Banff National Park /ˈbæmf/ is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 in the Rocky Mountains. The
park, located 110–180 kilometres (68–112 mi) west of Calgary in the province of Alberta, encompasses 6,641 square kilometres
(2,564 sq mi) of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and ice
fields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. The Icefields Parkway extends
from Lake Louise, connecting to Jasper National Park in the north. Provincial forests and Yoho National Park are
neighbours to the west, while Kootenay National Park is located to the south and Kananaskis Country to
the southeast. The main commercial centre of the park is the town of Banff, in the Bow
River valley.
The Canadian Pacific
Railway was instrumental in Banff's early years, building the Banff Springs Hotel and Lake Louise Chalet,
and attracting tourists through extensive advertising. In the early 20th
century, roads were built in Banff, at times by war internees from World War I, and
through Great
Depression-era public works projects. Since the 1960s, park
accommodations have been open all year, with annual tourism visits to Banff
increasing to over 5 million in the 1990s. Millions more pass through
the park on the Trans-Canada Highway.[5] As Banff has over three
million visitors annually, the health of its ecosystem has been threatened. In
the mid-1990s, Parks
Canada responded by initiating a two-year study, which resulted in
management recommendations, and new policies that aim to preserve ecological
integrity.
Banff National Park
has a subarctic
climate with three ecoregions, including montane, subalpine, and alpine. The forests are
dominated by Lodgepole
pine at lower elevations and Engelmann spruce in
higher ones below the treeline, above which is primarily rocks and ice. Mammal
species such as the grizzly, cougar, wolverine, elk, bighorn sheep and moose are found, along with
hundreds of bird species. Reptiles and amphibians are also found but only a
limited number of species have been recorded. The mountains are formed from
sedimentary rocks which were pushed east and over newer rock strata between 80
and 55 million years ago. Over the past few million years, glaciers have at
times covered most of the park, but today are found only on the mountain slopes
though they include the Columbia Icefield,
the largest uninterrupted glacial mass in the Rockies. Erosion from water and
ice have carved the mountains into their current shapes.
History
Throughout its
history, Banff National Park has been shaped by tension between conservationist and
land exploitation interests. The park was established on 25 November 1885 as
Banff Hot Springs Reserve, in response to conflicting claims over who
discovered hot springsthere,
and who had the right to develop the hot springs for commercial interests. The
conservationists prevailed when Prime Minister John A. Macdonald set
aside the hot springs as a small protected reserve, which was later expanded to
include Lake
Louise and other areas extending north to the Columbia Icefield.
Early history
Archaeological evidence
found at Vermilion
Lakes indicates the first human activity in Banff to 10,300 B.P. Prior to
European contact, aboriginals,
including the Stoneys, Kootenay, Tsuu T'ina, Kainai, Peigans, and Siksika, resided in the region
where they hunted bison and
other game.
With the admission
of British
Columbia to Canada on 20 July 1871, Canada agreed to build a transcontinental
railroad. Construction of the railroad began in 1875, with Kicking Horse Pass chosen,
over the more northerly Yellowhead Pass, as
the route through the Canadian Rockies. Ten years later, on 7 November
1885, the last spike was driven in Craigellachie,
British Columbia
Rocky Mountains Park established
With conflicting
claims over discovery of hot springs in Banff, Prime Minister John A. Macdonald
decided to set aside a small reserve of 26 square kilometres
(10 sq mi) around the hot springs at Cave and Basin as
a public park known as the Banff Hot
Springs Reserve in 1885. Under the Rocky Mountains
Park Act, enacted on 23 June 1887, the park was expanded to 674 km2 (260 sq mi) and
named Rocky Mountains Park. This
was Canada's first national park,
and the third established in North America, after Yellowstone and Mackinac National
Parks. The Canadian Pacific Railway built the Banff Springs Hotel and Lake Louise Chalet to
attract tourists and increase the number of rail passengers.
The Stoney
(Assiniboine) First
Nations were removed from Banff National Park between the years 1890
and 1920. The park was designed to appeal to sportsmen, and tourists. The
exclusionary policy met the goals of sports hunting, tourism, and game
conservation, as well as of those attempting to "civilize" the
Indians.
Early on, Banff was
popular with wealthy European and American tourists, the former of which
arrived in Canada via trans-Atlantic luxury liner and
continued westward on the railroad. Some visitors participated in
mountaineering activities, often hiring local guides. Guides Jim and Bill
Brewster founded one of the first outfitters in Banff. From 1906,
the Alpine
Club of Canada organized climbs, hikes and camps in the park.
