Lands Adjacent to the Town of Banff Final Report

Lands Adjacent to the Town of Banff
External Advisory Committee
Existing Conditions
The 1997 Banff National Park Management Plan provides considerable management direction for lands within
the LATB area. The purpose of the LATB strategy is to provide more detailed direction within the framework of
the park management plan.
The plan recognized the significance of the Cascade wildlife corridor and identified the Fairholme and
Vermilion Lakes Environmentally Sensitive Sites. The plan provided specific direction for these areas. The plan
also directed that popular day use areas be upgraded to meet the needs of modern visitors. Several such areas
exist within the LATB area, notably Vermilion Lakes, Johnson Lake and Lake Minnewanka.
The LATB area is the most heavily visited part of Banff National Park, with a wide variety of facilities available
(e.g. the Upper Hot Springs, Cave and Basin, Mt. Norquay ski area, Sulphur Mountain gondola, Banff Springs
golf course, Tunnel Mountain campgrounds, Lake Minnewanka day use area and a dense network of trails,
especially in the Tunnel Mountain area). The national transportation corridors of the Trans Canada Highway
(TCH) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) bisect the area. Other developments include powerlines, gas
pipelines, dams, gravel pits, sewage treatment facilities, a hydro generating facility and hotels. Dominating
the LATB is the Town of Banff, an international tourism destination with a permanent population of more
than 8,000 residents. Adjacent to the LATB area and the south boundary of Banff National Park is the town of
Canmore, with a current population of 12,000 that is expected to grow to 25,000 in 10 years. All areas of the
LATB contain important ecological characteristics. Four major valleys – Bow, Spray, Forty Mile and Cascade –
converge at the centre of the planning area. They are important regional wildlife corridors. Comparatively rare
montane grassland habitats occur between the Town and Cascade Mountain and eastwards to the Fairholme
Bench. The Vermilion Lakes wetland complex is the largest in the park and provides important habitat for
waterfowl, amphibians, fish and some mammals. The park’s hot springs are concentrated along the northern
base of Sulphur Mountain and provide specialized habitat for plants, fish, amphibians, insects and the unique
Banff Springs Snail. Many other individual sites throughout the LATB are ecologically significant. All of the
park’s ecosystem stressors are evident in the LATB area.
Recreational opportunities include an extensive network of formal and informal trails, which are used by
hikers, horse riders, bike riders and cross country skiers. There is also canoeing at Vermilion Lakes and on the
Bow River; downhill skiing at Mt. Norquay; nature viewing at the Cave and Basin Marsh, Vermilion Lakes and
Johnson Lake; and ice climbing at the Cascade waterfall.
Much of the recreational patterns of use have developed in a piece-meal and random fashion over the last 100
years. For example, there are many kilometres of trail but:
• They are often located in ecologically sensitive areas;
• Some are in wet, muddy areas;
• There are limited connections amongst trails, especially those which originate in Town; and
• The TCH and CPR are effective barriers to trail connections.
The proliferation of informal trails indicates that the formal network fails to meet the needs of some users.
The advisory group believes that a more user-friendly network of formal trails will help to overcome many of
the problems.
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