Opinion: As more Albertans explore parks this summer, it's time to protect nature
The Canada Strong Pass grants free admission for all to national parks and historic sites, meaning more people than ever will have the opportunity to explore our greatest shared wonder: the natural world. Our connection to the cherished landscapes, mountains, waters and wildlife defines Alberta and our culture, and cannot be overstated.
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Increased access is worth celebrating. Getting into nature is a fundamental part of people's health, as well as the health of society at large. When people connect with nature, they're also more likely to care for it. That's why this summer is a hopeful one — it's a chance to grow a new generation of nature advocates.
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For Albertans, this conversation hits particularly close to home. The Rocky Mountains are more than a destination; they're part of our identity. From the towering peaks of Banff to the pristine wilderness of Jasper, these landscapes shape how we see ourselves and our place in the world. The same is true across Canada, where our national parks preserve the very essence of what makes this country extraordinary: vast boreal forests, rugged coastlines, Arctic tundra and prairie grasslands that stretch to the horizon.
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The Canada Strong Pass encourages more people to discover these treasures. This is fundamentally positive. Connection to nature is essential for our collective well-being and environmental consciousness. When visitors experience the majesty of a sunrise over Lake Louise or make memories in the mountains with friends or family, they become stakeholders in conservation. These experiences forge the emotional bonds that sustain long-term environmental protection.
Yet, increased visitation also brings challenges. Popular trails suffer from erosion, wildlife becomes stressed by human presence and fragile ecosystems face increased pressure. The problem isn't that too many people love our parks; it's that we need to invest more in managing that love responsibly. We need increased resources to manage existing parks, and we need more parks for both people and nature.
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The federal government must match the Canada Strong Pass with strong parks management and education — empowering visitors to minimize their effects — to balance recreation with protecting nature. Parks Canada is doing heroic work with what they've got, but they're stretched thin.
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Record numbers of visitors are flocking to Canada's 37 national parks and 11 national reserves each year. Since 2010, visitor numbers have exceeded 12 million, and in 2024 reached 15 million, according to Parks Canada. Trends are similar in Alberta. This puts pressure on existing parks and the species that live there. We need to ensure we put adequate resources into managing existing parks and create more protected areas and parks to make enough wild space for both people and wildlife to thrive.
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"Those things are still important to us, but we have also evolved a mandate to really protect and present special places like Fundy National Park." While Parks Canada eventually went with the area of Albert County we now know as Fundy National Park as the location for the park, it was not anyone's first choice. The provincial government always advocated Mount Carlton, in the north, which Parks Canada really disliked for a site. Among the other areas considered were Point Lepreau, also on the Bay of Fundy and now home to a nuclear power plant, and Mount Champlain, in south-central New Brunswick. WATCH | The history of New Brunswick's first national park: Fundy National Park turns 75 1 hour ago In fact, Fundy was chosen in part because of the unofficial and negative description of New Brunswick as the "drive-through province." "What really swung it towards Albert County, frankly, was the fact that you have to drive all the way through New Brunswick to get there," said Alan MacEachern, a Western University historian who wrote a book about the building of Atlantic Canada's first four national parks. "They thought this is a way to bring tourists, central Canadian tourists, but especially American tourists, and force them … to drive all the way across New Brunswick to get to Albert County." Relatively smooth sailing As with many national parks, the founding of Fundy meant moving out residents and shuttering communities. The community of Point Wolfe was wiped off the map, farms and homes were expropriated and churches closed. This had also happened in Cape Breton and P.E.I. when national parks were built there, causing outrage in both provinces. But opposition in New Brunswick was muted. "There were definitely people who were going to be expropriated who were not happy about it, but I think that there was a lot less displeasure in New Brunswick than there had been in P.E.I. and Cape Breton," MacEachern said. What did upset some residents was the feeling that any evidence of their existence in the park was removed, which was in keeping with Parks Canada's philosophy at the time. "The belief [was] national parks should have basically no evidence of prior human existence," MacEachern said. "They wanted to get rid of any kind of evidence that the people of southern Albert County … had ever lived there." Constructing nature For a park whose goal was to present the absence of civilization, a lot of construction went into it The farms and homesteads and churches that were torn down were replaced by welcome centres, golf courses and hotels. "They developed the heck out of it and in, as you say, a very suburban sort of fashion," MacEachern said. In his book, he goes into more detail about the fate of some of the area's original elements: "The new Fundy National Park, populated for almost 150 years, was too wild to be currently acceptable. Roads needed to be straightened, hillocks flattened, ugly and misshapen trees cut down, stones removed, grass planted." MacEachern said Parks Canada immediately had regrets about how Fundy was constructed and viewed it as an example of what not to do at a national park. But he takes an optimistic view of the park. "You could argue that Fundy National Park has had 75 years of getting back to nature, of being about the things it wasn't quite about at its founding," MacEachern said. Seventy-five years later the park has grown to 207 square kilometres, with 20 kilometres along the Bay of Fundy coast. It went from one campground to five and offers back-country camping and several kinds of roofed accommodations such as yurts and rustic cabins. 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Edmonton Journal
3 days ago
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Opinion: As more Albertans explore parks this summer, it's time to protect nature
Article content The Canada Strong Pass grants free admission for all to national parks and historic sites, meaning more people than ever will have the opportunity to explore our greatest shared wonder: the natural world. Our connection to the cherished landscapes, mountains, waters and wildlife defines Alberta and our culture, and cannot be overstated. Article content Increased access is worth celebrating. Getting into nature is a fundamental part of people's health, as well as the health of society at large. When people connect with nature, they're also more likely to care for it. That's why this summer is a hopeful one — it's a chance to grow a new generation of nature advocates. Article content Article content Article content For Albertans, this conversation hits particularly close to home. The Rocky Mountains are more than a destination; they're part of our identity. From the towering peaks of Banff to the pristine wilderness of Jasper, these landscapes shape how we see ourselves and our place in the world. The same is true across Canada, where our national parks preserve the very essence of what makes this country extraordinary: vast boreal forests, rugged coastlines, Arctic tundra and prairie grasslands that stretch to the horizon. Article content Article content The Canada Strong Pass encourages more people to discover these treasures. This is fundamentally positive. Connection to nature is essential for our collective well-being and environmental consciousness. When visitors experience the majesty of a sunrise over Lake Louise or make memories in the mountains with friends or family, they become stakeholders in conservation. These experiences forge the emotional bonds that sustain long-term environmental protection. Yet, increased visitation also brings challenges. Popular trails suffer from erosion, wildlife becomes stressed by human presence and fragile ecosystems face increased pressure. The problem isn't that too many people love our parks; it's that we need to invest more in managing that love responsibly. We need increased resources to manage existing parks, and we need more parks for both people and nature. Article content The federal government must match the Canada Strong Pass with strong parks management and education — empowering visitors to minimize their effects — to balance recreation with protecting nature. Parks Canada is doing heroic work with what they've got, but they're stretched thin. Article content Record numbers of visitors are flocking to Canada's 37 national parks and 11 national reserves each year. Since 2010, visitor numbers have exceeded 12 million, and in 2024 reached 15 million, according to Parks Canada. Trends are similar in Alberta. This puts pressure on existing parks and the species that live there. We need to ensure we put adequate resources into managing existing parks and create more protected areas and parks to make enough wild space for both people and wildlife to thrive.
