Dr. Steve Herrero, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary and member of Banff-Bow Valley Task Force is Interviewed by David Dodge of CKUA Radio's EcoFile program. November 15, 1996

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Dr. Herraro, is there evidence that Banff is in trouble?

Dr. Herrero:Yes, lots. You start with the ecosystem and the main thing that sets the character of the ecosystem--Fire. Fire simply hasn't been there like it was historically or naturally and without fire, the vegetation communities have grown in, there is less grass, less bushes to produce berries and less habitat for the large mammals that evolved in this fire-prone environment. So 70 or 80 years of fire suppression has left the park with a compromised terrestrial system. That's one big thing. We need to restore or mimic the effects of natural fire in the ecosystem so that the habitat is there for the animals.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Is anything being done about this?

Dr. Herrero:It's happening to a minor extent. Almost 10 years ago Parks Canada clearly recognized the importance of fire and there are several people in the system that fully understand it and who have tried to push forward prescribed burn programs. I'm not sure that prescribed burns replicate all the effects of natural fire, but its the best option we have right now. But it's been very slow in moving ahead because of financial commitment. It takes dollars to mimic the effects of nature. You know as well as I do that an ideal system lets nature do the work and you don't fight nature. Well with prescribed burning we have to duplicate the work of nature and it costs quite a bit of money.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Is money the only issue?

Dr. Herrero:No, another problem is that we have too many developments. Not just Banff and Lake Louise, but all of the outlying developments and these have to be protected from fire. So once you have all of these developments it becomes a nesting package that has to include fire elements, serious elements of fire suppression and that's true on the provincial boundaries too. Where fire has to be managed so it doesn't damage the commercial resources in the forests in the outside that are going to be cut. So it's a complex negotiated formula as to how you are going to restore the effects of fire when there is a tremendous amount of human influence on the landscape.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Are there other issues?

Dr. Herrero:Yes, the aquatic systems in the park have been drastically altered as demonstrated through the work of Dr. David Schindler at the University of Alberta. Working with Charlie Packis of Parks Canada, they showed that just about every fish population in the park, in one way or another, has been manipulated by human beings. And of course when you manipulate the fish populations by introducing exotic creatures that weren't there in the first place such as Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout, you drastically change the aquatic fauna, including all of the micro-organisms that support the fish. So we have a problematic human-altered aquatic ecosystem.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: No one ever talks about problems with the fisheries ... this is kind of a ghost in the closet, eh?

Dr. Herrero:Um, it is a ghost in the closet, yes, and I think it should be viewed as a learning exercise. For years humans tried to manipulate nature strictly toward our ends. We maintain parks though because we are suspicious that in trying to manipulate it toward our ends we may kill it all. So in the case of Banff we tried to improve the fisheries. We brought in species that looked better than the ones that were already here and for years there was good fishing but it doesn't represent a good baseline against which to understand the effects human beings are having on other systems elsewhere and it is essential that we understand that because we run the risk of killing so much now that we have so much technological might.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: You've mentioned the forests and burning and the aquatic systems. Are there other problems?

Dr. Herrero:Well, the suppression of fire and the effects that has had of vegetation has had ripple effects on all of the ungulates and all of the carnivores that depend upon them. For example there is pretty clear evidence that in the Bow Valley right now the Aspen which are an important food item for Elk are just about on their way out because of the lack of fire and the increasing browsing by Elk whose numbers have done quite well because they have been protected from predation by wolves because the wolves have been unwilling to go into the Banff town site. But anybody who has been in the Banff town site in the last ten years knows that there are a lot of elk there now. So the way in which traffic patterns and the intensity of human development have evolved in Banff means we have got a lot of Elk concentrated in the town. They are eating every Aspen seedling that comes up. There aren't many coming up because there is no natural fire. The wolves aren't willing to go in there because they find too much human disturbance for their liking. So there is a lot of redesign of space and relationships that's going to take time and money to put back together to make Banff whole again.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: You hear people all the time saying, "I go to Banff and there are all kinds of wildlife there. Everything looks fine to me. What would you say to that?

Dr. Herrero:The Elk hanging out in town are a symbol that the system is not as natural as it should be, because they are there to avoid predation by wolves, it's as simple as that. So you see Elk in town and in fact some people have seen them eyeball to eyeball as you well know the odd aggressive Elk in Banff has become quite a well-known entity over the last few years. One of the most controversial recommendations in the Banff-Bow Valley study was that the town of Banff and the town site or the visitor service site at Lake Louise might be fenced. The object behind that was to let animals naturally interrelate with one another by isolating the town and not letting certain animals hang out there to get away from other animals. It would have some hope of restoring a more natural system.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: So what are the ripple effects of the elk in town problem?

