interesting to put this forward to Parks Canada and see what they think.”
While perimeter fencing, or spot fencing, has been on the books for the redevelopment of the rec grounds for several years, the most recent push comes out of the human-wildlife coexistence report.
The taskforce, made up of the municipality’s of Banff and Canmore, Parks Canada and the province of Alberta, recommended removing natural and unnatural attractants to help keep wildlife out of towns, including fencing to stop elk grazing on grass playing fields.
Parks Canada has long indicated more support for spot fencing certain areas such as such as playgrounds over fencing the entire site, noting wildlife movements is already constricted by the highway and townsite.
This week, however, Parks Canada said no decision has been made on the Town of Banff’s proposal to fence the perimeter of the rec grounds.
“A detailed proposal should be submitted to Parks Canada by the Town of Banff,” said Parks Canada spokesman Justin Brisbane in an email.
“It will then undergo environmental assessment review, then a decision will be made.”
Councillor Peter Poole questioned the motivation behind the fencing proposal, wondering if the problem of elk poop was part of the equation.
“What fraction of the problem we’re trying to address is inconvenience to humans?” he said.
Amanda Arbuckle, Banff’s recreation services manager, said there are very few, if any complaints about that.
“I’m actually surprised our sports field users don’t complain; they are just fine with removing the left overs from our grazing ungulates,” she said,
“I think there’s a general understanding of where they live and what comes with that.”
Councillor Corrie DiManno voiced support for fencing the rec grounds.
“I’m feeling sad that things are going to change, but it’s the right thing to do,” she said.
“It’s nice to have wide open field and to see people come and go fluidly throughout the rec grounds, but we have this report that speaks to this.”
Banff’s 2019 capital budget already has $285,000 on the books for fencing, plus $51,000 in 2023 for specifically fencing an adventure playground. The new proposal is $175,000.
