The federal Conservatives have quietly and quickly approved a massive expansion of the Lake Louise ski area, prompting former senior Parks Canada managers to consider asking the UNESCO world heritage committee to investigate threats to Banff National Park.
The site guidelines, approved on Saturday (Aug. 1), allow new ski terrain and lifts, more parking, relocation of summer sightseeing operations, and a new lodge at Eagle Ridge as part of a long-term growth plan to accommodate up to 11,500 skiers a day from the existing 6,000 limit.
Conservationists, scientists and former senior Parks Canada managers are worried about ongoing commercialization of Canada’s flagship national park, including the effects the developments will have on wildlife like grizzly bears and mountain goats.
Stephen Woodley, one of 11 former senior park managers to publicly oppose the guidelines, said the scale of development is unprecedented, at odds with the national park’s purpose and an assault on policy and legal protections of national parks.
Woodley, who was the agency’s former chief scientist, said he is talking with former colleagues about making a submission to the world heritage committee over threats to Banff National Park, similar to what the UNESCO committee is doing with Wood Buffalo National Park.
“This decision for Lake Louise ski resorts has a significant impact as Parks Canada is not taking world heritage seriously,” said Woodley, who is now co-chair on biodiversity and protected areas for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
“We are now examining the options of going to the world heritage committee to examine the threats to this world heritage site. If the world heritage committee thinks the impacts are significant enough, it has several options,” he added.
“They can put it as a world heritage site in danger and allow the government a chance to clean up and formally submit a plan to make amends to the issues, or they can delist it as a world heritage site.”
The UNESCO world heritage committee is currently investigating Alberta’s Mikisew Cree First Nation’s petition to list Wood Buffalo National Park – Canada’s largest national park set up in 1922 to protect the last remaining herds of bison in northern Canada – as in danger.
The park, home to a herd of 5,000 wild bison and endangered whooping crane, was declared a world heritage site in 1983.
In early July in Germany, UNESCO agreed to launch a reactive monitoring mission in order to ascertain whether “effective and active measures are taken for its protection, conservation and presentation.”
Mikisew claims that the park is threatened on all sides – uranium abandonment in the east, oil sands development in the south, hydro dam construction in the west, and gutting of environmental legislation by the federal government in the past decade.
Woodley said it is a formal process and a similar petition could be made to the world heritage committee for Banff, which was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984, together with other national and provincial parks that form the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks.
“Parks Canada will tell you they haven’t approved anything, that these are guidelines, but this gives the ski hill at Lake Louise essentially carte blanche to proceed with a massive development in a world heritage site,” said Woodley. “It’s simply outrageous.”
The Conservatives approved the site guidelines for Lake Louise ski resort on the Saturday of the August long weekend on the day before the call for the Oct. 19 federal election. There was no official announcement, but the approval was posted on a government website.
Parks Canada conducted a three-week public comment period in June, which drew approximately 1,200 letters. The decision was made to approve the guidelines with no substantial changes.
In exchange for large-scale development, the ski area guidelines for Lake Louise propose to reduce the area’s leasehold by 669 hectares, with the return of Wolverine Bowl, Purple Bowl and lands in the Whitehorn wildlife corridor to protected wilderness zones.
The guidelines also propose to allow development of new ski terrain outside the lease, including in West Bowl and Hidden Ridge. These areas are currently wilderness and would be operated under a licence of occupation.
In addition, there would also be new ski terrain inside the current lease, but outside the current developed boundary, at Richardson’s Ridge, complete with a ski lift, ski runs and glading, and new ski terrain at West Juniper.
The guidelines also call for construction of a new lodge at the top of Whitehorn, where summer sightseeing operation would be based. There is also consideration in the guidelines for an extension of summer hours.
The ski resort, which was told of the pending decision last week, is thrilled with the government’s decision. They are now able to advance individual projects in a long-range plan.
“We’re really pleased that we now have the opportunity to start planning long-term,” said Dan Markham, the director of brand and communications for Lake Louise Ski Resort.
“If we were to do everything we’re interested in, that would be a couple of decades, but when it comes down to it, it’s going to be about market demand.”
Markham said there is a lot of work to be done before any projects can move forward, including environmental assessments, cost analyses, architectural designs for the new lodge at Eagle Ridge and more.
He said top priority projects are likely construction of a water reservoir to help with snowmaking in winter, especially in low snow years, as well construction of a new lodge at the top of Eagle Ridge.
Markham said Lake Louise will first investigate other similar mountain-top lodges and gondolas to see what works and doesn’t work, with the hopes of getting started on the lodge in the next couple of years.
“That’s obviously going to be a significant financial investment, and we’re going to look at how to do it in environmentally the best way,” he said.
Local conservation groups are stunned by the announcement and the way in which it was done, calling the process a sham.
“Are you serious? I am gob-smacked,” said Colleen Campbell, president of Bow Valley Naturalists.
“I’m deeply sad that we care so little about the impacts we’re having on ecological integrity. It’s a major expansion, they are talking about doubling nearly everything,” she added.
“Some of the proposal is damaging really important wildlife habitat, not just for bears, but goats, probably wolverines other species.”
The Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment welcomed the decision, saying Banff National Park and ski resorts within it are world-class destinations for international skiers, so it’s important to be proactive in planning for coming decades of visitation.
Casey Peirce, the group’s executive director, said approval of the site guidelines for Lake Louise ski area is a step forward in managing the future demand within the ski industry in the mountain parks.
“We have to remember this is a very long-term planning process and the recent approval, while positive, is only a first step in the potential future enhancements to Lake Louise,” she said.
“The environmental impact analyses that have to take place before any development occurs will be very extensive and important to ensuring the best and most responsible use of land in Banff National Park.”
A spokesperson for Parks Canada was not available at press time.
In a news release posted on the government’s website, Banff-Airdrie Conservative MP Blake Richards said the site guidelines will result in major gains in conservation, while, at the same time, allow for new ski terrain to be considered to benefit visitors and the community.
“The site guidelines will create long term certainty for Banff National Park and the Lake Louise ski area, and directly support Canada’s national conservation plan.”