By 1911, Banff was
accessible by automobile from Calgary. Beginning in 1916, the Brewsters
offered motorcoach tours of Banff. In 1920, access to Lake Louise by roadCanadian Pacific
Railwayadvertising brochure, highlighting Mount Assiniboine and
Banff scenery, c. 1917
In 1902, the park
was expanded to cover 11,400 km2 (4,400 sq mi),
encompassing areas around Lake Louise, and the Bow, Red Deer, Kananaskis, and Spray rivers. Bowing
to pressure from grazing and logging interests, the
size of the park was reduced in 1911 to 4,663 km2(1,800 sq mi), eliminating many eastern foothills
areas from the park. Park boundaries changed several more times up until 1930,
when the area of Banff was fixed at 6,697 km2 (2,586 sq mi), with the passage of the National Parks
Act. The Act, which took effect May 30, 1930, also renamed the
park Banff National Park, named for
the Canadian
Pacific Railway station, which in turn was named after the Banffshireregion in
Scotland. With the construction of a new east gate in 1933, Alberta
transferred 0.84 km2 (0.32 sq mi)
to the park. This, along with other minor changes in the park boundaries in
1949, set the area of the park at 6,641 km2 (2,564 sq mi).
Coal mining
In 1887, local
aboriginal tribes signed Treaty 7, which gave Canada
rights to explore the land for resources. At the beginning of the 20th
century, coal was mined near Lake Minnewanka in
Banff. For a brief period, a mine operated at Anthracite but was shut down in
1904. The Bankhead mine,
at Cascade
Mountain, was operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway from 1903 to 1922.
In 1926, the town was dismantled, with many buildings moved to the town of
Banff and elsewhere.
Internment camps
During World War I, immigrants from Austria, Hungary, Germany and Ukraine were sent to
Banff to work in internment
camps. The main camp was located at Castle
Mountain, and was moved to Cave
and Basin during winter. Much early infrastructure and road
construction was done by men of various Slavic origins although Ukrainians
constituted a majority of those held in Banff. Historical plaques and a
statue erected by the Ukrainian
Canadian Civil Liberties Association commemorate those interned at
Castle Mountain, and at Cave and Basin National Historic Site where an
interpretive pavilion dealing with Canada's first national internment
operations opened in September 2013.
In 1931, the Government of Canada enacted
the Unemployment
and Farm Relief Act which provided public works projects
in the national
parks during the Great Depression. In
Banff, workers constructed a new bathhouse and pool at Upper Hot Springs,
to supplement Cave and Basin. Other projects involved road building in the
park, tasks around the Banff townsite and construction of a highway connecting
Banff and Jasper. In
1934, the Public Works
Construction Act was passed, providing continued funding for the
public works projects. New projects included construction of a new registration
facility at Banff's east gate and construction of an administrative building in
Banff. By 1940, the Icefields Parkway reached the Columbia Icefield area of
Banff and connected Banff and Jasper. Most of the infrastructure present
in the national park dates from public work projects enacted during the Great
Depression.
Internment camps
were once again set up in Banff during World War II, with camps
located at Lake Louise, Stoney Creek, and Healy Creek. Prison camps were
largely composed of Mennonites from Saskatchewan.
Winter tourism
Winter tourism in
Banff began in February 1917, with the first Banff Winter Carnival. It was
marketed to a regional middle class audience, and became the centerpiece of
local boosters aiming to attract visitors, which in wintertime were a low
priority for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The carnival featured a
large ice palace, which in 1917 was built by World War I internees. Carnival
events included cross-country skiing, ski jumping, curling, snowshoe, and skijoring. In the
1930s, the first downhill
ski resort, Sunshine Village, was
developed by the Brewsters. Mount Norquay ski
area was also developed during the 1930s, with the first chair lift installed
there in 1948.
Since 1968, when
the Banff Springs Hotel was winterized, Banff has been a year-round
destination. In the 1950s, the Trans-Canada Highway was constructed,
providing another transportation corridor through the Bow Valley, making the
park more accessible.
Canada launched
several bids to host the Winter Olympics in
Banff, with the first bid for the 1964 Winter Olympics,
which were eventually awarded to Innsbruck, Austria. Canada narrowly lost
a second bid, for the 1968 Winter Olympics,
which were awarded to Grenoble,
France. Once again, Banff launched a bid to host the 1972 Winter Olympics,
with plans to hold the Olympics at Lake Louise. The 1972 bid was controversial,
as environmental lobby groups strongly opposed the bid, which had sponsorship
from Imperial Oil. Bowing
to pressure, Jean
Chrétien, then the Minister of Environment, the government department
responsible for Parks Canada, withdrew support for the bid, which was
eventually lost to Sapporo,
Japan. When nearby Calgaryhosted
the 1988
Winter Olympics, the cross-country ski events were held at the Canmore
Nordic Centre Provincial Park at Canmore, Alberta,
located just outside the eastern gates of Banff National Park on the Trans-Canada Highway.
