Since the Signal Mountain wildlife corridor stretches into this region, wildlife were considered when recommending trail changes. “I find as a park we have to constantly go back and remind people that the value is shared and it’s not solely just a recreational playground, it is a valuable, valuable habitat for a lot of the critters that live here.”
“What’s been done to date is at Old Fort Point and Valley of the Five [Lakes] and the Wabasso, all those trailheads are now in place with up-to-date signage,” said Dewandel. “So when you arrive there, you know what’s in the forest behind you.”
Also, two unofficial routes were adopted into the official trail system. Now there are different return options. “Once you hit Wabasso campground you can take this new trail all the way back and then you hit on Wapiti and then you can head in here and go back.”
There isn’t an official trail back from Valley of the Five Lakes, “so one of the goals over the next little while is to formalize a route back into town from the Valley,” said Dewandel.
Some of the trails are popular bike routes, so through communication, Parks is going to recommend bikers go there after 5 p.m., so they don’t run into as many people. One route will also be recommended as a preferred bike route.
By defining seven or eight wildland trails, Parks left something special for the locals.
“There were some trails that were never on our official maps but really have a great, unique character,” said Dewandel. These trails aren’t on public maps, “so people are not going to be wandering on them unless they really know they’re there.”
The melting snow ensures that people will soon be wandering JNP’s 200 km of official trails.
“If people really want to get involved and have a lot of say in what’s being done with trails and even help out with maintenance, join the Jasper Trail Alliance because that is the body that the park will be working with to promote our trail system,” said Dewandel.
The Jasper Trail Alliance can be found on Facebook.
