The ARP supports purposeful travel by creating a heritage destination and gateway to Banff. It integrates sustainability for people and wildlife movement, education around local history and culture, and extraordinary experiences that deepen the connection to the Park.

This Plan will create a sense of place that infuses the journey with purpose—visitors and residents mutually benefit with stronger connections between cultures and greater respect for the natural environment.

In the past, the ecosystem and tourism in Banff National Park were seen by some as competing priorities – enhancements to one would come at the expense of the other. The result was often maintaining the status quo which, in the face of rising visitation, has led to erosion of both the environment and visitor experience. This problem’s solution, pioneered by leading sustainable destinations like Zion National Park, Utah and Zermatt, Switzerland, is to employ a “Lower Each Visitor’s Environmental Footprint” (LEVEF) sustainability model.

The Plan is based on the principles of the LEVEF sustainability model to create an Eco-Transit Hub: a multi- modal, sustainable transportation centre that supports the coexistence of people and wildlife movement. The plan is a “Back to the Future” reimaging that rehabilitates and builds habitat for wildlife corridors. It restores and transforms the historic Banff Train Station and its surrounding lands into a gathering place and transit point to support movement to the town’s and park’s points of interest.