Conservation
Since the original
Rocky Mountains Park Act, subsequent acts and policies placed greater emphasis
on conservation. With public sentiment tending towards environmentalism, Parks Canada issued
major new policy in 1979, which emphasized conservation. The National Parks Act
was amended in 1988, which made preserving ecological integrity the
first priority in all park management decisions. The act also required each
park to produce a management plan, with greater public participation.
In 1984, Banff was
declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Canadian
Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site, together with the other national
and provincial
parks that form the Canadian
Rocky Mountain Parks, for the mountain landscapes containing mountain
peaks, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, canyons and limestone
caves as well as fossil beds.
With this designation came added obligations for conservation.
During the 1980s,
Parks Canada moved to privatize many park services such as golf courses, and
added user fees for use of other facilities and services to help deal with
budget cuts. In 1990, the town of Banff was incorporated,
giving local residents more say regarding any proposed developments.
In the 1990s,
development plans for the park, including expansion at Sunshine Village, were
under fire with lawsuits filed by Canadian
Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS). In the mid-1990s, the
Banff-Bow Valley Study was initiated to find ways to better address
environmental concerns, and issues relating to development in the park.
Geography
Banff National Park
is located in the Rocky Mountains on Alberta's western border with British
Columbia in the Alberta Mountain
forests ecoregion. By road, the town of Banff is 128 kilometres
(80 mi) west of Calgary and 401 km (249 mi) southwest of Edmonton. Jasper
National Park borders Banff National Park to the north, while Yoho National Park is
to the west and Kootenay National
Park is to the south. Kananaskis Country,
which includes Bow
Valley Wildland Provincial Park, Spray Valley
Provincial Park, and Peter
Lougheed Provincial Park, is located to the south and east of Banff.
The Trans-Canada Highway passes
through Banff National Park, from the eastern boundary near Canmore, through the
towns of Banff and Lake Louise, and
into Yoho National Park in British Columbia. The Banff townsite is the
main commercial centre in the national park. The village of Lake Louise is
located at the junction of the Trans-Canada Highway and the Icefields Parkway,
which extends north to the Jasper townsite.
Banff
Banff, established
in 1885, is the main commercial centre in Banff National Park, as well as a
centre for cultural activities.Banff is home to several cultural institutions,
including the Banff
Centre, the Whyte
Museum, the Buffalo
Nations Luxton Museum, Cave
and Basin National Historic Site, and several art galleries. Throughout
its history, Banff has hosted many annual events, including Banff Indian Days
which began in 1889, and the Banff Winter Carnival. Since 1976, The Banff
Centre has organized the Banff
Mountain Film Festival. In 1990, Banff incorporated as a town of Alberta,
though still subject to the National Parks
Act and federal authority in regards to planning and
development. In its 2014
census, the town of Banff had a permanent population of 8,421 as well as
965 non-permanent residents for a total population of 9,386. The Bow River
flows through the town of Banff, with the Bow Falls located on
the outskirts of town.
Lake Louise
Lake Louise, a
hamlet located 54 km (34 mi) northwest of the town of Banff, is home
to the landmark Chateau
Lake Louise at the edge of Lake Louise. Located 15 km
(9.3 mi) from Lake Louise, Moraine Lake provides
a scenic vista of the Valley of the Ten
Peaks. This scene was pictured on the back of the $20 Canadian banknote,
in the 1969–1979 ("Scenes of Canada") series. The Lake Louise
Mountain Resort is also located near the village. Lake Louise is one
of the most visited lakes in the world and is framed to the south-west by
the Mount
Victoria Glacier.
Icefields Parkway
The Icefields
Parkway is a 230-kilometre-long (140 mi) road connecting Lake Louise
to Jasper, Alberta. The Parkway originates at Lake Louise, and extends north up
the Bow Valley, past Hector
Lake, which is the largest natural lake in the park. Other scenic
lakes near the parkway include Bow Lake, and Peyto Lakes, both north of
Hector Lake. The Parkway then crosses Bow
Summit (2,088 m (6,850 ft)), and follows the Mistaya River to Saskatchewan
Crossing, where it converges with the Howse and North
Saskatchewan River. Bow Summit is the highest elevation crossed by a public
road in Canada.
The North
Saskatchewan River flows east from Saskatchewan Crossing, out of
Banff, into what is known as David Thompson Country,
and onto Edmonton. The David Thompson Highway follows
the North Saskatchewan River, past the man-made Abraham Lake, and through
David Thompson Country. At Saskatchewan Crossing, basic services are available,
including gasoline, cafeteria, a gift shop, and a small motel.
