Bow Corridor Regional Mobility Partnership (March 2007)
Some encouraging developments in the transportation field in the Bow Corridor. Check the article in the latest CAOC newsletter for this and other news for the outdoor community.
Fees for Provincial Parks: here we go again! (February 16, 2007)
Two cabinet ministers are floating a trail balloon about charging user fees to access provincial parks. (See articles about these comments from Hon. Ted Morton and Hon. Hector Goudreau quoted in the Calgary Herald, and in the Edmonton Journal. Also this Herald Editorial). Our group, and other outdoor recreation enthusiasts, will no doubt be commenting soon. In the meantime, here is the context -- you do the math:
2006 Alberta Program spending: $26,281 million
2006 Alberta Parks & Protected Areas Operating budget: $36.3 million
2006 Alberta Parks & Protected Areas Capital budget: $24 million
Estimated yearly economic impact (value added) of Alberta Parks: $1.2 Billion
Estimated number of visits to Alberta Provincial Parks yearly: almost 9 million (about 7 million are day visits), 89% of visits are by Albertans.
Population of Alberta: As of April 1, 2005, Alberta's population is estimated to be 3,236,906.
Here are links to some articles about parks fees in BC, Alberta, Ontario, and Washington State:
Governments turn parks into Parking Cash Machines (Victoria Times-Colonist, July 2006)
Fee hikes for parks debated by users (Calgary Herald, March 2006)
BC Parks - The Reality (WCWC 2006)
Public Issues at Washington State Parks (In 2006 they discontinued general fees, but still have XC and other fees)
SaveOntarioParks - website by provincial employees' union documents staff cuts despite user fees (2006)
Minister eliminates cross-country ski fees one week prior to election (Calgary Herald, Nov 15, 2004)
Sylvan Lake residents rally to demand better funding for their park (July 1, 2004)
Global warming and snow sports: some thoughts (January 2007)
This
article
in the Nov 23/2006 issue of FFWDWeekly contains some interesting comments
from Alf Skrastins about the effect of a warming climate on skiing, and
the need to accommodate cross-country skiing at higher elevation sites
in the mountains such as Sawmill and Mt. Shark areas in K Country.
Also see this article from BBC: "Swiss Resorts ponder snow decline"
(Left -- skiing on the Sawmill trails, which used to be groomed and trackset regularly before the budget cuts of the 1990's)
Reorganization of government departments - new mandate for Parks? (December 2006)
With the election on Dec 9, 2006 of Ed Stelmach as leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, thus making him Premier, a new cabinet was announced with some reorganization and renaming of government departments. Most of the former Community Development department became the department of Tourism, Parks, Recreation, and Culture under Minister Hector Goudreau. Parks advocates may be interested to read the "mandate letter" addressed to Minister Goudreau from the Premier. Among his priorities is "Develop a plan for provincial parks and recreation areas to accommodate population growth and improve quality of life opportunities." Does this indicate an emphasis on development, as opposed to protection, in our Provincial Parks? Or does it mean that Parks need to be managed to prevent increased visitor pressures from adversely affecting the natural environment in our Parks?
Sheep River & Bluerock Provincial Parks Management Plans: draft includes road and trail closures (September 2006)
"The bottom line is that our access to trailheads and trails is
being threatened".
Click here for the draft management plan (5 Mb). Comment deadline was Sept 30, 2006.
Recreationists should be aware of several issues raised by this plan (and the actions of K Country in 2005-06): the proposed closure of Gorge Creek Road from Hwy 546 to Volcano Day Use site, and the "undesignation" of some hiking trails due to low use and high maintenance requirements. For a summary of KTUA's views, click here. For Alf Skrastin's feedback letter, click here. Also see an article on the CAOC website from Gillean Daffern.
(At right - photo shows deep rutting on Foran Grade trail in 2004.)
Launch of Conservation Voters of Alberta (September 2006)
A new environmental advocacy group has appeared, just in time for the election of a new Progressive Conservative leader in Alberta. Among their concerns is Alberta Parks, where they say "The province should also actively reinvest in parks increasing staff and budget allocations, bringing them back to 1990 levels." Their website is here.
