BANFF – The explosion in popularity of the Lake Minnewanka area in recent years has Parks Canada looking at potential changes.
Parks Canada is developing an area plan for the busy region of Banff National Park, which attracts about one million of the park’s four million annual visitors and has seen traffic volumes increase by about 50 per cent over the last 10 years.
Bursting with paddlers, boaters, divers, hikers, bikers, campers, picnickers, star gazers, wildlife watchers and sightseers to Johnson Lake, Two Jack Lake, Minnewanka reservoir and day-use areas like Cascade Ponds, the region is experiencing negative impacts, including people feeding wildlife, overflowing garbage bins, congestion and parking chaos.
In a bid to protect treasured wildlife and enhance the experience for visitors feeling the crunch of congestion and overcrowding, as well as fears over introduction of more aquatic invasive species, Parks Canada officials say they want to be proactive and have a better plan for managing the area.
“We’re trying to get ahead of the curb,” said Sal Rasheed, superintendent of Banff National Park following the 23rd annual park planning forum Feb. 15-16.
“We haven’t discussed tactics yet. Right now we’re coming up with an overall area plan for Lake Minnewanka. It will come up with some broad strategies on where we want to be.”
The 2022 Banff National Park Management Plan talks about the need to create an area plan for the Minnewanka area, which is essentially a road map for the future.
The management plan calls for a multi-use trail extending between Lake Minnewanka, both Two Jack Lake campgrounds, Johnson Lake, Cascade Ponds and the community of Banff.
In addition, it talks about potential development and redevelopment proposals as well as managing water-based activities and access in a bid to avoid introduction of aquatic invasive species.
Ecological integrity is legislated as the first priority when managing national parks, and Rasheed said it will be the governing piece when developing the Minnewanka area plan.
“The plan will have elements of managing visitor use, and how we do that is to be determined,” he said.
“The art of it is doing it in such a way that it contributes to visitor experience and it isn’t seen as being restrictive.”
The expert panel on moving people sustainably suggested various tourism hotspots in the park could be accessed by mass transit only.
Parks Canada is closing Moraine Lake year-round to private vehicles, meaning visitors have to take shuttles from a park-and-ride lot at the Lake Louise ski hill, Roam public transit, or commercial buses to access the iconic lake from June to mid-October.
While transit will continue and likely be enhanced, Rasheed said it is hard to say at this point if the direction at Moraine Lake will be taken for Lake Minnewanka.
“I’ll start by saying that every place is different so what we’ve done at Moraine Lake doesn’t necessarily need to be what happens at Lake Minnewanka. We’re going to use a variety of options out there,” he said.
“I don’t want to commit to closures, but it’s an option, it’s in the toolbox of visitor use management strategies… we’re in early days with Lake Minnewanka and we’re going to have to flush out the scope of it first before we get into tactics.”
For decades, the western portion of the Minnewanka road has been closed to vehicles during the winter months to allow wildlife to move undisturbed around the Norquay-Cascade corridor.
Lake Minnewanka is also on the edge of one of three core areas for grizzly bears in Banff National Park, where a concentration of female grizzlies live and raise their cubs, and overall, the area is a wildlife hotspot.
Importantly, the region also contains a portion of the park’s rare montane ecoregion, which provides significant wildlife habitat to bears, bighorn sheep, wolves, cougars, and elk, and includes the Norquay-Cascade and the Two Jack wildlife corridors.
“We need to maintain that corridor first and foremost,” said Rasheed.
One of the biggest ecological concerns in the Minnewanka area is the potential for the introduction of invasive aquatic species into one of the lakes or streams through recreational use, which can be dangerous for native fish populations.
In 2016, Johnson Lake was confirmed to have the first cases of whirling disease in Canada, leading to the popular swimming hole being drained in order to eliminate the disease, which causes infected fish to swim in a whirling pattern and die prematurely.
Throughout the park, residents and visitors now require a self-certification permit to launch non-motorized watercraft, including canoes, kayaks, inflatables, paddleboards, and other water-related gear, in all of the park’s waters, and Rasheed said current data suggests the self-certification program is working.