North of
Saskatchewan Crossing, the Icefields Parkway follows the North Saskatchewan
River up to the Columbia
Icefield. The Parkway crosses into Jasper National Park at Sunwapta Pass at
2,035 metres (6,677 ft) in elevation, and continues on from there to
the Jasper townsite.
Geology
The Canadian Rockies consist
of several northwest-southeast trending ranges.Two main mountain ranges are
within the park, each consisting of numerous subranges. The western border of
the park follows the crest of the Main Ranges (also
known as the Park Ranges), which is
also the continental
divide. The Main Ranges in Banff National Park include from north to south,
the Waputik, Bow and Blue Ranges. The high peaks
west of Lake Louise are part of the Bow Range. The eastern border of the park
includes all of the Front
Ranges consisting of from north to south, the Palliser, Sawback and Sundance Ranges. The
Banff townsite is located in the Front Ranges. Just outside of the park to the
east lie the foothills that extend from Canmore at the eastern entrance of the
park eastward into the Great Plains. Well west of the park, the Western Ranges of
the Rockies pass through Yoho and Kootenay National Parks. Though the tallest
peak entirely within the park is Mount Forbes at
3,612 metres (11,850 ft), Mount Assiniboine on
the Banff-Mount
Assiniboine Provincial Park border is slightly higher at 3,618 m
(11,870 ft).
The Canadian
Rockies are composed of sedimentary rock,
including shale, sandstone, dolomite and limestone. The vast
majority of geologic
formations in Banff range in age from Precambrian to
the Jurassic periods
(600–145 m.y.a.). However, rocks as young as the lower Cretaceous (145–66
m.y.a.) can be found near the east entrance and on Cascade Mountain above the
Banff townsite. These sedimentary rocks were laid down in shallow seas
between 600 and 175 m.y.a. and were pushed east and over top younger rocks
during the Laramide
orogeny. Mountain building in Banff National Park ended approximately
55 m.y.a.
The Canadian
Rockies may have towered up to 8,000 metres (26,000 ft) approximately
70 m.y.a. Once mountain formation ceased, erosion from water and
greatly augmented later from glacier ice beginning with the Quaternary
glaciation 2.5 m.y.a. carved the mountains into their present
shapes. Glacial
landforms dominate Banff's geomorphology, with
examples of all classic glacial forms, including cirques, arêtes, hanging valleys, moraines, and U-shaped valleys. The
pre-existing structure left over from mountain-building strongly guided glacial
erosion: mountains in Banff include complex, irregular, anticlinal, synclinal, castellate,
dogtooth, and sawback mountains. Many of the mountain ranges trend
northwest to southeast, with sedimentary layering dipping down to the west at
40–60 degrees. This leads to dip slope landforms,
with generally steeper east and north faces, and trellis drainage,
where rivers and old glacial valleys followed the weaker layers in the rocks as
they were relatively easily weathered and eroded.
Classic examples
are found at the Banff townsite proper: Mount Rundle is a
classic dip slope mountain. Just to the north of the Banff townsite, Castle Mountain is
composed of numerous Cambrian age
rock formations. The uppermost section of the peak consists of relatively
harder dolomite from the Eldon Formation. Below that lies the less dense shales
of the Stephen
Formation and the lowest exposed cliffs are limestones of the Cathedral Formation.
Dogtooth mountains, such as Mount Louis, exhibit
sharp, jagged slopes. The Sawback Range, which consists of nearly vertical
dipping sedimentary layers, has been eroded by cross gullies. The erosion of
these almost vertical layers of rock strata in the Sawback Range has resulted
in formations that appear like the teeth on a saw blade. Erosion and
deposition of higher elevation rock layers has resulted in scree deposits at the
lowest elevations of many of the mountains.
Glaciers and icefields
Banff National Park
has numerous large glaciers and icefields, 100 of which can be observed from
the Icefields Parkway. Small cirque glaciers are
fairly common in the Main Ranges, situated in depressions on the side of many
mountains. As with the majority of mountain glaciers around the world, the
glaciers in Banff are
retreating. While Peyto Glacier is
one of the longest continuously studied glaciers in the world, with research
extending back to the 1970s, most of the glaciers of the Canadian Rockies have
only been scientifically evaluated since the late 1990s. Glaciologists are
now researching the glaciers in the park more thoroughly, and have been
analyzing the impact that reduced glacier ice may have on water supplies to
streams and rivers. Estimates are that 150 glaciers disappeared in the
Canadian Rockies (areas both inside and outside Banff National Park) between
the years 1920 and 1985. Another 150 glaciers disappeared between 1985 and
2005, indicating that the retreat and disappearance of glaciers is
accelerating. In Banff National Park alone, in 1985 there were 365
glaciers but by 2005, 29 glaciers had disappeared. The total glaciated area
dropped from 625 to 500 square kilometres (241 to 193 sq mi) in that
time period.
