Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
You are trying to destroy what makes the park the park. There aren't hundreds or thousands of valleys that provide a North South corridor through the mountains. Look at a map and see why the bow valley corridor through the icefields to jasper was used to build a road and compare that to other routes.
Then assess how blocking the easiest corridor will affect wildlife. Then realize you don't care if Grizzly Bears get hit buy trains or relocated to BC and shot by hunters as long as you can have a latte and a selfie.
The park is not too full. Go to Yosemite or Zion if you want to see too full. The natural attractions of the park are not getting bigger so more towns is not reducing the crowding at Lake Louise, Johnson Canyon, or the ice fields. Its not reducing crowding at every viewpoint on the way.
The act of staying in a town is not why people visit Banff.
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Yes it is. People enjoy the restaurants, the hotels, the shopping and taking a tour bus from vantage to vantage. Over 4
million people each year visit the townsite (source:
https://www.banff.com/banff-helpers/banff-facts/). They're not all going on epic hikes. A small minority are. At any given time, Banff Ave is more congested than any hiking trail out there. There is demand for one more town, and with 6,641 square kilometers in Banff National Park, we can spare 20 square kilometers for another destination.
Yeah, Yosemite is too full. Let's build another town
before Banff/LL become unbearable or unvisitable, which they can be already on some weekends.
Generations before us had the foresight to plan and build for our leisure and enjoyment. We have a responsibility to do the same for our grandchildren and I don't accept that the Rocky Mountains don't have space for one more town.
Okay, if you guys care so much about migrating squirrels, build the town one range over. Elevate the road over the Bow Valley one mountain to the side and build the town there. Would that assuage your concerns?