Harvey Locke, past president of the Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society, has been a leader in the campaign to save Banff from becoming, what he calls, "the great indoors."

Responding to findings by the Bow Valley Task Force that overdevelopment and overuse threaten Banff National Park, Heritage Minister Sheila Copps has announced a significant change in direction for Canada's premiere national park. Copps made the announcement in Banff in early October.

Among the specific steps the minister endorsed was the removal of some facilities from the park in order to restore a critically impacted wildlife movement corridor. Gone will be the airstrip, the buffalo paddock, the horse corrals and the cadet camp that block wildlife movements along Cascade and Stoney Squaw Mountains. The town of Banff's development into a large urban centre will also be curtailed by capping its permanent population at below 10,000 and not allowing any new land to be released for commercial development.

A critical aspect of the minister's speech was the recognition that the concentration of development in the montane valley bottom near the town of Banff was causing serious problems for the whole park.

Copps noted that "Banff is the heart of our country's national park system. And the Bow Valley is the heart of Banff. But it's a heart that lies in a very delicate state. The Bow Valley isn't just the most fragile part of the park; it's also the most populated and visited part of the park. Montane -- the fertile land on the bottom of the Bow Valley -- may only make up 6.3% of the park, but it's at the very centre of the park's fragile ecosystem. And it is this unique and sensitive land that represents the prime feeding corridor for park wildlife."

This statement made it clear that Copps had not accepted the ecologically simplistic argument made by some that because only a small percentage of the park is developed, Banff could be considered a healthy wilderness area.

The minister also announced that Canadian Pacific has withdrawn its proposals to expand the Banff Springs Golf Course and its Banff hotels. It appears that CP will also withdraw its plans for another golf course in Jasper. While all of the company's plans are not clear, these very positive moves demonstrate good corporate leadership on Canadian Pacific's part and may signal a refocusing on tourism appropriate to a national park by the company. Such a new direction would be welcome.

At the World Conservation Congress in Montreal in mid-October, there were discussions of the problems in Banff -- a world heritage site -- at the highest levels. In his remarks to open the congress, Prime Minister Chrtien said:

"Banff is important to Canadians and to our government. We see ourselves as global trustees of the World Heritage Site. When we took office three years ago, we recognized Banff was in trouble. We appointed a task force to review the situation. It made recommendations last week and Canada's Deputy Prime Minister immediately announced strong measures to limit the growth of development. We are determined to protect the ecological integrity of Banff for Canadian and the citizens of the world -- forever."

Behind the political announcements lies the Bow Valley Study Technical Report. The findings in the technical report are stark and undeniable. Three excerpts illustrate the deep problems and need for immediate change in Banff:

"We believe that Banff National Park is at a crossroads and changes must come quickly if the Park is to survive. The challenge is great and the urgency for action is clear. Throughout our study people stated the belief that if the crisis is not resolved in Banff it will spread throughout the national park system....

"Despite the fact that ecological integrity is the primary focus of the National Parks Act and Parks Canada's Policy, we have found that ecological integrity has been and continues to be increasingly compromised....

"The current rates of growth in visitor numbers and development, if allowed to continue, will cause serious and irreversible harm to Banff National Park's ecological integrity. Stricter limits to growth than those already in place must be imposed if Banff is to continue as a national park...."

There are many recommendations in the technical report that have not yet been implemented and some that Parks Canada has already said it will not implement, including the suggested removal of three hotels.

I, along with four others, have been appointed to an advisory committee to make recommendations on the implementation of the technical report to Tom Lee, assistant deputy minister of Parks Canada. This work, in turn, will lead to a new comprehensive park management plan for Banff that is to be tabled in the House of Commons in April 1997.

The Bow Valley study's main findings and the Heritage minister's conclusions are entirely consistent with the concerns CPAWS has expressed for the last three years. As an organization, we can take pride in the fact that through public awareness building and letter writing, our volunteers, staff and members were able to elevate the ecological crisis in Banff to an international issue. The world's spotlight was on Banff in the days leading up to the World Conservation Congress in Montreal and the federal government responded.

It is our hope that a new direction has truly been set for Banff National Park and that the pattern of perpetual growth of commercial facilities has been brought to an end. We also hope for an end to conflict and see room for optimism in Canadian Pacific's actions. But this brighter future will only come to pass if there is real and prompt action for change. CPAWS must be vigilant and ensure there is no backsliding toward the behaviours that have caused so much damage to the ecology of Banff National Park.