The largest
glaciated areas include the Waputik and Wapta Icefields, which
both lie on the Banff-Yoho National Park border. Wapta Icefield covers
approximately 80 km2 (31 sq mi)
in area. Outlets of Wapta Icefield on the Banff side of the continental
divide include Peyto, Bow,
and Vulture
Glaciers. Bow Glacier retreated an estimated 1,100 m (3,600 ft)
between the years 1850 and 1953, and since that period, there has been
further retreat which has left a newly formed lake at the terminal moraine. Peyto Glacier has
lost 70 percent of its volume since record keeping began and has retreated
approximately 2,000 m (6,600 ft) since 1880; the glacier is at risk
of disappearing entirely within the next 30 to 40 years.
The Columbia
Icefield, at the northern end of Banff, straddles the Banff and Jasper National
Park border and extends into British Columbia. Snow Dome, in the
Columbia Icefield is a hydrological apex of North America, with water flowing
via outlet glaciers to the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Saskatchewan Glacier,
which is approximately 13 km (8 mi) in length and 30 km2 (12 sq mi) in
area, is the major outlet of the Columbia Icefield that flows into Banff
National Park. Between the years 1893 and 1953, Saskatchewan Glacier had
retreated a distance of 1,364 m (4,475 ft), with the rate of retreat
between the years 1948 and 1953 averaging 55 m (180 ft) per
year. Overall, the glaciers of the Canadian Rockies lost 25 percent
of their mass during the 20th century.
Climate
Under the Köppen
climate classification, the park has a subarctic climate (Dfc) with cold, snowy winters, and mild
summers. The climate is influenced by altitude with lower temperatures
generally found at higher elevations. Located on the eastern side of the
Continental Divide, Banff National Park receives 472 millimetres (18.6 in)
of precipitation annually.[58] This is considerably less
than in Yoho National Park on the western side of the divide in British
Columbia, where 884 mm (34.8 in) is received at Wapta Lake and
616 mm (24.3 in) at Boulder Creek annually. Being influenced by
altitude, snowfall is also greater at higher elevations. As such,
234 cm (92 in) of snow falls on average each year in the Banff
townsite, while 304 cm (120 in) falls in Lake Louise, which is
located at a higher altitude.
During
winter months, temperatures in Banff are moderated, compared to other areas of
central and northern Alberta, due to Chinook windsand other
influences from British Columbia. The mean low temperature during January
is −15 °C (5 °F), and the mean high temperature is −5 °C
(23 °F) for the town of Banff. However, temperatures can drop below −20 °C
(−4.0 °F) with wind chill values dropping below −30 °C
(−22.0 °F). Weather conditions during summer months are warm, with
high temperatures during July averaging 22 °C (72 °F), and daily low
temperatures averaging 7 °C (45 °F), leading to a large diurnal range
owing to the relative dryness of the air.
Ecology
Ecoregions
Banff National Park
spans three ecoregions,
including montane, subalpine, and alpine. The subalpine
ecoregion, which consists mainly of dense forest, comprises 53 percent of
Banff's area. 27 percent of the park is located above the tree line, in the alpine
ecoregion. The tree line in Banff lies approximately at 2,300 m
(7,500 ft), with open meadows at alpine regions
and some areas covered by glaciers. A small portion (3 percent) of the
park, located at lower elevations, is in the montane ecoregion. Lodgepole pine forests
dominate the montane region of Banff, with Engelmann spruce, willow, aspen,
occasional Douglas-fir and
a few Douglas maple interspersed.
Engelmann spruce are more common in the subalpine regions of Banff, with some
areas of lodgepole pine, and subalpine fir. The
montane areas in the Bow Valley, which tend to be the preferred habitat for
wildlife, have been subjected to significant human development over the years.
Wildlife
The park has 56
recorded mammal species. Grizzly and black bear inhabit
the forested regions. Cougar, Canada lynx, wolverine, red fox, weasel, river otter, coyote, and timber wolf are
the primary predatory mammals. Elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer are
common in the valleys of the park, including around (and sometimes in) the
Banff townsite, while moose tend
to be more elusive, sticking primarily to wetland areas and near streams. In
the alpine regions, mountain
goat, bighorn
sheep, marmot and pika are
widespread. Other mammals such as beaver, porcupine, squirrel, chipmunk, snowshoe hare, and Columbian ground
squirrel are the more commonly observed smaller mammals. Caribou were the
rarest large mammals in the park, but an avalanche in 2009 may have killed the
last five remaining within park boundaries.
