MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARKS ARE RENEWING THEIR MANAGEMENT PLANS...WHERE DO WOLVES FIT IN?

There are concerns that ecological integrity may no longer be the priority for Canada's flagship Banff National Park, nor the surrounding National Parks and lands that make these mountain ecosystems World Heritage Sites.

Add your voice to CPAWS Southern Alberta chapter to help ensure that ecological integrity is the priority for wolves and ecosystems in Canada's national parks.http://www.cpaws-southernalberta.org/takeaction/banff-management-plan.php

Candians foster a belief that wildlife and ecosystems are safe under the protection of a National park. The reality of wildlife mortalities and management within parks can be saddening, sickening, and downright shameful.

The below numbers (more to come) will let you decide if stewardship of wildlife and iconic keystone species is the priority within these parks. Yet numbers alone are not enough to depict the struggle wolves and other park animals are facing to survive because of increading human pressures withing the wilderness reserves.

Jasper National Park last 25 years mortality on roads

(from Parks poster, 2009)

WOLF = 30 goat = 19 elk = 783 sheep = 399

bears = 93 deer = 795 moose = 178 caribou = 13

Wolf Mortalities by Road and Rail in Jasper:

1999 - 2008

Year	Road	Rail
1999	4	3
2000	1	1
2001	1	1
2002	1	0
2003	3	2
2004	6	0
2005	4	0
2006	3	2
2007	2	1
2008	7	0
TOTAL:	34	13

Taken from Transportation Coridor Ungulate and Large Carnivore Mortality Statistics Jasper National Park 1980 to 2008 by Wes Bradford, Wildlife Conflicts Specialist -Jasper National Park. January 2009.

An excerpt taken from "Questioning the Management Plan drafts of the Mountain National Parks" posed by Peter A.Dettling, a nature photographer who has watched and knows intimately the struggles wolves and other important species are facing in these parks. Find Peter's website at: www.TerraMagica.ca

THREE MAJOR PROBLEMS / CONCERNS

1) The timing of this major rewrite of the management plan.

Why now and not as one would think in 2012 (Banff NP Management Plan was approved in 1997 and should be reviewed every five years…). It strongly looks like economical thinking linked with a political agenda, rather than ecological integrity is the driving force behind the timing of the proposed management plan and that is highly worrisome.

2) Vague language that:

A) Paves the way for more commercial usage inside our mountain national parks and thus weakens ecological integrity in favour of economical values.

B) Offers no concrete solution for struggling keystone species populations, such as wolves or bears.

C) Makes it hard to hold anybody accountable for their actions

3) The outnumbered voice for conservation concerns and the lack of involvement from the public sector.

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell: The new proposed management plan rewrite sets the stage for a expansion of the already heavily used Bow Valley watershed endangering the core area of Banff National Park in a way that is unacceptable by standards set not only by Parks Canada (ecological integrity first as stated in the amended National Parks Act of 1988) but also by global standards for National Parks (IUCN and UNESCO World Heritage Sites). Thus, it has the potential to damage permanently not only sensitive ecosystems and keystone species but also shatters Canadian aspirations of global leadership in conservation efforts for a long time to come.

Get your own thoughts heard. Address concerns to:

Kevin Van Tighem

Field Unit Superintendent

Parks Canada Agency

Banff National Park

Kevin.vantighem@pc.gc.ca

Mike Murtha

Banff Park Planner

Mike.Murtha@pc.gc.ca

Yoho and Kootenay national parks: todd.keith@pc.gc.ca

Mount Revelstoke and Glacier national parks: mrg.planning@pc.gc.ca

Honourable Jim Prentice