Excessive horse use in Jasper National Park's Tonquin Valley destroys trails and adversely affects wildlife

The Tonquin valley is summer habitat for grizzlies and woodland caribou, both “species at risk.” The towering Ramparts and the lovely Amethyst Lakes attract backpackers from all over the world. While it should be a showcase for good park management; too many hikers leave disappointed and frustrated by trails destroyed by horse use. Nor is the wildlife being properly protected here.

What we call wildness is a civilization other than our own.

– Thoreau

TONQUIN VALLEY : stuck in the mud

Parks Canada is well aware of the excessive damage done by horses to the trails and meadows of the beautiful Tonquin Valley. For years, irate hikers have been bringing this issue to the attention of park managers but little has changed in spite of well over $1 million of taxpayers’ money spent on unsuccessful attempts to repair the trails.

There are two horse-outfitter lodges in the valley. From June to September up to 50 horses may reach the area on any given day along two trails also used by hikers. At the end of the trip, the horses are turned loose to graze in the meadows.

The 2005 annual census of woodland caribou indicated that the largest concentration of the south Jasper herd uses the Tonquin Valley area. Why are horses permitted to access important grizzly and woodland caribou habitat at Moat Lake and Clitheroe Basin for day trips?

Two studies in the valley by Dr. George Scotter in 1975 and independent consultant Kurt Seel in 1995 showed that:

•	grazing horses were trampling the plants and compacting the soil
•	horses were too heavy for the soils of the valley
•	the two access trails were deeply rutted and braided due to horse traffic

The 1982 Ecological (Biophysical) Land Classification of Banff and Jasper National Parks stressed that the moist vegetation of the Tonquin Valley “will not tolerate heavy or prolonged use” and the “sedge meadows are severely overgrazed and trampled by horses, rendering them of little or no use to ungulates such as caribou.”

In Banff National Park, trails in the Egypt Lake area were closed to horses because the landscapes immediately to the east of the continental divide, like the Tonquin Valley, are not suitable for horse use due to climatic conditions and fragile vegetation.

In 1996 – twenty-one years after Scotter’s study – park managers committed to resolve the issue. There was consultation with stakeholders and there was recognition that the number of horses would have to be reduced. Nothing happened. Now, ten years later, they say they need to further study the problem.

As part of the stakeholders’ consultation process, the Jasper Environmental Association urged that:

•	horse use in the valley be phased out
•	in the interim, day rides from the lodges should be discontinued
•	food pellets should be used to eliminate the need for grazing in the valley
•	ultimately both of the lodges should be used as hiking destinations. In this way, the two outfitters could still benefit from their licences of occupation

The valley has winter problems too. The lodges cater to cross-country skiers and supplies are taken in by snowmobiles travelling through caribou winter habitat in the Mount Edith Cavell/Astoria River area. Snowmobile tracks make great travel routes for wolves – something the endangered caribou can well do without. Supply trips by helicopter at the beginning of the winter season would do less damage.