Canmore Residents Call for Stronger Protections for Parks and Trails

Canmore residents overwhelmingly value the town’s parks and trails but want stronger protections for natural spaces as population growth, development and millions of annual visitors put increasing pressure on a network many use every day.

That message emerged from the first round of public engagement on Canmore’s updated Open Spaces and Trails Plan, which drew more than 1,364 pieces of input this spring, including 471 online survey responses and 600 location-specific submissions from 147 people through an interactive map. The Town also held a webinar, a community open house and a workshop involving 19 organizations.

While residents broadly supported improving connectivity, accessibility and year-round use, the strongest theme when they were asked what was missing from the Town’s proposed guiding principles was a desire to keep green spaces and trails natural, wild or undeveloped.

At a community input event this spring, one participant urged the Town to preserve the experience of “being immersed in nature and away from development.”

“I love that our trails are not commercialized,” another said. “Keep them wild please.”

Canmore is rethinking how it plans parks, open spaces and trails against a backdrop of rapid population growth, expanding development and rising visitation.

Canmore’s population grew from about 11,760 in 2016 to approximately 17,200 in 2025, an increase of roughly 5,400 people. Projections cited by the Town estimate the permanent population could reach 27,000 by 2050, alongside roughly 4,000 part-time residents and between three million and five million visitors annually.

The feedback will help shape a new long-range plan combining Canmore’s existing open-space policies as part of the broader People, Places and Pathways planning initiative.

The engagement found residents are starting from a position of considerable satisfaction with what Canmore already has, with the Town’s report describing “strong and consistent appreciation” for the existing network, particularly its connectivity and opportunities to experience nature.

That appreciation translated into particularly strong support for environmental protection when respondents evaluated eight proposed principles intended to guide the updated plan.

Of the 468 people who answered the question, 90.8% supported making ecological integrity central to trail and open-space planning to protect wildlife connectivity, habitat and environmental resilience and reduce human-wildlife conflict.

Connectivity followed at 82.9%, while 76.5% supported designing spaces for year-round use and accessibility.

But residents also said something was missing.

When asked what other principles should guide the plan, keeping green spaces and trails “natural,” “wild” or “undeveloped” was the most frequently identified theme, with 49 mentions.

Respondents raised concerns that more paving, lighting, infrastructure and connectivity could diminish wilderness character, disturb wildlife habitat and change the experience of being in nature. Some suggested concentrating more intensive development and accessibility improvements in already busy locations while leaving other spaces less developed.

Development was another prominent concern, appearing 22 times in responses about missing principles. Participants called for existing green spaces to be protected and urged the Town to consider the cumulative effects of population growth, tourism and new development on wildlife and community character as Canmore prepares for substantial growth in areas including Three Sisters Village, Smith Creek and Palliser Trail.

Tourism adds another layer of pressure. Cellphone data from 2019 to 2022 cited in the Town’s background report and drawn from the province’s draft Canmore Area Trails Master Plan indicates 48% of tracked trail users came from Calgary, compared with 29% from Canmore.

Workshop participants raised concerns about overcrowding, parking, visitor behaviour and balancing tourist access with residents’ ability to use local spaces.

Quarry Lake was singled out as a pressure point amid concerns about overcrowding and how much use heavily visited natural areas can sustain.

Tourism Canmore Kananaskis, which submitted the only formal email response during the engagement period, urged the Town to more explicitly account for tourism in the updated plan.

The organization said the Town should ensure “this plan reflects the reality that trails and open spaces are foundational economic infrastructure for the visitor economy.” TCK called for carrying-capacity analysis to guide trail design and visitor management while protecting habitat and wildlife corridors.

At the same time residents are asking for stronger protection of natural areas, they also want improvements to the spaces they use. At the community input event, enhanced amenities were the most frequently raised theme, with 28 mentions. Requests included more washrooms, dog facilities and tennis and pickleball courts.

Connectivity was another priority. Participants praised the ability to move between neighbourhoods without relying on a vehicle while also identifying missing links across the valley and around Palliser.

Another challenge is accommodating more users on an increasingly busy network. Residents raised concerns about pedestrians, conventional bicycles, e-bikes, scooters, families and dog walkers sharing pathways. Suggestions included separating users in high-traffic locations, establishing clearer rules, improving enforcement and providing more education about trail etiquette.

One community-night participant called for “Ways of separating bikes and pedestrians in crowded areas.”

Community organizations and other interest holders placed somewhat different priorities on the plan than the broader public.

Keeping spaces “wild” or maintaining the status quo did not emerge as a dominant theme during the workshop involving 19 organizations. Instead, participants focused more heavily on adaptive management, maintenance, connectivity and amenities.

Many of the concerns are familiar. Engagement that preceded the existing 2015 plan produced similar calls for better trail connections, washrooms and winter maintenance, alongside concerns about wildlife and conflicts between users.

What has changed is the scale of the pressure. Canmore has added thousands of residents since then while visitation and development have continued to grow.

The Town also does not control the entire network residents and visitors use. Trails cross municipal, provincial and private lands, requiring coordination with other landowners and levels of government.

The feedback released this summer does not represent a final plan or approved policy. It will instead be used to develop a draft Open Spaces and Trails Plan, which will return to the community for another round of input before a final plan goes to council.

For now, the engagement suggests Canmore residents largely agree on the value of what they already have. The harder decisions will centre on how to accommodate a growing community and millions of visitors while deciding how much, and in what ways, the parks, trails and natural spaces that define Canmore should change.