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Upgrades coming to parking at Grassi Lakes day use area

"We will be doing aerial site surveying of the parking lots and need the lots free in order to get the correct information for the sites future upgrades."

CANMORE – One of the Bow Valley's most popular hiking and climbing areas is set for some major upgrades and crews are already well into the design phase for the mulit-year project. 

On Aug. 10-11, Alberta Parks will conduct a construction survey at the Grassi Lakes day use area parking lot, Grassi overflow parking lot, the climber’s lot along Whiteman’s Pond and Goat Creek/Ha Ling trailhead parking lots.

"We will be doing aerial site surveying of the parking lots and need the lots free in order to get the correct information for the site's future upgrades," said Alberta Parks infrastructure technologist Jodie Reade.

The entire day use site and trailheads, including the parking lots, will not be accessible to the public, and there will also be workers and equipment in the area on Aug. 6-7, according to an Alberta Parks advisory.

Grassi Lakes, Goat Creek and Ha Ling trailheads provide users access to activities including hiking, climbing, scrambling and biking, and experience some of the highest levels of visitation in the Kananaskis region.

"We are facing a situation where we are loving our parks to death," said Sarah Elmeligi, national parks program lead for Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Southern Alberta branch.

Current estimates for visitation in all of Kananaskis Country, before COVID-19, was about three million per year, which is not far from Banff National Park's 4.5 million visitors per year.

"Kananaskis sees comparable visitation to Banff with far less budget," Elmeligi said. "What we're seeing this summer is the result of a lack of funding for Alberta Parks and they are struggling to manage the high volumes of visitors."

In order to effectively handle the large volume of day visitors, Alberta Parks will pave the parking lots, reconfigure the lots, add washrooms and increased signage for user education.

"We are just now in the design stage, but with the lots being paved and adding parking lines that will be a much needed upgrade."

Reade said the high visitation numbers and safety issues of visitors parking along the Spray Lakes Road are important reasons for the upgrades. She added another reason, and one that is often overlooked, is rescue access.

"Currently the way the lot at Grassi is configured doesn't allow for us to safely and effectively get access to that area. Often times when there is a rescue, crews will not have a designated spot due to the configuration and parking habits that we have seen," Reade said.

Elmeligi cites parking as one of the most important issues for parks. She said the short-term solution would be to encourage visitors to carpool, take public transit or have a plan b.

"It is one of the top 10 projects for Alberta Parks. It is a top priority," Reade said.

Elmeligi also stressed the importance of developing systems to educate visitors as a long-term solution to manage visitation numbers in the parks.

"There needs to be visitor education to shape their expectations around our new reality in parks, which is that there's a lot of people here and that volume of people is starting to impact the ecological function of why these parks were protected in the first place," Elmeligi said.

Access to the climbing and hiking areas will remain open while the survey is conducted. Visitors will have to enter these areas by foot or bike, as there will be no access through the parking lots and trailheads.

Construction is planned for 2021-22, and Reade said it is to early to determine whether or not there will be further parking and trail closures.

"Until we have the full design – that's when we'll decide the phasing of work and communicate that to the public."

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