History
The modern road routes in the park provide transport links that have superseded the railway that first brought the park into being. The arrival of the Canadian Pacific at the end of the nineteenth century brought to an end some 10,000 years of exclusive aboriginal presence in the region, an epoch which previously had been disturbed only by trappers and the prodigious exploits of explorers like Mackenzie, Thompson and Fraser, who had sought to breach the Rockies with the help of native guides earlier in the century. Banff itself sprang to life in 1883 after three railway workers stumbled on the present town's Cave and Basin hot springs, its name coined in honour of Banffshire, Scottish birthplace of two of the Canadian Pacific's early financiers and directors. Within two years the government had set aside the Hot Springs Reserve as a protected area, and in 1887 enlarged it to form the Rocky Mountains Park , Canada's first national park. However, the purpose was not entirely philanthropic, for the new government-sponsored railway was in desperate need of passengers and profit, and spectacular scenery backed up by luxurious hotels was seen - rightly - as the best way to lure the punters. Cars were actually banned from the park until 1916. Today the park is not quite at crisis point, but some hard decisions are having to be made. Around four million visitors come to Banff every year and another four million pass through. Together they pump a staggering $750 million or more a year into the local economy. Such figures, despite the best efforts and intentions of the park authorities, inevitably have an effect on the environment. Scientists believe, for example, that the black and grizzly bear populations are dying out (combined numbers of both types of bear here are probably just 100 to 130), while numbers of wolves are declining at only a slightly lower rate than in areas where they have no protection at all (the park has just 35 or 40). Conversely, elk numbers have exploded beyond internally sustainable limits (to about 3200), almost entirely because they've realized the town offers food (tasty surburban grass) and total safety from their natural predators. In the past, there have been some 60 (usually provoked) elk attacks on humans in Banff every year. The sight of elk nibbling on verges in downtown Banff will soon be a thing of the past, however, for around 120 elk have been removed from Banff and its vicinity and relocated elsewhere, and there are plans to remove the remainder. These are just a handful of symptoms of a greater ecological malaise. In response a ceiling of 10,000 has been put on Banff's human population (it's currently around 7600), building is strictly controlled, areas are being closed to the public (even the famous Bow Valley Parkway is closed to traffic for parts of the year). The airport, too, is now all but closed, for it - like much of Banff town and the Bow River Valley - lies right in the path of major wildlife routeways. Many of the big mammals require large areas to survive, larger even than the park's 6641 square kilometres. Experts suggest that Banff's ecosystem is on a knife edge: it may be saved and previous damage restored only if action is taken. Some already has - Banff's elk, for example, are being moved out to reserves - but there's much more work to be done
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