KANANASKIS— A new organization is taking action to implore the provincial government to better protect Alberta’s parks.
Protect this Park founder Ken Hoover is concerned about the steps Alberta Parks is taking to deregulate many parks and protected places across the province.
Hoover has lived in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park for six years. He said he was motivated to take a stand as a result of legal action taken against Fortress Mountain Ski Hill by the Stoney Nakoda First Nation after the company received approval from the province to truck and bottle water from its leased site in Kananaskis Country. Hoover was also an appellant in the legal action.
“I live here. I know what’s needed in this park. I live it, I breathe it 365 days a year— I know what’s happening in the park and what I see is very scary,” Hoover said.
In 2019, Fortress Mountain Holding Ltd. filed a water licence amendment to remove water from a tributary of Galatea Creek. The approval permits Fortress to use nine or more trucks per day to haul a maximum of 50,000 cubic metres of water a year from the mountain for commercial purposes.
In a public letter, Fortress officials said the interest for water removal was "driven by its purity," with a myriad of options for its use, including but not limited to breweries, distilleries, bottles, health-focused companies or non-chlorinated pure water options.
The province received more than 200 statements of concern, including from the neighbouring First Nation. They were all dismissed as "not valid."
The water licence was approved Oct. 25, 2019.
The Nation appealed on the grounds that the project is located within the Stoney Nakoda territory, also known as Hatha Tâga Baha, a site that is important for the exercise of the neighbouring Nation's Section 35 rights that is "ecologically sensitive and contains numerous important environmental resources for [Stoney Nakoda Nation]."
Alberta's environmental appeals board decided against hearing Stoney Nakoda Nation's appeal to reconsider the water licence change.
Hoover said people living in the area have felt ignored during the process and Protect This Park serves as a way to empower them.
“We saw an opportunity with protectthispark.com to protect the grizzly bears and the wildlife corridors and we went to [Minister of Environment and Parks] Jason Nixon,” Hoover said. “We have been hammering on him basically saying, ‘you are dismantling the park system systematically without any consultation.’ ”
The sad part, Hoover added, is Nixon, in his opinion, has shown no initiative to sit down and talk with those who are concerned, including Stoney Nakoda First Nation.
In Stoney Nakoda the valley is known by other names, Hoover said— the Sacred Valley and the Valley of Rumours.
“There’s a lot of Stoney Nakoda Nation history here,” Hoover said.
As part of the generational plan, Protect This Park wants to reopen the oral history and highlight areas of importance to the Nation as a way to enhance tourism in the area.
“We know that Alberta Environment and Parks doesn’t generate any revenue,” Hoover said. “Our plan with the Stoney Nakoda First Nation is to generate revenues and with these revenues to help pay for wildlife corridor protection, wildlife protection and water protection.”
The year 2020 has shown the area is ripe for tourism, he said, and parks are being stretched to their limits.
Hoover wants to see a permit system put in place to access the park with an entrance at Morley Flats under the purveyorship of the Stoney Nakoda.
This would allow for the creation of revenue and encourage people to participate in organized tours and learn stories from the Stoney Nakoda Nation about their relationship to the valley.
The plan right now is in the infancy stages and Protect This Park is currently focused on building a relationship with the Stoney Nakoda.
“The biggest thing right now building a bridge. We have spoke to them and they are receptive,” Hoover said. “This plan is all predicated on the Stoney Nakoda.”
Alberta parks have seen an influx of users during the COVID-19 pandemic to the point the system has been overwhelmed, Hoover said.
There is strong opposition to the developments taking place in the Bow Valley area, he said, and many see the area as a treasured gem.
Hoover said to visit protectthispark.com for more information or visit the organization's social media. He hopes people will take the initiative to reach out to their MLAs or Nixon if they are unhappy with the changes taking place to parks.
“I want people to be proactive rather than reactive,” Hoover said.
—With Files from The Rocky Mountain Outlook
