In December 2009, Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation proposed a land exchange between Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park and Stone Creek Properties (Silvertip Golf Course) within the Town of Canmore. Feedback was gathered during a 60 day online public comment period that ended February 4, 2010. The province took all comments into consideration before making a decision. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback.
What We Heard
- A total of eight public comments were submitted through the consultation process. Seven of those responses were supportive of the proposed exchange and the anticipated benefits to the wildlife corridor.
- The other response did not perceive the public safety concerns predicating the realignment of the golf cart path as having merit, and cited an opinion that the land to be swapped was not in danger from an ecological point of view.
Response:
- Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park contains a regional wildlife movement corridor for wolves, cougars, bears and elk that move between and through Banff National Park, Kananaskis Country, and the Town of Canmore.
- In 2005, the Alberta Parks Division rerouted a hiking / biking trail adjacent to the east side of the Silvertip Golf Course in order to better protect the wildlife movement corridor. To achieve a suitable alignment for the new trail, a short section of the trail was developed on a small parcel (0.135 hectares) of Silvertip Golf Course lands. In return, Silvertip Golf Course requested a small portion of land (0.045 hectares) from the wildland provincial park to be able to reroute a golf cart path for public safety reasons.
- The land exchange is mutually beneficial to Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park, Silvertip Golf Course, as well as park visitors and golfers, and results in no net loss to the size of the park or its natural values.
Resulting Decision
- Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation has amended the boundary of Bow Valley Wildland Provincial Park by removing 0.045 hectares of land from the provincial park and adding 0.135 hectares acquired from Stone Creek Properties in Canmore.
Further Information
