Letter to Banff National Park
Banff National Park has closed Assiniboine trail (among others) to bicycles in order to ``reduce disturbance to wildlife and provide large carnivores with the secure habitat they require to survive and reproduce''.
It most certainly true that the Assiniboine region and other back-country destinations like Skoki are home to many large carnivores who are disturbed by human presence (whether that human is on a bike, a horse, their own feet or riding in a helicopter). Although it is disappointing to no longer be able to ride the incredible trail to Assiniboine, it is far more disappointing to backpack in to this beautiful area only to have helicopters constantly flying overhead every half hour, to be passed by pack trains of dozens of horses and to arrive 25 kilometers later at a back-country hotel and cabin complex. This is low-impact use of the back-country?
Surely the number of people accessing the sensitive back-country habitat at Assiniboine (or Skoki) is greatly increased by the availability of helicopter taxi service, horse access and a hotel. While limiting back-country usage and impact on the animals there is a laudable goal, eliminating a small segment of trail users for this reason while continuing to allow the operation of back-country hotels, helicopter flights and horse pack trains is ludicrously hypocritical.
While it is true that the actual back-country hotel at Assiniboine is in British Columbia, the opportunity for Banff National Park to disallow horse pack trains and helicopter over-flights, take-offs and landings certainly exists and should be used. Similar situations at Skoki Lodge and Lake O'Hara could easily be eliminated by either canceling the leases of these back-country hotels, increasing their rent by 1000% or disallowing helicopter and horse train access to these areas (or, better yet, all areas in the Park).
Although many mistakenly blame mountain bikes for increased trail damage (they cause no more than hikers), this continues to be a popular reason to continue closures. It is true that bikes allow easier access to more remote areas and also typically travel more quitely, meaning more frequent encounters with bears or other wildlife. Horses, however, also allow greater access to more remote areas, closer approaches with wildlife and (unlike bicycles) cause huge amounts of trail damage, yet they continue to be allowed in areas where cyclists aren't. Why?
What is the rationale for allowing horse access to Assiniboine, when the same reasons for the bicycle closure can be applied to horses? Why are horses allowed access to trails into Skoki lodge? Why, indeed, are any trails open to horses not also open to bicycles? (Conversely, why aren't all trails closed to bicycles also closed to horses?)
What is the rationale for allowing helicopter re-supply flights and taxi service in Banff National Park?
Why are back-country hotels allowed to operate? How is this in keeping with the Park's mandate to protect and safeguard wildlife habitat?