Due to the harsh
winters, the park has few reptile and amphibian species with
only one species of toad, three species of frog, one salamander species and two
species of snakes that have been identified. At least 280 species of birds
can be found in Banff including bald and golden eagles, red-tailed hawk, osprey, and merlin, all of which are
predatory species. Additionally, commonly seen species such as the gray jay, American
three-toed woodpecker, mountain bluebird, Clark's nutcracker, mountain chickadee and pipit are frequently found
in the lower elevations. The white-tailed
ptarmigan is a ground bird that is often seen in the alpine zones.
Rivers and lakes are frequented by over a hundred different species
including loon, heron and mallard which spend their
summers in the park.
Endangered species in
Banff include the Banff Springs snail (Physella johnsoni) which is found in the hot
springs of Banff. Woodland
caribou, found in Banff, are listed as a threatened species.
Mountain pine beetles
Mountain pine beetles have
caused a number of large-scale infestations in Banff National Park, feeding on
the phloem of
mature lodgepole pines. Alberta's first known outbreak occurred in 1940,
infecting 43 km2 (17 sq mi)
of forest in Banff. A second major outbreak occurred in the late 1970s and
early 1980s in Banff and the surrounding Rocky Mountains region.
Tourism
Banff National Park
is the most visited Alberta tourist destination and one of the most visited
national parks in North America, with more than three million tourists
annually. During summer, 51 percent of park visitors are from Canada
(30 percent from Alberta), while 31 percent are from the United
States and 14 percent from Europe. Tourism in Banff contributes an
estimated C$6
billion annually to the economy.
A park pass is
required for stopping in the park and permit checks are common during the
summer months, especially at Lake Louise and the start of the Icefields
Parkway. A permit is not required if travelling straight through the park
without stopping. Approximately 5 million people pass through Banff annually on
the Trans-Canada Highway without stopping.
Attractions in
Banff include Upper
Hot Springs, and a 27-hole golf course at
Fairmont Banff
Springs Hotel, and three ski resorts including Sunshine Village, Lake Louise
Mountain Resort, and Mount Norquay ski
resort. The Banff
Lodging Co is a hospitality company in the park. Day hikes, such as
the Cory Pass Loop,
are popular with visitors. Other activities include alpine and Nordic skiing,
and horseback
riding.
Backcountry activities
in Banff include hiking, camping, climbing, and skiing. Parks Canada requires
those using backcountry campgrounds, Alpine Club of Canada huts, or other
backcountry facilities to purchase a wilderness pass. Reservations for using
the campgrounds are also required.
In 2009, Banff Lake
Louise Tourism hoped the appearance of the "Crasher Squirrel"
internet meme would stimulate interest in the park. The meme is based on a
photograph of a Minnesotan couple visiting the park on the shore of Lake
Minnewanka that was "crashed"
by a Columbian
ground squirrel; the photograph was published in major news sources around
the world and the image of the squirrel was digitally manipulated into humorous
photos.
General management
Banff National Park
is managed by Parks
Canada, under the National Parks
Act which was passed in 1930. Over time, park management policies have
increasingly emphasized environmental protection over development. In 1964, a
policy statement was issued that reiterated ideals of conservation laid out in
the 1930 act. With the controversial bid for the 1972 Winter Olympics,
environmental groups became more influential, leading Parks Canada to withdraw
its support for the bid. The 1979 Beaver Book was a major new policy, which
emphasized conservation.
In 1988, the National Parks Act was amended, making the maintenance of
ecological integrity the top priority. The amendment also paved the way
for non-governmental
organizations to challenge Parks Canada in court, for breaches in
adhering to the act. In 1994, Parks Canada established revised "Guiding
Principles and Operating Policies", which included a mandate for the
Banff-Bow Valley Study to draft management recommendations. As with other
national parks, Banff is required to have a Park Management Plan. On a provincial
level, the park area and the included communities (other than the town of
Banff which is an incorporated municipality) are administered by Alberta
Municipal Affairs as Improvement
District No. 9 (Banff).
Wildlife management
Previous management
The park was
originally considered as a recreational area for visitors offering multiple
leisure activities – the original wildlife policy viewed wildlife in Banff only
as game or pests up until the 1960s and 1970s. As ecological awareness
increased, management procedures expanded with the inclusion of public
participation in many management decisions. Simultaneously, the increase in
human construction (such as new highways) on the natural landscape increased
the frequency of human–animal conflicts. In 1988 wildlife began to be
considered an integral part of the ecosystem.
The park now has a
number of wildlife management strategies that aim to conserve certain
species. Parks Canada uses
an ecosystem based
management approach that aims to preserve the ecology of the park while still
providing for visitors. Management decisions are based on modern scientific
ecological information as well as traditional
knowledge.
