027 Bison babies, conservation wins and new transportation options for the mountains

Story 1 - First Bison Born in Banff Well, today, I'm able to share several good news stories that makes all the work worth it. While we are constantly being bombarded with bad news, it's always exciting when the hard work of thousands of people has a tangible impact on decisions taking place in the places we love. So let's take a look at the great announcements filling the newswires this week. First on the list has to do with the cutest thing on earth – baby animals. Spring is the time of new life in the mountains. Over the next month we'll begin to see mule and white-tail deer fawns, elk calves, and those oh so cute black and grizzly bear cubs. So what makes this year so special? How about the first bison calf in 140 years to be born in Banff National Park? Now if that's not cool enough, not only is it the first bison in more than a century, but it was born on Earth Day, April 22, 2017. Story 2 - Icefields Trail Stalled Parks Canada has been planning a paved bike path running all the way from Jasper to the Columbia Icefields, and eventually all the way to Lake Louise and possibly Banff. This 86.4 million dollar trail has been hugely unpopular by conservationists, researchers, and as was revealed recently, Parks Canada's own scientists. Freedom of Information crusader, Ken Rubin peeled back the curtain of secrecy and has been revealing the long trail of public documents and emails that led up to the decision to build this trail. One of the most telling signs was the fact that Parks Canada actually posted a tender for engineering firms to begin the design of the actual trail. This is especially troubling since the trail is not even through the public consultation phase and has not been given any official go-ahead from the powers that be. Well it seems that the overwhelmingly negative response to this tender has finally caused Parks Canada to pay attention. This week, the tender was withdrawn. According to a story in the Fitzhugh Newspaper, Minister McKenna's press secretary, Marie-Pascale Des Rosiers said: "This was determined to be premature given that the agency is currently focused on the consultation process and the environmental assessment for the proposed project". Story 3 - Big Wins in Canmore's Wildlife Corridor Battle This has been a week of very good news in Canmore particularly in terms of the struggle to designate the last critical wildlife corridor on the south side of the Bow River valley. On April 26th, Alberta Environment and Parks announced that they will not be making a decision on the Three Sisters Mountain Village and Smith Creek Wildlife Corridors for at least another four to eight weeks. The very next day, Three Sisters withdrew from consideration, its area structure plan for its Smith Creek Development until the provincial government renders it's decision on the corridors. They did move forward with their submission for first reading of the Stewart Creek Village Centre area structure plan. But in a third blow to the developer, on May 2nd Canmore Town Council unanimously rejected Three Sisters asp for its village Centre development. Story 4 - Anglers Beware If you're one of the many anglers that love to cast a fly in the Bow River to test your luck against the prevalent trout population, you'll want to pay attention to this story. Beginning on April 1, the entire stretch of the Bow River from its headwaters at Bow Lake in Banff National Park to the Bassano Reservoir is now catch and release only. And speaking of Whirling Disease, it has now been confirmed in the entire Oldman River watershed as well. The disease now affects rivers throughout the western boundary of Alberta from Bow Lake south to the Montana Border and Waterton Lakes National Park. Despite this recent report, the Oldman River system will not see any changes to fish regulations at this time. Story 5 - Updates on Transportation and Parking for Banff In the past, it has been difficult to get to and from the mountains without a vehicle. There are a number of airport shuttle companies and a few regularly scheduled buses, but not really a proper transit system connecting Calgary with Canmore, Banff and Lake Louise. This summer, it looks like a number of players are combining to help solve this problem. One of the first stories was a new transit service between Calgary, Cochrane, Canmore and Banff. The service will run on weekends and holidays, beginning in mid-June and ending on Labour Day. The buses will be run by the Calgary Regional Partnership and will also allow valley residents to use the buses to travel to Calgary for the day. The cost of the buses will be $10 each way per person. The program would dedicate 3 buses to do approximately 13 round trips per day. The first bus will arrive in Banff around 8:30 am and the last one would leave Banff approximately 10:30 pm. The buses will pick-up and drop-off at the Crowfoot LRT Station in Calgary. A few morning and evening trips will pick-up and drop-off in Okotoks, Somerset-Bridlewood in South Calgary. There will also be additional bus service this summer between Banff and Lake Louise, as well as the Lake Minnewanka Loop. Both of these buses are also intended to encourage people to park their cars and reduce some of the strain on the busy road systems. On sunny summer days, the highway interchange at Lake Louise is completely closed as the roads become overwhelmed by the number of cars that want to visit. And finally some great news for traffic in and around Banff Townsite. On April 25th, Karen Sorensen, Mayor of Banff announce a new transportation hub and 900 stall parking area to be developed adjacent to the Banff train station.