Our Concerns Regarding the Proposed Silvertip Gondola

The Provincial government wants to know if you support the redesignation of protected Provincial Park lands associated with the proposed Silvertip Gondola, to fast-track this proposal through the Province’s All-Season Resorts Act. About 13.9 of the project’s 14.9 hectares footprint are proposed to be changed from Bow Valley Wildland Park to an All Seasons Resort Area designation - so if this takes place, we’re likely to get a gondola here.

What would this look like?

As the map shows, the gondola would run from a base station off Palliser Trail up the slopes of Mount Lady MacDonald, traversing a Wildland Provincial Park, designated wildlife corridors, and Town of Canmore and MD of Bighorn land.

Should this redesignation proceed?  We’ve taken a look and, based on decades of wildlife movement and corridor science and long-established land use policies,
our answer is a firm NO.

What science tells about potential impacts on nature

The Bow Valley’s south-facing slopes contain a major wildlife movement corridor, linking Banff National Park to Kananaskis Country.  This corridor is one of the reasons the province of Alberta chose to create a provincial park -  the Bow Valley Wildland Park - in this area in 2002.  Click here to view the map, and read the management plan.

Like a chain, wildlife corridors are only as good as our weakest link: a gondola could spell disaster to the functionality of that corridor.

The Bow Valley is one of the most intensively studied landscapes in the world: several decades of science led the provincial government to protect this entire area through its South Saskatchewan Regional Plan and its Eastern Slopes Policy (last revised in 2023).  Maps show that the lower elevation land here is all zoned as Critical Wildlife Area, with the higher elevation land zoned as Prime Protection.

The government’s Discussion Document about this development reminds us that “An All-season Resort Area designation… must align with regional land use plans.” That is DEFINITELY not the case here. Based on just this fact, the redesignation should not proceed.

The proposed gondola would deliver an estimated 200,000-300,000 annual  visitors to a day lodge located high in alpine/subalpine habitat, an area used by many wildlife including extensive use by Bighorn sheep, a species known to be highly sensitive to human disturbance - particularly during the lambing season.   This is why we have seasonal closures of areas such as the Bow Valley’s Wind Ridge.

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y) conducted a cumulative effects study for the Bow Valley in 2022, looking at the impact of all development on wildlife movement. Results show that, although animals still move through these areas,  the corridor that this gondola would transect has already been dramatically decreased by human development. Creating a 13.9 ha slice through the Wildland Provincial Park to enable the gondola project would negatively impact the region’s ecological values, biodiversity, and the corridor. 

The project would require 15 towers along its length, establishing significant physical infrastructure with ongoing maintenance requirements; this, plus the obvious visual and audible impact of gondola cars and cables, would further reduce the functionality of the wildlife corridor. 

Protected areas are the gold standard of conservation, and absolutely essential to protect important habitat from increasing human development pressure.  Removing land from protected areas damages the integrity of Alberta's protected area system. Unfortunately, this has already begun to happen: when the province created its first All-Season Resorts in late 2025, 131 hectares were removed from Spray Valley provincial Park to support the Fortress Mountain development; and 929 hectares were removed from the Evan Thomas Provincial Recreation Area in connection with the Nakiska ski resort. 

The Tourism Minister stated in December 2025 that a key purpose of this government’s All-Season Resorts Policy was to spread tourism out across Alberta, increasing visitation to under-visited areas. The Bow Valley receives well over three million visitors annually - this proposed land use redesignation runs counter to that purpose.

Recreational developments usually continue to expand after their first phase: if this gondola goes ahead, what will follow?  A downhill mountain bike course from the alpine to the base station that further compromises the wildlife corridor? Increased numbers of paragliders landing somewhere by Palliser Trail?  Abundant local precedence tells us that the gondola will be the thin edge of the wedge that leads to further development and human activity here.