Large species management
Elk are a very
important species in Banff National Park, partly because they represent a
source of food for declining wolves. However they also have harsh impacts on
the environment. Large elk populations cause vegetation
degradation, human–animal conflicts and destabilization of biological
interactions. In 1999, the implementation of the Banff National Park Elk
Management Strategy by Parks
Canada and the Elk Advisory Committee aimed to monitor and control the
population to decrease conflicts and aid ecological process recovery.
Elk handling
facilities are areas of pens with loading and unloading ramps where water and
food are provided to the elk. They were created to help reduce herd numbers by
increasing wariness and encouraging migratory behaviour, deterring the elk from
the town of Banff.
These measures allowed more predator–prey interactions thanks to the creation
of corridors.
They also increased elk migration, restored the willow and aspen communities
and highlighted the primary role of wolves in elk population management.
The state of
grizzly bear populations in Banff is seen as a proxy for ecological
integrity. To keep bears away from humans, an electric fence was put up
around the summer gondola and parking lot at Lake Louise in
2001. Bear-proof garbage cans, which do not allow bears to access their
contents, help to deter them from human sites. The fruit of Buffaloberry bushes is
eaten by bears, so the bushes have been removed in some areas where the risk of
a bear–human encounter is high.
Aversive
conditioning deters bears by modifying their behaviour. Deterrents such as
noise makers and rubber
bullets are used each time the bear performs an undesirable action.
Advice is also given to people to avoid an eventual habituation of bears
to human presence. If this conditioning is continual the bear will be less
likely to continue the undesirable behaviour (crossing into campsites and roads
etc.).
Southern mountain
caribou management previously aimed to identify what was threatening caribou
populations and find solutions to mitigate the threats, but the last caribou in
the park was found dead in an avalanche in 2009. There was concern over why
more had not been done to save the caribou population. The primary reason for
their decline is thought to have been habitat loss and
altered predator–prey
dynamics.[76] Park management began
monitoring the last five caribou in the park in 2002 and taking actions such as
reducing impacts of humans, conducting studies of the population, and
investigating the possibility of translocating caribou to increase the Banff
population.
In the mid-1980s
gray wolves recolonized the Bow Valley in Banff National Park. They had been
absent for 30 years due to systematic predator control hunting which began in
1850. Wolves filtered back to Banff and recolonized one zone of the Bow Valley
in 1985 and another in 1991. A high level of human use surrounding a third
zone at Banff townsite has deterred the wolves from that area. The wolves
are important in controlling elk populations and improve the balance of the
ecosystem. A routine park study to monitor the wolves in Banff has now grown
into the Southern Rockies Canine Project – the largest wolf research project in
North America. The estimated wolf population in Banff National Park and
the surrounding areas is now 60–70 animals.
Strategies
Wildlife crossings have
been successful in Banff National Park at reducing the number of animals killed
on the roads. There is also 82 km of fencing at the edge of the highway in
the park to prevent animals from getting onto the roads. Since it was put up,
this has reduced collisions between wildlife and vehicles by over 80 per cent.
Train tracks still
pose challenges to conservationists. Many bears have been killed by trains,
often because they are attracted to grain spills along the
tracks. Transportation corridors provide
openings for plants which are also utilised by bears. A partnership
between Parks Canada and Canadian Pacific
Railway allowed the creation of the first Railway-Bear Conflict
Mitigation Symposium in 2010. Initiatives included building wooden pegboards to
fence off the sides of tracks and chemically treating grains to deter the
bears. After a complete review of the research projects, the development
of some of them has been authorized, including grain alteration and the use of
cameras to study the behavioural response of bears to trains.
In 2011, Parks
Canada began to study the effectiveness of electro-mats, large mats
that give a small electric shock to animals that step on them, as a potential
deterrent around train tracks. A trial installment of the mats was placed
in Banff to test their effectiveness in deterring animals like bears from
gaining access to the fenced train tracks inside the park.
General
prohibitions implemented to ensure wildlife respect include the prohibition of
feeding, touching, or holding animals in captivity, and the disturbance or
destruction of bird nests.
Human impact
Environment
Since the 19th
century, humans have impacted Banff's environment through introduction of non-native species,
controls on other species, and development in the Bow Valley, among other
human activities. Bison once lived in the valleys of Banff, but were hunted
by indigenous
people and the last bison was killed off in 1858. Elk are not
indigenous to Banff, and were introduced in 1917 with 57 elk brought in from
Yellowstone National Park. The introduction of elk to Banff, combined with
controls on coyote and wolves by Parks Canada
beginning in the 1930s, has caused imbalance of the ecosystem. Other
species that have been displaced from the Bow Valley include grizzly bears,
cougars, lynx, wolverine, otter,
and moose. Beginning in 1985, gray wolves were recolonizing areas in the Bow
Valley. However, the wolf population has struggled, with 32 wolf deaths
along the Trans-Canada Highway between 1987 and 2000, leaving only 31 wolves in
the area.
