Rocky Times for Banff
Photographs by Raymond Gehman
Whatever happens in Banff has a way of sending ripples though the entire region—a region composed of four national parks totaling five million acres of land. And a lot happens in Banff. More than four million people visit Canada’s flagship park annually. Canada’s main transcontinental railway and highway roll side by side down the length of Banff’s main valley. On the busiest weekends the road is clotted with cars, RVs, and tour buses, and a gauzy brown haze of exhaust fumes veils the celebrated vistas. Within the park lie three ski resorts and the town of Banff.
Among the people who live and work in Banff, there is considerable disagreement over whether this crush of humanity bodes serious ill for the park’s future. Where one says, "The kind of experience that is supposed to be available in a national park has been completely perverted here;" another counters, "All you have to do is drive five minutes out of town and you’re in the middle of nothing but nature."
NGM 1995/07