It’s time to establish a new ‘Kananaskis’

Bighorn Backcountry deserves park designation,

Located southwest of Edmonton, along the scenic David Thompson Highway, the Bighorn Backcountry is a vast area of mountains and foothills adjacent to Banff and Jasper National Parks.

It represents the headwaters of the North Saskatchewan River, which flows downstream through Edmonton. Currently not formally protected as a recreation and conservation area, the region has flown under the radar and receives limited resources for management.

Land-use planning for the North Saskatchewan region, including the Bighorn Backcountry, has been underway for more than five years. A panel of local experts selected by the previous Conservative government formed a regional advisory council (RAC) that recommended a conservation and recreation designation for the Bighorn and over 20 public open houses have been held across the region. The RAC advice was made available for public comment in May 2018 and a draft plan is expected to be tabled soon.

My organization, the Alberta Hiking Association (AHA), supports the designation of the Bighorn Backcountry as a complex of protected areas to protect and enhance all recreational uses, including hiking, in this amazing area. The Bighorn represents the very best location in Alberta for a new provincial wildland park given its very high recreation values, growing use and lack of investments in basic recreational infrastructure to support this use.

Our members use the hiking trails of the Bighorn extensively, including Coliseum Mountain, the closest mountain hike to Edmonton and hundreds of kilometres of other rustic trails. The Bighorn is also highly valued for many other recreation uses, including hunting, fishing, outfitting, camping, horse and OHV use.

The Bighorn Backcountry has the potential to be a world-class recreation area. The “Bighorn Wildland Recreation Area” was designated by the government of Alberta in 1986, but the corresponding legislation to protect it never materialized. We consider it a historic error and oversight that it is not legally designated and resourced as such.

AHA believes the appropriate designation for the majority of the region is as a wildland park with smaller provincial park nodes at trailheads and access points. Eighty per cent of the trails in the Bighorn are currently zoned as non-motorized but there is limited enforcement and management. We support the existing balance of designated motorized and non-motorized trails and recreational uses identified under the Bighorn Backcountry management plan and understand that this is fully consistent with a proper park designation.

We support working with other recreational users that hunt, fish, camp and trail ride to establish a park that enhances recreation, tourism, and conservation. The gateway communities of Rocky Mountain House, Sundre and Nordegg would benefit substantially from the positive economic uplift associated with parks designation which is currently limited by a lack of awareness of the region in target markets, incoherent branding and lack of infrastructure to support sustainable use.

Some have suggested that the Bighorn is already adequately managed, but its current status as a “public land use zone” is a source of conflict between industry and recreation and is undermining proper management and resourcing as well as harming tourism.

The status quo is not acceptable. Parking in ditches, and increasing garbage and human waste at informal trailheads are becoming problematic. A minority of irresponsible users are contributing to the damage.

Establishing the Bighorn as a legally designated protected area is necessary to increase the investments in parking areas, outhouses, trail signage and backcountry management and enforcement that would occur under a park designation. A park is also necessary to remove the risk of development of coalmining leases around the scenic Crescent Falls, industrial forestry in high-value scenic areas near the growing tourist town of Nordegg and commercial fire-smart logging that does not consider scenic values.

Over 1.3 million Albertans walk and hike for pleasure and hikers represent the most significant recreational user group on public lands in Alberta.

Alberta’s growing population means there is a need for more areas prioritized for recreation. A park designation will enhance the recreation experience on these lands for all users and support responsible use and tourism growth.

Albertans in Edmonton and Red Deer deserve close access to a properly managed conservation and recreation area in the Bighorn Backcountry just like southern Albertans have benefited from the popular and visionary protection of Kananaskis by the Lougheed government 40 years ago.