Expect to pay more to use national parks
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
They should move the east gate to banff farther east to around Exshaw and start charging all the rich city folks that moved to Canmore.
I spent a couple years doing powerline reclamation in Banff and Peter Lougheed park and everythings for the tourists.Milk them for anything they have.
I spent a couple years doing powerline reclamation in Banff and Peter Lougheed park and everythings for the tourists.Milk them for anything they have.
Obviously, you haven't been following this story. That's OK, you're not alone. Parks Canada doesn't believe there is much more to gain through user fees. A recent study done by Parks Canada showed that most user fees were close to the top of market rates and that fee increases were not likely to increase revenue.I understand that some folks just think the well will always flow but that simply isn't the case.
Ya,I see what they did to Canmore,drove the residents that made that town out of it by planting condos anwhere they could and drove up the tax base,now they are more worried about the rabbits and helicopters disturbing their mountain paradise.
I never saw any Canadian tourists while working in the park and I was on the trans canada trail for the most part of 2 years.
We lost a month of work for bears,one for berrys,and one for Australian mountain bikers.
on the upside I have the keys and combinations for every lock on every gate in every park in Alberta and some in BC.
They dont charge me at the park gate because if im there then that means they have no power and if they want it back they best get me through as quick as possible.
Canmore and Banff have turned in to real ****holes IMO because of the tourists.
A fair amount of the parks work is now contracted out which helps with costs.
The main difference being that us poor taxpayers that never use the parks are not paying as much to subsidize park use by foreign tourists. Fee for service to cover costs of administration and maintenance is fair.
I like Grasslands National...only you, birds of prey, oodles of coyote, fox, bear, badgers, skunks, deer, moose, elk, antelope, bison, cougar and millions gophers with no GoRving foreign tourists or anyone to even see if you have a pass.
Bison and You!
Plains Bison
© Parks Canada / Johane Janelle
Safety Tips:
Visitors to Grasslands National Park will now see Plains Bison thunder across this vast, wind-swept prairie, that was once their native homelands. Bison are majestic and powerful - the very elements that attract us to view these wild animals. While bison are not usually aggressive, they are unpredictable and can become dangerous. Please use caution and observe the following safety tips while viewing this great animal in the park!
In Your Car:
A herd of bison and horseback rider
© Parks Canada / Carol Masecar
On Foot or Horseback:
Bison and You!
© Parks Canada / Johane Janelle
Safety Tips:
Visitors to Grasslands National Park will now see Plains Bison thunder across this vast, wind-swept prairie, that was once their native homelands. Bison are majestic and powerful - the very elements that attract us to view these wild animals. While bison are not usually aggressive, they are unpredictable and can become dangerous. Please use caution and observe the following safety tips while viewing this great animal in the park!
In Your Car:
- If you encounter bison along the roadway, drive slowly and they will eventually move. Do not honk, become impatient or proceed too quickly. Bison attacks on vehicles are rare, but can happen.
- Bison may spook if you get out of your vehicle. Therefore, remain inside or stay very close.
© Parks Canada / Carol Masecar
On Foot or Horseback:
- Never startle bison. Always let them know you are there.
- Never try to chase or scare bison away. It is best to just cautiously walk away.
- Always try to stay a minimum of 100 meters (approximately the size of a football field) from the bison.
- During the rutting season (mid July-mid August) as bulls can become more aggressive during this time.
- After bison cows have calved. Moms may be a little over-protective during this time.
Aggressive Bison
© Wes Olson - When cycling near bison, as cyclists often startle unknowing herds.
- When hiking with pets. Dogs may provoke a bison attack and should be kept on a leash.
- On hot spring days when bison have heavy winter coats.
- If they display any of the following signs:
- Shaking the head
- Pawing
- Short charges or running toward you
- Loud snorting
- Raising the tail.
I'm all for user-pay for non-essential services, so raising user fees and introducing highway fees is something I'm all for.
