Invasive species lead to access restrictions in B.C., Alberta national parks

Parks Canada is closing all bodies of water in British Columbia’s Kootenay and Yoho national parks, and restricting watercraft in Alberta’s Waterton Lakes National Park in an effort to slow the spread of invasive species.

The lakes, creeks and tributaries in eastern British Columbia will be closed until at least March next year in response to the deadly whirling disease parasite found in fish.

At the same time, non-motorized watercraft from outside park boundaries will not be allowed into Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta, to protect against both whirling disease and invasive zebra and quagga mussels.

British Columbia’s first case of whirling disease was detected in Emerald Lake last year and was later found in Kicking Horse River, Wapta Lake, Finn Creek, Monarch Creek and the confluence of Emerald River and the Kicking Horse River.

Access was first restricted for five months last October, and Francois Masse, Parks Canada’s superintendent for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay, says extending the restrictions another year will help protect fish species including several types of trout and Kokanee.

Locke Marshall, the superintendent for Waterton Lakes National Park, says along with the ban on non-motorized watercraft from outside park boundaries, fishing for all species will no longer be permitted in flowing waters in the park, but will be allowed under current regulations in park lakes.