Dr. Herrero:The ripple effect is the loss of Aspen. And that is fairly serious. The Montane zone, which is the mountain area that animals most depend on for food and shelter, and which is only five per cent of Banff park to start out with, is in danger of losing one of its important indicator species because the Elk numbers are high or higher then they have ever been. The wolves are not having the effect on the numbers that they might and so it's a system out of balance, but it's a system that when people go there they see a lot of animals and the trees, they say it's all okay. But really the natural balance is fewer trees, fewer Elk and certain types of trees that are there now would be less frequent, so I guess it's really a question of balance and natural dynamics in this system. It's not that the system is going to die. It's going to change so much that it won't be the natural area that Banff Natural Park is supposed to be.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: And, will any species be in danger?

Dr. Herrero:Now there are one or two elements that might be lost. Species like the grizzly bear because they are numerically so low naturally. When you combine that low natural density and low reproductive rates with the pressures of an unnatural system and an altered habitat, there a strong chance that over the longer-time period the grizzly bears could drop out of the system.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: So what's the status of the grizzly today?

Dr. Herrero:We don't have an accurate count. We are in the process of trying to do that right now. It takes years to get an accurate estimate of where the population is going and we simply don't have that level of data yet. BUT, we estimate somewhere between 75 and 80 grizzly bears in Banff park and we've learned a lot over the last three years in the Eastern Slopes Grizzly Bear study about what some of the key elements are in the system.

For one thing, we've learned that about 50 per cent of Banff park is not Grizzly Bear habitat at all naturally even at its best, it's all rock and ice. Two, we've learned that the best habitat is probably down in the Bow Valley and that's the area where the most development is and most of the bears avoid that area. It's just the big males that are willing to come into it and even they can't cross the Trans-Canada Highway where we've put the fences up because they won't accept the underpasses. That's one of the reasons you are seeing two overpasses built, but that's not nearly enough to really solve the problem even if they work.

So we have got the Trans-Canada Highway becoming a bit of a barrier to Grizzly Bear movement. We combine that with quite high mortality rates within the park, which is another thing we found because of the Banff-Bow Valley Study. The mortality rates in Banff National Park have exceeded levels that the province has identified for population growth. They've exceeded two per cent per year. They've run anywhere from three per cent up to about five per cent which isn't horrendously bad in hunted area outside the park, but in a core refuge it's an exceptionally high mortality rate.

And, there are signs that things are getting better--the garbage management has improved dramatically and in parallel with that the mortality rate has come down, but we don't know if it has come down because there are fewer animals to kill or because the overall situation is getting better. So we are trying to get a better understanding of mortality and its relationship to the population numbers. The one thing that we did find with mortality is that 90 per cent of the mortality in the last ten years has occurred within 500 metres of development. That means that grizzly bears in Banff park get in trouble around our developed areas and it underscores the need for doubly careful management in and around all developed areas to prevent Grizzly Bear mortality.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: One of the recommendations was that annual human caused mortalities from Banff should not exceed one percent per year. Would you explain that?

Dr. Herrero:Yes, one per cent the population ... and that means only one bear.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: And how many are we losing now?

Dr. Herrero:over the last 10 years it hasn't been bad, we've only lost a couple per year, but that one is 100 per cent more than we should have and the mortality is concentrated in the female portion of the population. In any hunted population they are always careful to try and concentrate mortality in the male group because males can stand it whereas females are the reproductive core. Without adult females, grizzly bear populations go into tale spins and that's one of the places where mortality is concentrated in Banff. So the mortality rate is not low enough yet and it's not balanced enough yet in the right direction, because it's concentrating on females.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: So what are the things that we need to do to get the park's ecosystem back on track.

Dr. Herrero:It starts the restoration of natural fire. That will rejuvenate the ecosystem and make more food for deer, for Elk, for moose, for bears, because the bears eat the Deer, Elk and Moose as well as the fire successional vegetation. That's fundamental. Without restoring or mimicking the effects of natural fire, we're just not going to have a natural Banff National Park. After that we are just going to have to accept that we human beings have had major impacts on a variety of wildlife species and take a look at the areas that are critical to the different sensitive wildlife species and redesign human use so that it doesn't severely impact wildlife use of critical habitat. Ecological integrity is the fundamental goal of the park and one that we all agree to and what it means is that the natural parts that would be there are there and they are being influenced by the natural processes such as fire.

So we have to better manage human impacts in the system--certain trails will have to be relocated, certain facilities such as the cadet camp, the old air strip, and a whole bunch of facilities there on the NE side of the highway ending with the Timberline Hotel are on the way out. Minister Sheila Copps identified that as an important blockage on the wildlife corridor and my personal guess is that the Timberline Hotel, if its effects were bounded by fencing, probably wouldn't go, but that is a relatively minor issue in the broader of reopening up these wildlife corridors and making places like the Banff Town site relatively unfriendly, to restore the natural patterns of movement through the Bow Valley with a natural vegetation base to support them. So, It can be done.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: What other recommendations did the study group make?

Dr. Herrero:There are a lot of recommendations that relate to getting fire back. Basically the park is opting for a prescribed burn program and as part of the Banff-Bow Valley process a major fire management plan was prepared by the Warden Service and the details of that are available in the supporting documentation. But basically it looks at burning a certain percentage of the park each year with the burning priorities first and foremost being to protect property--I suppose that is inevitable when you have something like Banff and Lake Louise--you have to design your burning program around protecting property. Not necessarily where the fires would naturally be, but certainly mimicking some of the character of natural fire. The plan is there, the sequencing is there. It will both protect property and it will also reinstate the natural vegetation dynamic, but it will cost money.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Overall, do you feel that the recommendations your study group made will address the problems?

