On a mild November weekend this past fall, forty-five high school students, representing ten communities in and around the Canadian Rockies, gathered for the First Annual “Canadian Rockies Youth Summit” in Jasper National Park. On the agenda were topics ranging from wildlife conservation amidst increasing tourism development to creating meaningful Indigenous reconciliation opportunities within our national parks.

Above: Participants at the Canadian Rockies Youth Summit in Jasper, November 2019. Photo: Ben Green

The fact that so many high school students gave up a valuable weekend to meet together to discuss such topics is indeed a rare occurrence. What’s even more unique, however, is the fact that this was a Summit completely designed, managed, and hosted by the students, which included us and other attendees. We are four Calgary students, concerned about how the areas in the Rocky Mountains are being managed. We took it upon ourselves to create a meaningful learning experience with experts, stakeholders, and other youth from across western Alberta and eastern B.C. so that we would be more capable of providing input in our own communities, as well as engaging in wider provincial and federal efforts.

We were not sure if we would get any buy-in from other students when we sent the idea out to other schools. However, we learned quickly that we were not the only ones with such concerns. There is something about how these landscapes are changing that inspired students from north to south to want to be more involved. They came from as far south as Crowsnest Pass and the Kainai Reserve and as far north as Grande Cache, Alberta.

Even with the student interest, we were not sure how we would ever get the Summit off the ground in terms of funding, organizing, and all those other things required to host such an event. We could not believe how lucky we were, though, to be supported to pursue this idea from not only our parents and teachers, but by conservation and education organizations, such as CPAWS, Y2Y, the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, Inside Education, the Canadian Mountain Network, government agencies, the Assembly of First Nations, local businesses, post-secondary institutions, and local community foundations and organizations, like the Calgary Foundation, the Jasper Lions Club and Jasper Rotary Club. We think these organizations noticed the concerns we brought forward, as well as the uniqueness of this student-led initiative, and they acted accordingly. We believe there is a lesson to be learned here for all youth seeking to create their own conservation initiatives.

At the end of the Summit, we collaborated to write a report outlining our commitment to sustainable development in the mountain ecosystems now and in the future. You can read that report by visiting the conference website.

The document highlights our main concerns as youth growing up in and around the Canadian Rockies, and our ideas for solutions to some of the issues facing this region. Each community penned their own section of the document with their respective ideas and concerns in mind, allowing for every student to have an impact on the final working draft.

Here is a summary of our conclusions and recommendations: Youth are worried about the increasing pressures of human activities on some sensitive areas – both protected and unprotected areas. Youth want to be meaningfully engaged in decision-making. Youth want to be more involved in the management of these areas regardless of the jurisdiction. In order to make this an effective and accountable decision-making body, work should be done to increase stewardship education to youth. Indigenous youth should be a focus of future co-management of spaces, industries, and management plans. Youth should have more opportunities to take part in active stewardship through their schools, as well as conservation mentorship programs.

Students visiting the Ewan and Madeline Moberly Homestead, Jasper National Park. Photo: Ben Green

All Canadian students should learn more about their natural areas, including the Rocky Mountains. Education should be a priority for management. More educational facilities are needed so that more youth can develop strong connections to the land and protected spaces. The amount of people accessing these mountain areas is exponentially rising. However, nobody seems to know exactly by how much – there is no large-scale baseline data to show who is coming and what they are doing in the mountains. More information is needed. Youth want to be part of this science.

Indigenous people have been historically mistreated in the management of these areas, and this is something that Canadians do not know about. This needs to change. Indigenous groups should have more input in the management of these areas, especially protected areas like provincial and national parks.

Industry – whether it’s tourism or the natural resource development sectors – must work more closely with stakeholders to create a shared vision of sustainability in these areas. Science and traditional knowledge must guide the work.

Wildlife exists in increasingly fragmented portions of these mountain regions. These areas are only marginally habitable for many species that require room to move and thrive, like grizzly bears, for example. More protected areas should be established that connect mountain regions to the prairie for the sake of many species.

Climate change will see an end to most alpine glaciers within our lifetime. All students should have the opportunity to see and learn about them before they are gone.

More user-funding collection options should be considered for provincial parks and crown land.

The necessity for B.C. Parks, Alberta Parks, and Parks Canada to provide a youth engagement process for management decisions is essential.

Support is necessary to run the Second Annual Canadian Rockies Youth Summit.

More than anything else, the Canadian Rockies Youth Summit proved that there is a tremendous desire from youth to be involved with the management and planning of our collective mountain places. We are hoping that those reading this will reach out to their networks and find a way to help us be part of the conversation, for today, and for the future.

Ben Green, Lucas Braun, Alex Stratmoen, and Destinee Doherty are students in the Energy and Environmental Innovation class at Central Memorial High School in Calgary, Alberta. Adam Robb, their teacher, helped with the editing of this article.

The Canadian Rockies Youth Summit: A New Voice in Mountain Conservation