Of course, he likes to drag other topics into other threads. But watch what happens when someone else does...
Correction, he's easily exposed. Almost sucks the fun out of pointing out his hypocrisy.
Not really, it's a classic sign of a hypocrite.
That still limits your traffic flow and the more flow there is the more strain on the system.
In the day and age of broadband communication perhaps putting the parks into a virtual setting would allow for untold #'s of visitors and the only strain would be from what the crews have to do to install and remove and replace the various HD cameras at the viewpoints and game-trails.
As extreme as this example below is it would be expensive to start but once 'built', cheap and easy to service and capable to handle large or small volumes of traffic as the economy fluctuates here and abroad.
For a few $ a yearly pass could allow a 'member' to travel to the various cameras an run it real-time or even book it for a specific time. Tag enough of the animals and they could even get their own 'followers' who could track them through their journeys that get recorded. That sort of development might make more sense than twinning the Glacial Parkway where 40% of the tourists are asleep as they get driven down it. By going virtual you could do an digital I-MAX resolution of the whole drive and let the various viewers decide how they want to interact with it. For some it might be a 270deg cave that they can navigate while riding a bicycle that uses data to control the strain you have to exert to get through the whole route, a week long journey of hard riding. Somebody traveling at slow speed would appreciate HD Scenery more than the one using the data in a 'Need For Speed' weekend race. To go with the HD road are all the chances to stop and look around at the official viewpoints (lower rez but large time-lapse archives) but in a virtual park side trips up some valleys and along ridges would be very easy in a digital park. The maps already exist they just need their virtual up-date that gives them the 'walk-through-view' to rival some of the golf sims.
360deg glasses would be the ideal way to view such a park but wide-screen would be a close #2, add in a virtual controller/chair and you could add motion simulation for the various flight/driving situations (high-speed asphalt to high-quality off-road atv where the simulator is based on the mechanics of the old bull-rider systems that make the rounds to some bars some years back. Make a few changes and it could be a horse on a trail-ride or a 2 wheel off-road bike. Taken to the extreme a system that allowed a person to use their own vehicle and drive onto some towers that clamped the wheel and gave about 1 meter of movement would mean somebody could set this up at home so his low-rider could be given the specs of something as large as Big Foot and enter a virtual terrain based on scenery in a National Park. The simulator in the garage might use 1 big screen out front or one out front and one on each side of the vehicle. This level would cost you more than $30/month, you might have to rent a room in a converted motel that failed due to nobody coming to the parks in person and once booked in you may have more options than visiting a National Park. ie taking part in an F-1 type of race for the 180 miles that would be the round trip from Edmonton to Calgary using the very same techniques that it took to build a virtual park only now the local motels draw a local crowd that joins an international community that share a virtual world without ever traveling very far at all.
I'll pay more when they install flush toilets, electric hand driers and buy Cottenelle bum fluff.
Banff is for tourists,If I want to see nice country in that area I stop at Canmore and take the spray lake to Nakiska ski hill road,then its on to the Highwood pass after you leave Peter Lougheed provincial park.Beautifull country,very few people and it's free.
I live in the mountains anyways so Bannf keeps all the gorbys away from my backyard which is good.
I live in the mountains anyways so Bannf keeps all the gorbys away from my backyard which is good.
Yup,and only 30 minute drive south of my house by pavement or 2 hours if I skirt the continental divide on the Alberta side through lost creek and Westcastle ski hill. I did lots of logging in that area in the late 70's so that was my old stomping grounds.Back then you could drive for 7 hours in the mountains and not see a soul,now theres thousands of dirt bikes and quads ripping all over just outside the park boundary.
Watertons getting touristy now too since they stay open all year now.
I have to admit,the parks do a pretty good job of keeping most development at bay and preserving some beautifull country.Most private land outside the forestry is now all gated or developed into weekend mansion retreats and 20 years ago you could 4 wheel anywhere.