Preserving Canada's National Parks

When we think of a national park, we believe that they are protected, sacred lands that can never be harmed. Reality is, our National Parks are currently in danger, and we are the ones that are harming them! From lowering rock faces and over population, habitat loss and fragmentation, air pollution and pesticides, to missing water in Lake Louise; we are harming the environment that we cherish the most. Consider this: if every tourist that visits Banff national park, approximately 5 million per year, were to take away 1 rock; rock faces would drop approximately 1 foot per year! Imagine if this happened on a yearly basis, Banff National Park rockfaces would slowly depleat.



With 5 million visitors to Banff National Park every year, 2,870,293 to Yellowstone National Park in 2008, and million tourists per year to the Grand Caynon National Park, numbers of tourists are on the rise. With the increasing level of human use in National Parks across the world, infrastructure is greatly affected. Increased tourists lead to an increase in hotel stays, leading to an increase in sewage. To keep up with the demand for hotels, restauants, shopping, etc, Banff National Park has become a self containing city all on its own. Over development is harming these protected grounds, but the demand of tourists is not slowly down. Over population not only harms infrastructure, but increases the air and water quality in surrounding areas.



In Canada, over 90% of Carolinian forests have been converted to farmland or towns. Banff is well on its way in paving over the National Park by adding more and more infrastructure. In doing so, where do the animals fit in? Elks, bears, moose, etc, don't adjust their lifestyle to fit ours. As we continue to build more and more, large carnivores will continue to inhabit land where tourists spend most of their time in downtown Banff. The solution: build fences to prevent animals from coming into the town of Banff and running across highways across the world. The problem: fragmenting the wildlife's home and disrupting wildlife. Building a fence 5 feet high will not prevent animals from getting into towns and running across highways. Think about it... animals can jump!!



We may not be worried about preserving National Parks today, but consider our future generations. If we want our grandchildren to enjoy what we take for granted everyday, we must change our ways NOW!

http://www.yellowstone-natl-park.com/stats.htm
http://hubpages.com/hub/Top-National-Parks-in-America