Banff was Canada's first national park, created in 1885, and has always been its most visited and most famous. Banff National Park has been active in terms of development but in recent decades it has also become active in maintaining ecological integrity. The spotlight of attention that Banff receives ensures it will continue to be a site of intense human use and intense protection. Banff exemplifies the contradictions inherent in maintaining inviolable a place for people, the contradiction at the heart of the national park idea.