Banff National Park

Banff National Park
Oldest National Park in Canada, Mount Chephren and Waterfowl Lake (from the Icefields Parkway)
Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 0 ″  N , 115 ° 33 ′ 0 ″  W.
Location:	Alberta , Canada
Next city:	Banff, Alberta
Surface:	6641 km²
Founding:	November 25, 1885
Visitors:	4,059,503 (2016/2017)
Address:	Banff National Park Box 900 Banff, AB Tel. [phone]

Located in the Canadian province of Alberta , Banff National Park ( English Banff National Park of Canada , French Parc national du Canada Banff ) was founded in 1885 and is the oldest national park in Canada , the second oldest in North America and the third oldest in the world. With its 6641 km² area, it is one of the larger national parks in the Canadian Rocky Mountains . The park is named after the Scottish Banffshire , the home region of two financiers of the Canadian Pacific Railway, during the construction of which a hot spring was discovered in a cave in 1883. The village of Banff was created there . The national park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984 , along with Jasper National Park , Kootenay National Park and Yoho National Park as part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks . The park is an IUCN Category II (National Park) protected area . Three ski areas are within the boundaries of Banff National Park: Sunshine Village , Mount Norquay and Lake Louise .

history

The Canadian Rocky Mountains were formed about 600 million years ago when two tectonic plates met . The former seabed was pushed upwards.

The Aboriginal people of Canada lived in the area of ​​the current park for about 11,000 years.

The first Europeans were on the Palliser Expedition on behalf of the Royal Geographical Society to look for a route for the railway to the west. In addition to Palliser, James Hector also explored the Bow Valley , came over the Bow Pass and also found the Lyell Glacier . There were other expeditions, but the biggest discovery wasn't made until 1883 when the Canadian Pacific Railway was built.

During the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the indigenous people of the area showed three railroad workers the hot spring with the basin in the cave. The three knew immediately what kind of treasure they had discovered, but could not agree on how to exploit it. Two years later the Canadian government relieved them of these problems and first declared only a relatively small region a protected area and on June 23, 1887 with the Rocky Mountains Park Act a national park.

The Canadian Pacific Railway makes a detour via the more southerly and steeper Kicking Horse Pass because of the park , while the route of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway , which was completed shortly before the First World War, leads over the easier Yellowhead Pass to Jasper . In the 1930s the Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper was added. For example, the highway passes the Columbia Ice Field and the Athabasca Falls . Last, the Trans-Canada Highway was built through the park and completed in 1965.

fauna

In the park, many large life mammal species , such as moose , elk , bighorn sheep , mountain goat , black bear , grizzly bear , lynx , wolf and coyote . Over 250 species of birds have been observed in the park area so far. For many migratory birds , the Vermilion Lakes in the park are of great importance as a resting place. The American bison, which used to live in the Banff Valleys, was exterminated by hunting, the last animal being killed in 1858. In February 2017, bison were released from the Elk Island National Park in Banff National Park, and in April 2017 bison calves were born here for the first time.

Attractions

Moraine Lake in the Valley of the Ten Peaks

View of Sulfur Mountain (left)

Pilot Mountain and his reflection in Pilot Pond

The Lower Consolation Lake

The Peyto Lake

• Bow River - river that flows through the national park
• Banff - A village with about 6000 inhabitants at an altitude of 1384 meters
• Banff Springs Hotel - luxury hotel modeled after a Scottish castle
• Banff Gondola
• Cave and Basin - the cave with a hot spring and warm water basin that gave rise to the park
• Grassi lakes , brightly colored
• Sulfur Mountain - 2285 meter high mountain above the village of Banff
• Johnston Canyon - wild canyon
• Johnson Lake - small secluded mountain lake
• Lake Louise - famous mountain lake
• Château Lake Louise - Historic hotel directly on the lake
• Moraine Lake in the Valley of the Ten Peaks - a mountain lake in the valley in front of ten peaks, depicted on the 1969 Scenes of Canada Series Canadian 20 dollar note
• Peyto Lake - a striking turquoise shimmering mountain lake
• Peyto Glacier - an outlet glacier of the Wapta ice field
• Mistaya Canyon - very deeply cut narrow gorge of the Mistaya River south of the Saskatchewan River Crossing
• Icefields Parkway - 231 km long highway from Banff to Jasper through the middle of the Rocky Mountains
• Morant's Curve - a lookout point on Bow Valley Parkway where the Bow River and a railroad line run side by side, also depicted on the 2011 Canadian Frontier Series 10 dollar bill .

tourism

The Banff National Park is now the park in Canada's Rocky Mountains that is most strongly influenced by the conflict between nature conservation and mass tourism. More than four million people visit the park annually. The influx of visitors concentrates on a few points and on the summer holiday season. Due to the growing volume of traffic, overpasses and underpasses for animals had to be built and kilometer-long fences had to be erected, because the Trans-Canada Highway runs through parts of the park alongside two railway lines . Strict speed limits try to avoid collisions with wild animals.

But winter tourism has also increased in the area, as it is increasingly being developed as a ski area. At this time in particular, the main valley of the Bow River is vital for many animals to survive, so they are often found in the 6000-inhabitant town of Banff. The road expansion has greatly reduced distance protection, which has largely excluded the area from human use. The park management tries to keep the damage within limits with various plans, but the interests in exploitation are very strong.

In addition, there is a pronounced ignorance of all species that are not "big game". In 1999 tourists were fined for the first time for bathing in hot springs. In doing so, they had unknowingly endangered a snail population that only lived here, and at that time still comprised between 1500 and 15,000 specimens. Since they are able to adapt to extremely unfavorable conditions, especially heat and toxic substances, a research project has been dealing with Physella johnsoni , also known as Banff Springs snail , for a long time . It was the first species of mollusk to appear on the Endangered Species List (1997). After early observations since 1926 and more recently since the 1990s, she lived in nine places, today only five, which are in areas frequently visited by tourists. Since other animal and plant species are also considered endangered, the park administration is increasingly coming under criticism, as is the way in which tourism is handled.

See also

• National parks in Canada

Web links

Commons : Banff National Park  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• Banff National Park , on Parks Canada , (English, French)
• Banff National Park ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).

Remarks

1. ↑ Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks. World Heritage Committee , accessed May 9, 2016 . 
2. ↑ In 1990 the World Heritage Committee met in Banff, cf. Convention concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage .
3. ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - Banff National Park (English)
4. ↑ Banff: the most famous place in the Canadian Rockies. Retrieved on June 4, 2018 (German). 
5. ↑ Explanations of the animal world on Parks Canada, engl.
6. ↑ BBC: Bison calves born again for the first time
7. ^ Government of Canada Parks Canada Agency: National Parks, Park Reserves, & Marine Conservation Areas - Parks Canada Attendance 2017-18. June 4, 2018, accessed July 1, 2019 . 
8. ↑ See Banff National Park of Canada. Park management .
9. ↑ See report from 1999 in the Edmonton Journal