Dr. Herrero:I feel the recommendations do an outstanding job. But, the challenge is horrendous in implementing the recommendations. And, the recommendations are not just about an incremental change in the way we do business, it's a call for a paradigm shift. It's a whole new conceptual way of doing business in the parks in which ecological integrity is taken seriously. And one thing that we know about human society is that when we have to do something in a whole new dramatic way it takes a long time to bring people on board through education, information, and by involving people. The big challenge of the Banff-Bow Valley Implementation will be sharing it with the public and continuing to build public support and understanding and excitement about what's going on. This is sustainable development in action.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Can you say more about how things will be different if the study is taken seriously.

Dr. Herrero:People will have a park experience that will in my opinion get better and better if wild nature is what they want an love. Denali National Park is one of the great wildlife parks of North America. Much of the tourism there is on buses on roads that are closed to the public, except by public transit. As a result of that controlled human impact people can watch wolves pulling down moose, grizzly bears playing right next to the road. There's a whole new relationship that is possible here in which humans aren't a disturbing element, but humans can continue to see and to be very involved. It's not going to keep people out of the parks. It's not going to keep people from seeing wildlife. It's going to give people an opportunity to learn what makes wildlife wild, to let people experience a Banff Park that is a natural place rather than a Banff that is just a shadow of what it was.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Do you think that we are up to the challenge?

Dr. Herrero:Yes, I think we are and I think that having visitors in concentrated areas is pretty good idea. The absolute number of visitors is very challenging to deal with, but one of the big challenges of managing impacts is not having little developments spread all over the landscape, because that fragments the habitat, in other words it keeps the sensitive species away and divides the areas that they need into smaller and smaller pockets. So in contrast to many other areas of the world we are really fortunate to have the development concentrated right now and we can treat that as a positive and go one from there. The commercialism is something else. I don't know how we are really going to deal with that. It's going to be a slow long change in our society.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: How does Banff make the transition. Did the committee have ideas about that?

Dr. Herrero:Yes, it makes the transition with full public involvement and information. The biggest impediment to this is going to be the political will power. And in order to bring people on side the words ecological integrity have to become something that people know and understand and value. The National Park can be one of the places for that kind of education. But in Banff that type of education isn't happening. It's been overwhelmed by the voice of commerce. We recommended changing the focus of commerce to become a partner in environmental education. Hopefully taking advantage of the tremendous financial assets of commerce, but redirecting some of the efforts around helping people better understand their natural environment and what's happening to Banff. So it happens by building a constituency by showing the public what's there and what can be there for them and involving them.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Is there any hope that the commercial interests will agree to this sort of educational partnership? What's in it for them?

Dr. Herrero:One of the hopes of the future that things can change in Banff is the fact that commercial organizations like the CPR, the Canadian Pacific Hotels, the big Banff Springs Hotel, which traditionally just sold furs and ballroom experiences have now hired a first-rate interpretive planner, Bob Sanford, to make interpretation a major element of their park experience for their visitors. And they are going to start marketing CPR Hotels as one of the leaders in environmental education in understanding the natural characteristics of Banff. When an organization like the CPR makes that a fundamental part of their operation then you can bet that other operations will follow. So I see some real potential here coming through the commercial segment for doing part of job of Banff in reconnecting the visitor with the natural environment.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Some interests have described you as being anti-development. The see your ideas as a stumbling block to human use of the park.

Dr. Herrero:It is true that I was in opposition to a major resort complex at the base of the Lake Louise Ski hill. It was proposed in 1971 and it would have put a major village, a Whistler type of village at the base of the Lake Louise ski hill. We would have lost a major area of grizzly bear habitat because it was designed for year round usage. The ski area we can live with. It can be managed if there is summer use and impacts are carefully managed. And in going there today and seeing that there are still grizzly bears in the area it makes me feel wonderful. Because it says to be that we struck the right balance at Lake Louise.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: That must have been a difficult fight.

Dr. Herrero:It was, because it started out with a partnership between Imperial Oil, Village Lake Louise and the Government of Canada. It was a joint proposal which shows you where all the various players were at the time, but eventually the public ground-swell against it was so strong that no less than Jean Chretien, who was then minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, stood up at a press conference in Calgary and said this is too much, this will do too much damage to our national parks and it must not go ahead.

Dave Dodge-CKUA-Ecofile: Well, congratulations on that victory and good luck on the next battle.

Dr. Herrero:Thanks.

Credits: The EcoFile is CKUA Radio's weekly program about sustainable development and environment issues in Alberta. It is broadcast on Saturdays at 12:10 pm on 94.9 FM in Edmonton, 93.7 in Calgary and many other frequencies across Alberta. It is also available on 580 AM. Copyright held by David Dodge, 1996