Cultured Wilderness in Jasper National Park

Abstract

The upper Athabasca River valley in Jasper National Park has witnessed considerable human influence over the past 200 hundred years. By analysing a wide variety of influences at different times during the past two centuries, this essay considers again the meaning that Canadians accord the idea of wilderness, generally, and the idea of wilderness in the context of national parks, specifically. The discussion is guided by the view that wilderness is itself a human construct, deeply informed by human values, even if those values alter from one epoque to another.