Coalition calls for limits on off-road vehicles in Alberta to protect water

A designated off-road vehicle trail and sign post in the Castle Wilderness Area of Southern Alberta in October 2012. Gavin Young / Calgary Herald archives

Coalition calls for limits on off-road vehicles in Alberta to protect water

by Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald, January 25 2015

Alberta’s conservation community is calling for strict limits on off-road vehicles on public lands and a total ban on their use in parks and protected areas in the Eastern Slopes of the Canadian Rockies to look after water and wildlife. 

The move, which is supported by dozens of scientists and environmental groups, comes a few months after the NDP government announced the expansion of an existing wildland provincial park and the addition of a new provincial park in the Castle. 

It shut out logging, mining and future oil and gas surface development, but it still allows for off-highway vehicle use on designated trails.

Read more here: http://calgaryherald.com/…/coalition-calls-for-limits-on-of…

Read AWA new release here: https://albertawilderness.ca/easternslopescommunique/

H/T to Kevin Van Tighem & Jordan Pinkster
 
‪#‎bowriver‬ | ‪#‎flyfishing‬ | ‪#‎yyc‬ | ‪#‎CastleWildnerness‬

From CPAWS: Only 1 day left

CPAWS Southern Alberta reminds us: "Only 1 day left to have your say about the Castle Wilderness area. Provide comments to the minister here http://bit.ly/1FOv1PA"

Alberta government bans logging, mining, and oil and gas expansion in Castle area

Haig Pass, coming out of the Flathead and looking into the upper West Castle — the heart of the area protected by the province Friday. For the Calgary Herald

Alberta government bans logging, mining, and oil and gas expansion in Castle area

 by Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald, Sept 04, 2015

CROWSNEST PASS — The province is protecting the entire Castle area in southern Alberta as two parks, banning forestry and mining and and turning its focus to recreation and tourism in the area.

Read more here:  http://calgaryherald.com/…/alberta-moves-to-protect-vast-ca…

Image, courtesy Calgary Herald

Trout Unlimited Canada writes: 

"Today, Alberta Environment and Parks’ Minister Shannon Phillips announced the protection of the Castle Special Management Area in southwestern Alberta. This unique and special part of the province will be protected by expanding an existing Wildland Provincial Park and creating a new Provincial Park. The Castle is a special place for many Albertans. It provides important fish and wildlife habitat and forms a big part of the headwaters of the Oldman River Basin. The additional 1,040 square kilometers of Provincial Park is a great step towards the protection of our water resources. The park designation means there will be no more commercial logging within the area. There will also be a prohibition on surface rights access for new oil and gas leases. The park designation also allows the provincial government to create new campgrounds within the area. The province is looking to reduce the industrial impacts on this landscape and develop recreational and tourism opportunities.

Please visit the Newsroom on our site for additional links including how you can provide feedback."

CPAWS Southern Alberta | Crowsnest Café & Fly Shop | Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative | Alberta Wilderness Association| Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition |

Conservationists say southern Alberta land-use plan lacks flood protection

Conservationists would like to see the Castle wilderness area in southwestern Alberta fully protected under the province’s new land-use plan for the region.
Photograph by: Gavin Young , Calgary Herald

Conservationists say southern Alberta land-use plan lacks flood protection

“We’re missing our greatest opportunity here in decades”

By Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald October 29, 2013

BANFF — A draft land-use plan for southern Alberta offers no new protection for flooding in the area, according to conservationists.

Read article here: http://bit.ly/1cqKkPc

Locals are part of the problem in Castle wilderness

Fresh snow blankets a cut block and a stack of waste lumber in the Castle Wilderness Area of Southern Alberta on Wednesday October 3, 2012. Photograph by: Gavin Young , Calgary Herald

Locals are part of the problem in Castle wilderness

By Vic Urban, Calgary Herald October 25, 2012

Re: "Recreation leaving scars in Castle wilderness, groups warn," Oct. 23, "Tensions linger over Castle wilderness logging," Oct. 22, and "Battle for the Castle," Oct. 20.

