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Development like a bad movie

Editor: Are you finding that development proposals in our national parks play like a bad movie? If so, you may enjoy the farce of an Arizona-based entertainment company proposing construction of a ‘Glacier Discovery Walk’ so that Canadians can pay $1

Editor:

Are you finding that development proposals in our national parks play like a bad movie?

If so, you may enjoy the farce of an Arizona-based entertainment company proposing construction of a ‘Glacier Discovery Walk’ so that Canadians can pay $15 to $30 each for the view from a 400-metre steel platform blasted out from a cliff to hang 30 metres above Sunwapta Valley – a view currently accessible for free from a public parking area.

So far, VIAD of Arizona, which now owns Brewster Travel Canada, has had a winning plot line.

The superintendent of Jasper Park gave VIAD/Brewster the go-ahead to hold open houses in four Alberta locations, referring to this as consultation with ‘interested Canadians’, instead of Parks itself canvassing national stakeholders. Parks also appears to have no concerns that the marketing survey carried out by the developer is not at all representative of Canadians.

Now Superintendent Fenton says that a decision will be made in late January, presumably on the basis of a Draft Environmental Assessment provided by the developer, when Parks should never have encouraged this project in the first place.

One wonders if Superintendent Fenton and the federal environment minister have forgotten the wording of their own script in The National Parks Act, where: “Maintenance or restoration of ecological integrity, through the protection of natural resources and natural processes, shall be the first priority of the Minister when considering all aspects of the management of parks.”

They also seem to have forgotten the role of the public, where: “The national parks of Canada are hereby dedicated to the people of Canada for their benefit, education and enjoyment…and the parks shall be maintained and made use of so as to leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.”

Or have our national park representatives re-written the script to encourage other ‘experience-enhancing’ developments which might follow approval of this project?

Along the Banff-Jasper highway alone, the possibilities are mind-boggling. For example, Alpine Lake Discovery Walks could be granted to developers adjacent to the highway above Hector Lake, Bow Lake, Peyto Lake and the Waterfowl Lakes, each with its own signature steel structure.

And there are numerous remote beauty spots not visible from the road, such as Chephren Lake, where, with a small lease, a developer could construct a Discovery Tower so for a fee, passers-by could appreciate this gem.

Or how about an Athabasca Icefields Discovery Drive, where a short toll road could be constructed with one of the world’s most beautiful suspension bridges spanning the glacier?

Closer to home, on the south side of the Bow River in Banff, one could provide an informative Bow Falls Discovery Walk, with an architectural award-winning platform extending right over the falls.

The opportunities across the four mountain national parks are endless. By effectively privatizing a myriad of beauty spots, we could have hundreds of pay-for service stops along the highways to provide ‘enhanced’ Parks experiences, and a veritable treasure trove of new platforms, bridges, towers and all-weather-viewing stations.

The latter might help Parks attain its new objective of attracting visitors, since students of architecture who currently have minimal interest in visiting a natural site would now find the Parks an attractive destination!

If, like me, you would like to see a different ending than approval for the Glacier Discovery Walk in Jasper Park, and the precedent that it would set, you might want to contact the Superintendent of Jasper Park ([email protected]) and the Minister of the Environment in Ottawa ([email protected]) and let them now how you feel – now.

Alan MacFadyen,

Canmore

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