Glacier tourism plan in Jasper park approved
Written by on February 9th, 2012 in Latest News.
Visitors to Alberta’s Jasper National Park will soon be able to walk alongside a glacier, Environment Minister Peter Kent announced Thursday.
The minister responsible for Parks Canada said the federal government has approved the environmental assessment done for the proposed Glacier Discovery Walk by a tourism company that already operates in the national park.
The approval of the assessment means Brewster Travel Canada has been given the regulatory green light to go ahead with its venture.
The announcement was expected to come in late January, but Parks Canada delayed it because it wanted more time to study the review.
Brewster Travel Canada wants to build a viewing platform and a trail along the Icefields Parkway, and Parks Canada agreed to consider the thought, subject to public consultation and an environmental assessment.
The Glacier Discovery Walk will consist of a 400-metre boardwalk and the company says visitors, who will pay an admission fee, would learn about glaciers, ecology, geology, and about the aboriginal and social history of the area at interpretive stations along the walk.
An observation platform would also extend out over the Sunwapta Valley at the end of the boardwalk.
The federal government gave the go-ahead Thursday to a trail to view the glacier in Jasper National Park, following an environmental assessment of the project. (Brewster Travel Canada)
The tourism company, which has commissioned a number of its own studies, says it expects the environmental impact of constructing the glacier walk to be “minimal.”
Because Jasper Park is a national park, it was up to the federal government to give a green light to the project.
Parks Canada says it would consider the thought, despite the concerns raised about it, because it is keen to make its services relevant to Canadians and to give them the experiences visitors expect.
It said the proposal is consistent with land use zoning provisions for the park, it doesn’t intrude into the lands managed as declared wilderness areas, and that it would not involve “incremental development” such as new buildings or transportation routes because Brewster already operates in the park at the Icefield Centre.
Questions have been raised about whether the project amounts to privatizing part of a national park and whether it opens the door to more commercial development not only in Jasper, but at other national parks.
Parks Canada has said the merits of the project warrant consideration and that there are still multiple public access points to the glacier in Jasper. It also says its consideration of the Glacier Discovery Walk does not signal a change in its policies on commercial development.