I have been following your series of articles and was expecting Karl Giesler's assertion that outsiders are causing the destruction. I take exception to that because I have been visiting the area since the 1980s and have repeatedly seen locals building outhouses over the river, shooting clay pigeons over the river, and committing multiple acts of drunken idiocy.

Last summer, my wife and I went to the Castle Falls Recreation Area and witnessed a group of youths drinking beer and throwing the empties into the river. An officer with Sustainable Resources Development came by and attempted to ticket them; they were from Bellevue.

The most astonishing event occurred when the father of one of the youths showed up, asked that the group be let off, and when the officer denied his request, the father replied: "I know your boss; you don't know who you are dealing with."

Logging, oil and gas exploration and other industrial activities do have an impact in the area. However, I believe the biggest impact is the sheer volume of people utilizing, and in many cases, abusing, this beautiful and unique place.

Vic Urban, Calgary

Off-road users and campers causing damage in Castle area

Groups concerned about the ecological health of the Castle wilderness say random campers are causing damage in the region, including cutting the branches off trees to feed campfires.

Photograph by: Gavin Young, Calgary Herald

Off-road users and campers causing damage in Castle area

Environmentalists and locals say more enforcement needed

Part 3 of 3

By Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald October 23, 2012

CASTLE WILDERNESS AREA — A citizens group says a sense of lawlessness has overtaken the Castle wilderness area, with random camping and off-road vehicle use causing damage to the environmentally sensitive area in southwestern Alberta.

The area, which includes lands south of Crowsnest Pass and north of Waterton Lakes National Park, is a watershed for dozens of downstream communities and provides critical habitat for grizzly bears and wolves.

But it’s also a hot spot for random camping and off-road enthusiasts — leading to problems similar to Ghost-Waiparous near Cochrane and McLean Creek near Bragg Creek, where off-road vehicle damage and littered campgrounds led to tough new management strategies.

“A lot of the off-road vehicle abuse is in the south Castle,” said Wendy Ryan, outreach and stewardship co-ordinator for Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition, a citizens group concerned about the ecological health of the area. “Since we have no enforcement on the land anymore, unless someone calls the RCMP or the conservation officers, the forest guardians cannot do anything.

“All they can do is educate,” she said.
 
Read more here

Battle for the Castle: Environmentalists hope to limit logging, drilling in sensitive area

Sarah Elmeligi, a senior conservation planner with the southern Alberta chapter of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, stands near Castle Falls in the Castle wilderness area in southern Alberta on Wednesday October 3, 2012. Environmental groups, including CPAWS, say the provincial government is not adequately protecting the Castle wilderness area, which was part of the Special Places program.  Photograph by: Gavin Young, Calgary Herald

Battle for the Castle: Environmentalists hope to limit logging, drilling in sensitive area

Part 2 of 3

By Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald October 22, 2012

CASTLE WILDERNESS AREA — Along the dramatic southeastern edge of the Canadian Rockies, fresh snow hangs off the yellow leaves of the trees, slowly melting into a trickling creek. Castle Falls, a nearby waterfall, flows a brilliant shade of turquoise.

It’s called the Castle wilderness, one of the most biologically diverse areas in the province.

Sixteen years ago, the stunning area about 230 kilometres southwest of Calgary was identified by the province as a hot spot worthy of protection under the Special Places program it had created a year earlier.

A local committee was struck and the idea debated, but it proposed the region instead become a multiple-use zone — a designation that prioritizes watershed health and recreational value, but allows industrial uses such as logging and oil and gas exploration.

As a result, the Castle was officially protected by the province in 1998 as both an ecological reserve and special management area.

“It’s a special place, but it’s managed as a public land-use zone,” said Sarah Elmeligi, a senior conservation planner with the southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. “At the time, people didn’t really want a park.

“There’s a lot of aversion to government control in this part of the province.”

She and others say the last decade hasn’t been kind to the popular area. And now, the debate over the level of protection is heating up once again.

Read more here