AMPPE's Monthly Membership Newsletter.
Your source of up-to-date information in the mountain parks.

THE ASSOCIATION FOR MOUNTAIN PARKS
PROTECTION & ENJOYMENT
protecting parks * protecting tourism
           Volume 7, Issue 1, January - April 2018
Hello AMPPE Members!
In our last newsletter I shared some information about our updated Strategic Plan for 2018 and I am happy to share more details with you now. As The Association for Mountain Parks Protection & Enjoyment heads into its 24th year of operation, we recognize that it is more important than ever to be speaking passionately about the visitor experience in Canada’s Rocky Mountain National Parks. For over 20 years, AMPPE has supported the businesses and service providers in the parks through many challenges and successes, and we are excited to continue this mission with an expanded reach and voice of the thousands of recreationalists that visit our parks every year.

Sir David Attenborough says it best when talking about the balance of experience and ecological integrity in unique environments around the world. In his words: “No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.” AMPPE is the very voice of representing this mission in the rocky mountain national parks. Please take a moment to read the following article published this week for more detail: AMPPE unveils new vision and expanded direction for 2018.

As always please contact me with any questions you may have at 403-762-3800 or by email at  executivedirector@amppe.org

Sincerely,
 
Casey Peirce
Executive Director
AMPPE
Advocacy in Action - Government Meetings and Alberta Budget
Last week AMPPE was recognized in the Alberta Legislature courtesy of Banff-Cochrane MLA Cam Westhead to attend the reading of the 2018-2019 budget.
 
Several meetings resulted from that engagement including time representing AMPPE's Membership with Minister of Tourism Ricardo Miranda and Minister of Finance Joe Ceci.
 
Minister Ceci was in Canmore earlier this week and AMPPE participated in meetings around tourism and its economic value to the region. Topics discussed included:

  • The importance of pursuing resort destination status to help mitigate the high cost of hosting the millions of visitors that choose the rockies as their vacation destination,
  • The labour and housing shortages in the hospitality industry in the rocky mountain national parks
  • The drastic implications to the 9% cut to Travel Alberta in this 2018/2019 budget which is resulting in the termination of marketing to Australia, South Korea and the USA MICE market.
  • The undervaluation of Tourism in reference to the need to diversify Alberta's economy and how we are consistently not a part of that vision despite our substantial role.

Minister Ceci was very interested and engaged in listening to the stakeholders in the room and certainly heard some hard truths about the challenges we face here in the mountain parks.The budget is done and dusted so we can't expect any changes to it, however I feel it was valuable to share the information that we did for future consideration. There was a shared common and expressed sentiment amongst the stakeholders in the room that Tourism does not get its fair share of value recognition in the Alberta economy given what we contribute.

If anyone would like more information on the meetings please reach out to Casey at AMPPE.
AMPPE Annual General Meeting
AMPPE held its AGM on March 13th at the Moose Hotel and Suites in Banff. We are pleased to announced that Mark Howe, Owner of Jasper Whitewater Rafting Company is the new AMPPE Chairman for 2018. A great thank you to Yannis Karlos for his service as Chairman for 2017!

Joining Mark in executive is incoming Vice Chair Alison Brewster of Shadowlake Lodge / Brewster's Mountain Lodge in Banff. We have also welcomed Peter Dubeau, the GM of the Moose Hotel and Suites as a new member of the board. Thank you both for your commitment!

AMPPE would also like to extend a sincere thank you to our outgoing board members:

Francisco Gomez, retired Vice President of Mountain Region and General Manager of Fairmont Banff Springs has been a staunch supporter of AMPPE and has now served the maximum term on our board of directors - three x three year terms - nine years in total. Sincere thanks to Francisco for your dedication and guidance!

Gord Lozeman, President of Caribou Properties has served on the AMPPE Board for an exceptional 17 years and we could not be more grateful for his expertise! Thank you Gord, we will miss you but appreciate that your recommendation of Pete will represent the Banff accommodation segment well.

We also extend thanks to outgoing member representing the Banff Centre - Michael Code, VP of Operations. Thank you Michael for your insight - especially as it relates to the strategic planning that AMPPE has recently undergone.

If you were not able to attend the AGM but would like more information on the presentation please contact admin@amppe.org for a copy of the materials.
Mountain Park News
The Association for Mountain Parks Protection & Enjoyment is a non-profit advocacy organization. AMPPE’s operating budget is funded primarily through membership fees, which support our advocacy initiatives. If you haven't renewed your membership for 2018 please contact the AMPPE office to do so ASAP!
A review and modernization of Parks Canada’s commercial leasing program was initiated in 2017 to identify and implement a 'fair market value model for commercial leases administered by Parks Canada'.   If your organization is experiencing challenges with current or future lease tenure please contact AMPPE.
The Town of Canmore is determining whether it should partner in a bid for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games alongside the City of Calgary. In order to decide whether there is justifiable benefit in partnering in a bid, the Town is looking for community input.
A wildlife overpass to help threatened grizzly bears and other wildlife cross the Trans-Canada Highway east of Canmore is closer to reality than ever before. The news comes at the same time a new study has shown grizzlies need a range of crossing structures to get across highways.
AMPPE advocates for balance between sustainable tourism, ecological integrity, and positive visitor experience in Canada's rocky mountain parks. 
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