Delayed access areas open soon
Get your skis waxed and ready to explore one of Jasper鈥檚 premier winter touring routes. As of Feb. 15, Cavell Road will be groomed and ready for winter use, and both the Astoria and Portal Creek Trails will be open.
Whether touring for the day or overnight to one of the area鈥檚 unique backcountry accommodations, the scenery is spectacular. If you are lucky, you may even see one of Jasper鈥檚 elusive woodland caribou鈥攋ust remember to keep your distance to not disturb them from important feeding grounds. Delaying winter access into the Tonquin caribou range, as well as two other important caribou ranges in the park, contributes to achieving significant gains for caribou conservation while still allowing for recreational use later in the season.
Just in time for the Family Day long weekend,the Parks Canada trail crew will be grooming the trail base and track setting (classic and skate) Cavell Road on Friday, Feb. 14, and the trail is expected to be ready for skiing by Feb. 15. Just remember that while dogs are welcome on Cavell Road as far as the hostel, they are not allowed in the other areas of caribou habitat.
On March 1, the Brazeau and A La Peche caribou ranges will also be open for winter use. This includes seven winter trails, ice climbing and mountaineering routes in the South Jasper and North Boundary areas of the park.
Since Nov. 1, park wardens have been monitoring the seasonal closure areas. In January, they accompanied biologists on a helicopter flight surveying caribou radio collars, in order to look for any trails in these areas. By using flights in addition to other surveillance methods, they are able to find out if anyone has been in caribou habitat during this time.
Parks Canada would like to thank Jasper鈥檚 winter recreationalists for supporting caribou conservation by respecting the seasonal closures. While there have been some minor incidents of people entering the delayed access areas over the winter, to date, caribou habitat has not been impacted.
Once the areas open, biologists will be able to collect the remote camera images and, along with wolf GPS radio collar data, review what, if any, wolf activity there was during the delayed access period.
