Three environmental groups have gone to court to try to stop a plan to build overnight commercial accommodations in Jasper National Park, in western Canada. There are national parks across the country that were created to protect “representative natural areas of Canadian significance.”
Jasper National Park covers almost 11,000 square kilometres, is the largest in the Rocky Mountains and is a United Nations World Heritage Site.
Park home to endangered caribou
A plan to build 15 tent cabins at Malign Lake was recently approved by the government department responsible, Parks Canada. “These tent cabins would be built in a very sensitive part of the park,” says Alison Ronson, executive director of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).
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“There’s currently an endangered caribou herd that uses that valley as part of their habitat and it’s also an area for grizzlies which are also a species of concern.”
‘Development violates park’s own management plan’
The proposed development violates the park’s own management plan and Parks Canada’s own guidelines on outlying commercial accommodations, says Ronson. The guidelines say no new land should be released outside the town of Jasper which is located inside the park. These are the grounds on which the development will be fought by CPAWS, Ecojustice and Jasper Environmental Association.
A seeming trend to commercial development
“Our concern is that they (Parks Canada officials) approved it because they were pressured by commercial developers and by the private operator in the park,” says Ronson. “There seems to be a trend in the last few years to approve commercial proposals (in national parks) even if they are overwhelmingly opposed by the Canadian public.” Parks Canada’s request for the public to weigh in on the development received about 1,800 responses against and 20 messages of approval, says Ronson.
“Our concern is that this opens the door to further commercial development in all of our national parks across Canada.”
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