LAKE LOUISE – Residents of the hamlet of Lake Louise are calling on Parks Canada to reverse its decision to close most of one side of a popular riverside trail this summer.
Spearheaded by Joel Hagen, a petition has been signed by close to 250 people opposing the May 15-Oct. 15 closure of more than two-thirds of the southwest side of the Bow River Loop Trail.
Hagen, who plans to present the petition to the park superintendent on April 14, said Parks Canada announced the closure with little to no consultation with residents on something that will “negatively affect our community and quality of life.”
“At the most fundamental level, this is really our community’s only easy and accessible trail,” said Hagen, who has lived in Lake Louise for 30 years and is a well-known professional interpretive guide.
“Obviously there’s lots of hiking around Lake Louise, but as far as something that you can just walk out your door and access, it’s not like the other towns in the valley where there’s so many trail options.”
With the explosion of visitor numbers in recent years to more than 4.1 million pre-pandemic in Banff National Park – an almost 30 per cent increase from 2010-11 – many Lake Louise residents feel locals sometimes have to take a back seat to visitors.
Hagen said the $11.70 daily parking fee at Upper Lake Louise and $8 shuttle to Moraine Lake are significant barriers for locals, making it important the community maintains full access to the only trail in the village.
“Locals are not afforded any special privileges here; it’s not like people who live in Banff who get to park downtown for free for three hours. We get none of that,” he said.
“We’ve got to pay to take the shuttle to Moraine Lake, we’ve got to pay to park at Lake Louise, so what does that leave us? Our one trail, which we will now lose about two-thirds of on its most beautiful side.”
The closure of a portion of the Bow River Loop Trail is part of a series of mitigation measures announced by Parks Canada in introducing a two-year trial to relocate the park-and-ride lot from the Trans-Canada Highway east of the hamlet to the Lake Louise ski hill.
Parks Canada is trying to deal with exploding visitation and pressure on wildlife corridors used by grizzly bears and other wildlife – the Whitehorn corridor on the east side and the Fairview corridor on the west side.
Under the new pilot, vehicles will be banned from accessing the Whitehorn road to the ski hill between 8 p.m and 6 a.m. during summer months with the installation of a permanent gate, with potential plans for a future wildlife crossing in addition to an underpass required by the ski hill.
On the Fairview corridor side, there’s also a plan to close a network of unofficial trails between the village and the lake to focus human use on the Louise Creek Trail and Tramline Trail to allow wildlife to move and forage undisturbed in adjacent areas.
While there are no restrictions, Parks Canada recommends pedestrians use the Louise Creek Trail rather than the Tramline Trail to reduce human use in this area.
The Bow River Loop Trail will be closed on the west side of the river to include the pedestrian bridge at the campground to the pedestrian bridge at the train station.
A spokesperson for Parks Canada said wildlife experts have looked at all of these measures carefully, and believe that this is the best solution, in total, to protect wildlife corridors in the busy Lake Louise area.
“This is a pilot, and we’re trying this along with a number of other pieces that we’re adding into play this summer, and then we’ll evaluate things going forward,” said Alex Kolesch, a senior advisor. “I don’t believe we’re in a position to revisit this decision right now until the pilot is over.”
Kolesch said Parks Canada understands the concerns of residents; however, closures and restrictions are a common tool used throughout the parks to protect wildlife and wildlife corridors.
“It’s really important that people understand that we’re very focused on protecting and conserving wildlife and also making sure that there are safe and enjoyable visitor experience opportunities in the Lake Louise area,” he said.
Parks Canada says the closure is a physical extension to a regular closure in place in recent summers to reduce bear-human encounters and improve wildlife movement.
However, Hagen argues the current plan to close the trail from May 15-Oct. 15 is substantially different than previous mid-summer closures which included a portion of trail from the tenting section of the campground to the twin bridges.
“They close that in mid-summer so bears have access to the berry crop there – and there’s been pretty wide support of that in town and I support that – but those closures have never been more than about two months,” said Hagen.
“That’s one of two sections of trail that they’re planning to close for six months, not two months. That’s a pretty disingenuous argument to say it’s not much different than the old closure. I think it’s substantially different.”
Hagen made a presentation outlining the community’s concerns to the Lake Louise Advisory Board (LLAB) on March 8. The board, which provides recommendations to Parks Canada, next meets on April 19.
“Based on community feedback at the March 8 meeting, the Lake Louise Advisory Board asked Parks Canada to come back with additional information at the April meeting,” said Davina Bernard, chair of the LLAB.
While acknowledging there was no specific consultation on this particular trail closure, Kolesch said Parks Canada consulted on a strategy to protect wildlife corridors during review of the Banff management plan.
“We talked about the idea of changes to trails; we didn’t get into the specific tools or tactics because that’s not what we normally do in a park management plan,” he said.
“We certainly understand the local concerns and we also heard widely from Canadians that they strongly support the protection of wildlife corridors and so we’re moving ahead with this action.”
Kolesch said data shows the west side of the Bow River Loop is a hot spot for summer bear activity.
“From a wildlife perspective, this was one thing we thought we could do that was really important to reduce disruptions to grizzly bears, increase human safety and overall improve wildlife movement,” he said.