“We may change that tactic depending on what our evidence shows, but for now we will continue with that aquatic invasive species monitoring program,” he said.
Lake Minnewanka is also the only place in Banff National Park where motorized boats are allowed. Recently introduced restrictions mean that all motorized watercraft must undergo a Parks Canada inspection and possess valid proof of inspection before launching into the reservoir to reduce the risk of introducing aquatic invasive species.
Rasheed said there is no talk of changing motorized boat access at this point.
“We value the visitor experience for those users of motorized watercraft, it’s not a consideration right now… through some of the engagement activities if that does come up we will consider it,” he said.
“We have in other jurisdictions, for example, suggested doing feasibility studies on whether motorized watercraft are affecting aquatic integrity, but it’s not a consideration for Lake Minnewanka right now.”
With the planning process still in the early information gathering and scoping phase, Parks Canada sought input during the annual planning forum on Feb. 15-16 from members of the round table, made up of Indigenous leaders, tourism, businesses and conservation groups among others.
Mike Oka, consultation coordinator for the Kainai Blood Tribe and member of the round table, said his ancestors have long had ties with the Lake Minnewanka region going back thousands of years.
He sees one of the biggest problems as increasing visitation and wants to prevent Banff from “overgrowing and being overcrowded all the time.”
“I think that’s the biggest problem right now, and I hope a solution can be found soon,” said Oka.
Specifically, Oka spoke to concerns about protecting wildlife, avoiding human-wildlife conflicts and the health of Lake Minnewanka waters.
“Do we displace the wildlife or do we find an alternate route for the people – so that’s the question right now,” he said.
Wanda Bogdane, executive director of Banff and Lake Louise Hospitality Association (BLLHA) and member of the round table, said with water, land and 360 degrees of views on offer, it is hoped that the diversity of access presented today is retained for visitors and locals over generations to come.
“People are more inclined to protect what they have experienced, and this is a strategy of importance in consideration of our national climate and conservation goals,” she said.
Bogdane said the Minnewanka area presents a range of experiential options thanks to locations with easier access for folks newer to the mountains, and spots suited for and revered by advanced recreationalists.
“As a year-round treasure trove, getting the details right will be of utmost importance, including transportation supports for large groups or individual adventurers that encompass the spectrum of current-day activities,” she said.
Over time, Bogdane said creative access solutions have been tested and successful in the Lake Minnewanka area, giving allowances for both wildlife and people.
“We’ve seen adaptations based on data that pivot depending on the time of the year and the challenge being managed,” she said.
“We hope to see strategies like this continue, as it’s a pride point that protects wildlife, while still fostering important connections between people and place.”
Also a round table member, the Bow Valley Naturalists’ president Peter Duck said there needs to be a renewed and public comprehensive inventory of ecological components of the Lake Minnewanka area and threats to them – that this must be the base layer for all planning.
He also said the lower Bow Valley needs an integrated plan rather than these isolated area plans, noting Vermilion Lakes immediately west of Banff is identified as a special area but there is no murmur of an area plan for that region.
“It is under huge stress from expanding use and type of uses and is so fragmented, alienated and promotes habituation, on top of intensifying user conflicts,” he said.
“This planning forum showed that Parks Canada’s planning is truly driven by what is needed to accommodate human use and is not starting from a position of where can we plan to maintain and restore ecological integrity in the Lower Bow Valley.”
With multiple user groups and only two environmental non-governmental organizations at the roundtable, and with so many new people involved in this exercise, including superintendents, Duck said it would be wise for Parks Canada to take a step back and review what this is intended to accomplish, who participates, and how the information, what information, is presented and discussion is structured.
“I was pleased by both superintendents’ commitment to the National Parks Act. But the forum needs to start from that perspective,” he said.
By 2024, it is hoped the Lake Minnewanka area plan and accompanying strategic environmental assessment will be completed for public and Indigenous review and comment. Implementation is aimed for 2025.
