Nearly one-quarter of trails in southern B.C., Alberta unmapped and unmanaged: study

New research has spelled out for the first time the gap between official lists of trails in the southern Rockies and the number of trails there actually are, suggesting effects from the growing number of backcountry users may be larger than suspected.

New research has spelled out for the first time the gap between official lists of trails in the southern Rockies and the number of trails there actually are, suggesting effects from the growing number of backcountry users may be larger than suspected.

The conclusions, the result of crunching 50 different data sets from Alberta and British Columbia covering more than 50,000 kilometres of trails and roads, show nearly a quarter of trails in those areas don't appear on official maps.

“There is a gap,” said biologist Annie Loosen, one of the researchers who wrote the report for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, the B.C. government and the University of Northern British Columbia. “Our report highlights there is a management gap.”

The report comes as pressure on Alberta's beloved mountains and foothills grows. So many people are trying to get to Moraine Lake in Banff National Park that Parks Canada recently cut off private vehicle access.

The researchers compiled information over a huge swath of the southern Rockies covering 63,000 square kilometres. The area included Alberta's Kananaskis Country and Ghost Public Land Use Zone, as well as Banff, Yoho, Kootenay, Glacier and Mount Revelstoke National Parks and B.C.'s Purcell Wilderness Conservancy.

They documented more than 53,000 kilometres of trails, cutlines, transmission lines, pipelines and rough resource roads that could be used. Trails contributed about 22,000 kilometres, roads 21,000 kilometres and the rest about 10,000 kilometres.

Many of those so-called “linear disturbances” were taken from official sources such as government or industry maps. Many weren't, coming from online resources such as Trailforks or local groups like snowmobile clubs.