Parks Canada just published the results of its second round of public consultation on Lake Louise, Moraine Lake and Paradise Valley.
Nearly 1,700 people responded to three surveys run between 3 February and 9 March 2026. The topic: how to fix the parking and congestion problems that anyone who's tried to get to Lake Louise on a summer morning already knows about.
This is Phase 2 of a two-part process. Phase 1, back in fall 2024, set the broad goals. Phase 2 tested the actual tools to get there.
One quick distinction: this isn't the Lake Louise Community Plan update. That's a separate process dealing with the townsite itself. This is about the trails, roads and parking lots.
Four Options for Upper Lake Louise
Moraine Lake has been off-limits to personal vehicles since 2023. Upper Lake Louise hasn't - it's still first-come, first-served paid parking, and Parks Canada tested four ways that could change:
Scenario A - keep the current system as-is
Scenario B - add parking reservations, no entry restrictions
Scenario C - add reservations with a timed entry window and fixed length of stay
Scenario D - cut personal vehicles entirely, shuttle and transit only
Scenario B came out on top overall.
The status quo - Scenario A - was the least popular choice, rejected by nearly half of respondents. Calgary-area respondents were the most forgiving of it.
Scenario D was the one that split the room. It got the most first-choice votes and nearly as many last-choice votes. Bow Valley residents and Canadians from outside Alberta liked it best. Calgary respondents ranked it last almost twice as often as Bow Valley respondents did.
There was also a general survey covering the whole area. Wildlife and ecosystem protection scored highest for perceived effectiveness. Managing congestion and access scored lowest.
Moraine Lake: Five Actions on the Table
Parks Canada isn't proposing to change how Moraine Lake works so much as tighten what's already there. The five actions:
Cap daily transit volumes, using commercial access permits and set arrival windows
Keep a mix of arrival options rather than handing it to one shuttle provider
Keep fees low enough that access stays affordable
Close the road during sensitive hours or seasons to protect wary carnivores
Improve cyclist safety on the road itself
Just over half of respondents thought these would improve the visitor experience. Fewer than half thought they'd help wildlife.
On capacity limits specifically, about a third supported a hard cap because they see the area as overcrowded. Almost everyone who said that also raised a concern in the same breath - local access, commercial operator volumes, affordability, or room for mountaineers heading into the backcountry.
Paradise Valley: A Quieter Conversation
Two actions here. Manage how many hikers get dropped off and picked up at the trailhead, possibly through reservations or a lottery. And close the area seasonally each spring and early summer so grizzlies can use it undisturbed.
This section got less engagement than the others - about a quarter of respondents skipped it entirely. Not Bow Valley residents, though. Almost all of them worked through it.
Support for both actions topped 65 per cent. The pushback split two ways: some thought the measures went too far, others thought they weren't needed given how quiet the valley already is.
What Locals Actually Asked For
One theme showed up again and again: preferential access for locals. "Local" meant different things to different people - Bow Valley residents, Albertans generally, sometimes all Canadians - but reserved parking blocks and tiered pricing for non-locals both came up repeatedly.
People were open to higher fees as a management tool, as long as the money visibly goes back into the site.
And there was a consistent ask to make reservations easier and closer to the visit date, alongside real worry about bots and resale. Random draws and rolling booking windows kept coming up as the fix.
Who Actually Responded
Worth knowing before you weigh any of these numbers: this skewed local. Roughly a quarter to a third of respondents live in the Bow Valley. Another 40 to 44 per cent are from the Calgary region.
Parks Canada says this itself - it doesn't match who actually visits Banff National Park. Regional voices were overrepresented in an open online survey.
What Happens Next
Parks Canada now assesses feasibility, viability and desirability of everything above. A final plan is expected in fall 2026, with any changes on the ground following in 2027 at the earliest.
One concrete number to hang onto: Parks Canada has committed to 18 months' notice before any major access change at Moraine Lake. Nothing here points to a change at Upper Lake Louise for this summer or next either.
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