The population
of bull trout and
other native species of fish in Banff's lakes has also dwindled, with the
introduction of non-native species including brook trout, and rainbow trout. Lake trout, westslope
cutthroat trout, and Chiselmouth are rare
native species, while chinook salmon, White sturgeon, Pacific lamprey,
and Banff
longnose dace are likely extirpatedlocally. The Banff longnose dace,
once only found in Banff, is now an extinct species.
The Trans-Canada
Highway, passing through Banff, has been problematic, posing hazards for wildlife due to
vehicle traffic and
as an impediment to wildlife migration. Grizzly bears are among the species
impacted by the highway, which together with other developments in Banff, has
caused fragmentation of
the landscape. Grizzly bears prefer the montane habitat, which has been most
impacted by development. Wildlife crossings,
including a series of underpasses,
and six wildlife overpasses, have been constructed at a number of points along
the Trans-Canada Highway to help alleviate this problem.
Fire management
Parks Canada
management practices, notably fire suppression,
since Banff National Park was established have impacted the park's ecosystem.
Since 1983, Parks Canada has adopted a strategy that employed prescribed burns,
which helps to mimic effects of natural fires.
Transportation
Banff National Park
is bisected by two highways that cross the Alberta/British Columbia border
while another provides a third access within Alberta. The Trans-Canada Highway(Highway 1) bisects
the park in an east-west direction, connecting it to Vancouver to the west
and Calgary to the east. Highway 93 bisects
the park in a north-south direction, connecting it to Cranbrook to
the south and Jasper to the north. The portion of Highway 93 north
of Lake Louise is known as the Icefields Parkway whereas the portion southwest
of Castle Junction is
known as the Banff-Windermere
Parkway. Highway
11 (the David Thompson Highway)
connects the Icefields Parkway at Saskatchewan
River Crossing to Rocky Mountain House to
the northeast. Within the park, Highway 1A, also
known as the Bow Valley Parkway, loosely parallels Highway 1 between Banff and
Lake Louise.
Other
transportation facilities within Banff National Park include a Canadian Pacific rail
line that generally parallels Highway 1 and an airport known as the Banff Park
Compound Heliport.
Development
In 1978, expansion
of Sunshine Village ski resort was approved, with added parking, hotel
expansion, and development of Goat's Eye Mountain. Implementation of this
development proposal was delayed through the 1980s, while environmental
assessments were conducted. In 1989, Sunshine Village withdrew its development
proposal, in light of government reservations, and submitted a revised proposal
in 1992. This plan was approved by the government, pending environmental
review. Subsequently, the Canadian
Parks and Wilderness Society(CPAWS) filed a court injunction, which halted
the development. CPAWS also put pressure on UNESCO to revoke Banff's World
Heritage Site status, over concerns that developments were harming the park's
ecological health.
Banff-Bow Valley Study
While the National
Parks Act and the 1988 amendment emphasize ecological integrity, in practice
Banff has suffered from inconsistent application of the policies. In 1994,
the Banff-Bow Valley Study was mandated by Sheila Copps, the
minister responsible for Parks Canada, to provide recommendations on how to
better manage human use and development, and maintain ecological
integrity. While the two-year Banff-Bow Valley Study was underway,
development projects were halted, including the expansion of Sunshine Village,
and the twinning of
the Trans-Canada Highway between Castle Junction and Sunshine.
The panel issued
over 500 recommendations, including limiting the growth of the Banff townsite,
capping the town's population at 10,000, placing quotas for popular hiking
trails, and curtailing development in the park. Another recommendation was to
fence off the townsite to reduce confrontations between people and
elk. The proposed fencing was also intended to reduce access to this
refuge for elk from predators, such as wolves that tended to avoid the
townsite. Upon release of the report, Copps immediately moved to accept the
proposal to cap the town population. She also ordered a small airstrip to be removed,
along with a buffalo paddock, and cadet camp, that inhibited wildlife movement.
In response to
concerns and recommendations raised by the Banff-Bow Valley Study, a number of
development plans were curtailed in the 1990s. Plans to add nine holes at the
Banff Springs Golf Resort were withdrawn in 1996.
Canmore
With the cap on
growth in the town of Banff, Canmore, located just outside the Banff boundary,
has been growing rapidly to serve increasing demands of tourists. Major
development proposals for Canmore have included the Three Sisters Golf Resorts,
proposed in 1992, which has been the subject of contentious debate, with
environmental groups arguing that the development would fragment
important wildlife
corridors in the Bow Valley