Editor:
Adding 2,000 summer parking spaces in the Whitehorn corridor to support visitation to Lake Louise is misguided and short-sighted, as mentioned in the Feb. 3 Rocky Mountain Outlook article "Parks Canada relocating park and ride to Lake Louise Ski Area." Celebrating an increase in parking from 800 spaces to 2000 is disrespectful to the mountain of work gone into protecting this critical wildlife corridor.
There are glaring inadequacies to the proposed mitigations. Requiring the use of Louise Creek trail rather than Tramline Trail is a poorer choice to avoid a bear encounter, given it runs adjacent to a noisy creek. The Tramline and Louise Creek trails run parallel to each other so without closing or restoring these trails there are zero gains for wildlife. Closing the footpaths in the village will not compensate the impacts of traffic going through Whitehorn corridor.
There are innovative solutions to offset the impacts. The Fairview side of Lake Louise could be closed to vehicle traffic altogether, mandating shuttle access only for Lake Louise or Moraine Lake. Closing Louise Creek and the Tramline trails and adding a pedestrian path up the shoulder of Lake Louise Drive would create an amazing opportunity for wildlife to mitigate impacts occurring across the valley.
In the same week they announced the shuttle change, Parks Canada has also closed a backcountry area to protect a denning female grizzly. Parks will limit access to backcountry skiing near a denning grizzly, but this same bear will have to navigate more than 2,000 vehicles a day going up and down Whitehorn corridor this summer. Parks Canada has no issue protecting – as they should – sleeping grizzly bears in the backcountry but when it comes to parking, all bets are off.
I realize visitation is through the roof and that these challenges are complex. However, there has to be a breaking point where Parks Canada and Canadians have to say ‘enough is enough’. It’s going to be a sad day when grizzly bears are squeezed out of their habitat for parking.
Christine McIvor,
Parson, B.C.
