Illegal snowmobiling at Bow Summit, Banff Nat'l Park

[Roy Maxwell]

anyone ever seen a wolf at elevation

Not yet. Have seen several wolves in the valley floors even one chasing an elk and have seen many mountain caribou in the alpine (never in designated snowmobile areas mind you:d) but what I have never seen is a Wolf chasing a Mountain Caribou in the alpine on a snowmobile track.

 

[HotShotHarry]

I have seen many caribou while sledding. They never seemed bothered by us at all. In fact it seemed that they just went about their business as if we weren't even there. But watch what happens when a chopper gets too close whopping his rotors. The caribou darn near turn themselves inside out trying to figure out which way to run. I believe that the caribou herds that I have witnessed became accustomed to seeing and hearing sledders,and are not bothered by us.

 

[maxwell]

i think its agreed that sledders do not bother the caribou however we create the tracks for wolf access. whether or not thats true is whats up for debate/study.

 

[HotShotHarry]

Thats gonna be one dizzy wolf if he tries following my track!!!:d

 

[X-it]

Most parks have had no snowmobile assess, you would think they would be full of cariboo..... just the opposite hardly any. The only place cariboo are in numbers is where sledders typically are found. Now the stats people claim it is our sleds that move the cariboo around, but i claim it is the helicopters that fly around and shoot at them, then collar them. That is what the cariboo are running from.

 

[old mountain man]

Most parks have had no snowmobile assess, you would think they would be full of cariboo..... just the opposite hardly any. The only place cariboo are in numbers is where sledders typically are found. Now the stats people claim it is our sleds that move the cariboo around, but i claim it is the helicopters that fly around and shoot at them, then collar them. That is what the cariboo are running from.

I agree. Have often seen caribou in the Blue River area. They paid no attention to sleds. Just kept on pawing for something to eat. They did run from heli-ski helicopters.

 

[speeder72]

anyone ever seen a wolf at elevation

No wolves but there were a couple of cougars hanging out in the cabin in Revy:d:d:d:d

 

[bbtoys]

anyone ever seen a wolf at elevation

yes every year in the Blackwater meadows----Renshaw.

 

[maxwell]

did they get there on snowmobile tracks? im curious now

 

[Summiteer]

did they get there on snowmobile tracks? im curious now

Nope, the guy that left his horses up there took them to torture the little kids that he abducted..........

 

[Teth-Air]

If sledding was allowed in parks there would be so much to deal with like Fuel spills, oil spills, and inconsiderate people that leave there trash everywhere.

This attitude and the worry of if quads should be allowed are rediculous reasons for saying OHV should not be in the parks.

Simple: The warden deems that the snow depth is sufficient not to damage the underlying ground and ride what you want. They could have rules for noise or emmissions but if you want to take a quad, it will need to have tracks to get anywhere. As for the quote above, unbelievable! Have you ever walked the tracks of CP Rail and seen the mess? Old mops covered in tar, old oil cans, old track, etc. Now look at the ski crowd. Are their cars less likely to spill fuel or are they less likely to throw garbage out the window. We already have plenty of laws in place to deal with these types of things.

 

[bbtoys]

did they get there on snowmobile tracks? im curious now

most likely up the groomed trail but when I see them they come out of the bush where no sled's go.

 

[Teth-Air]

Are you guys really that hard up for sledding spots?

I enjoy the parks, it is nice to not hear engines every once in a while.

How much of the Parks do you enjoy? in square km's?

Do you realize that between Banff, Jasper, Glacier and Revelstoke Parks there are 19534 square km's?

This is equivilent to the area of the State of New Jersey. Don't you think there is room for both of us?

Don't be greedy. We are only asking for designated areas.

 

[Teth-Air]

You are absolutely right. That was the original purpose of the National Parks Act as mandated by the federal government of the time sometime near the turn of the last century. Probably the most forward thinking piece of legislation any federal government has passed in the history of this great country. The intent at the time the Act was passed was to preserve "without any disturbance" unique pieces of the Canadian Landscape and the unique species within those parks forever as the government at the time was smart enough to know development would come to Canada and we would figure it out all to late after we lost those unique areas to development. Unfortunately with respect to at least the Western Mountain National Parks due to disecretions exercised by subsequent Governments that ship sailed a long time ago. There are now in those parks Towns with populations that double in the summer time and are larger than most other Towns in Alberta, divided highways that handle thousands of vehicles per day, World Class Ski Resorts, World Class Golf Courses, twinned large diameter oil pipelines (think what a mess that would make if one of those ever springs a leak) and lakes within the Parks ringed with private cottages just to name a few. I am not saying we necessarily need to be sledding in the National Parks I am just saying with all the other chit going on there why the hell not. Why do we have to be the ones that suffer when someone thinks the National Parks are overused or the Caribou population is declining or any other environmental issue that arises on any given day. It is because we are the easiest to pick on. They are still letting the ski resorts expand in the National Parks and the groomers, skiers and sleds make tracks the wolves can follow. They are still letting the heli ski operators fly in Caribou territory we are shut out of (never could figure that one out sitting on the east side of Chappel looking at some amazing out of bounds sledding and watching heli skiing choppers fly in and out of there. Lets see, that large noisy chopper with a bunch of people inside swirling up huge clouds of snow does not bother the Caribou but my modern non-modified snowmobile with the large can to decrease noise and emissions and miserly fuel injection does). Oh well I am not a wildlife biologist. What do I know. Point is we should never "bend over" everytime someone asks us to. We need to be good ambassadors for sledding by behaving, we need to ask for proof of the harm we will cause and we need to be treated on a level playing field with the other mountain users rather than being the convenient scapegoat.

Well put, Share it or Close it!

 

[JaySimon]

How much of the Parks do you enjoy? in square km's?

Do you realize that between Banff, Jasper, Glacier and Revelstoke Parks there are 19534 square km's?

This is equivilent to the area of the State of New Jersey. Don't you think there is room for both of us?

Don't be greedy. We are only asking for designated areas.

I take pride in the fact that we, as canadians, can set aside so much land to leave undeveloped. Yes, there are roads and such, but as you say, how much square km's does this take up? Not much.

I'm not being greedy. Hell, I'm taking other people's (Who do not ride sleds) opinions into consideration.

 

[Bogger]

I won't bother the hikers..... hell give me 30 mins and I can be places they couldn't hike to in a full day.....

 

[barleyfarmer]

Why do the heli-skiing companies have so much pull?It seems to me they can get an area shut down for sledding at the drop of a hat!I think if they did some research they would probably see that sledders bring in more revenue to alot of these towns than the skiers or am I wrong?Why don't the skiers stick to their designated areas that sledders will NEVER have access to!I've been going to the mountains sledding since the early 90's and you could go almost anywhere(well not quite unless it was modded with paddles)but they had only a few areas closed for cariboo!Suddenly heli-skiers started getting areas closed for them and a few of these areas were previously closed for the cariboo!!!Maybe the sledders should donate more money in the next elections and that would make a bigger difference!!Probably more sledders than heli-skiers,some politician would love some of our money instead of the herbal skiers!!

 

[maxwell]

politicians like heliskiing.


and i beleive your right. typically when your heliskiing all your money stays in the resort..not to say that the resort doesnt spend in the local towns but im just guessing now..

 

[Bogger]

heli skiing is very expensive, high roller, high profile clients = leverage

corporate execs & ceo's own the politicians...

if Ken Block wanted to build a rally circuit course in jasper national park....they would find a justification

 

[AirNorth1]

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