Mt.
Indefatigable Trail Un-designated (August 2006)
The very popular Mt. Indefatigable trail in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park has been "undesignated", due to the projected costs of maintaining it to safe standards. For a Calgary Herald Article, click here. While the always-limited trail-repair funds may have been redirected to other worthy projects, this action raises serious concerns. A non-designated trail does not receive maintenance by Parks, and presumably Parks would not be liable for accidents that happen on it, but people may still travel it at their own risk. How will un-designation prevent people from getting hurt?
Bow Corridor Regional Mobility Partnership (October 2006)
Five government agencies in the Bow Corridor have come together to work on transportation issues. One result is a study on a commuter trail linking Banff, Canmore, and Harvie Heights. More on this later!
The great flood on 2005: repair work underway (August 2006)
Extra funding has been obtained by K Country to repair numerous trails and bridges damaged by the heavy rainfall of June 2005. Work has been underway through 2006 on these projects.
B.C. Parks: still serious funding issues (July 2006)
This excellent report from the Western Canada Wilderness Committee details the funding -- and other -- issues in BC's once superb Parks.
Peter Lougheed & Spray Valley Provincial Parks Management Plan finalized (June 2006)
This management plan, for which public input was solicited way back in 2003, has finally been signed. You may download it here. One issue of interest to recreationists is the possibility of restriction of hiking on routes that are not designated trails, particularly in Spray Valley Provincial Park which has few designated trails. As recreationists who love the wilderness, we should recognize and discuss the conflict between our desire to hike and ski off-trail anywhere we please, and the needs of wildlife to be undisturbed, in the context of a growing human population.
To be applauded is the plan to make Rummel Lake a designated trail (as of December 2006 work has started to mark revisions to the existing informal trail).
Controversy over Logging in Elbow River Watershed (June 2006)
Spray Lakes Sawmills released a draft Forest Management Plan in early June, with a very brief public input period. It called for accelerated logging in the Bragg Creek area of the Elbow River Valley, which will affect some trails and recreation areas there. The resultant storm of controversy can be followed on Braggcreek.ca and in the CAOC newsletters of July 2006 and August 2006.
Trailex website launched (June 2006)
A very useful website, www.trailex.org, has been created by Canmore residents to allow trail users to notify others about wildlife encounters in the Banff to Bragg Creek (Bow Valley) area.
Parks budget includes greater operating funds (March 2006)
The Alberta 2006-07 budget announced on March 22, 2006, provides operating funds to Parks and Protected Areas that are about 18% greater than last year's. This is welcome news, and we hope that it will allow Parks managers to provide more staff and facility maintenance. Parks capital budget is over $20 million, and its operating budget is $42.6 million, totalling $62.6 million. This approaches the all-time high of $66 million (in 2006 dollars) of the 1989-90 budget, though operating budgets comprised a greater proportion at that time. Parks spending takes less than one quarter of one percent of Alberta program spending in 2006-07. References are on the Alberta Finance website.
Canmore
Nordic Centre hosts World Cup competitions (December 2005)
Massive renovations to the trails and facilities at the Nordic Centre were largely completed by December 16, 2005, in time to host World Cup Cross Country ski races. Trail changes, mainly near the stadium area, not only improve viewing and allow for modern ski race formats, but also benefit recreational skiers, with increased snowmaking capabilities, new groomers, and a 6.5 km lighted track. Enlarging the day lodge will have to wait till 2006/07.
See Canmore Nordic Centre - with more photos of the 2005 World Cup - for more information.
CPAWS-Edmonton launches ParkWatch campaign (August 2005)
Canadian Parks and Wilderness is starting a new programme called ParkWatch with a mandate to "help protect and restore Alberta’s Parks and Protected areas into the healthy and sustainable ecosystems that they once were". Both provincial and national parks are in their scope. Please see their webpages -- especially the informative "10 Things you didn't know about Alberta's Provincial Parks system".
Updated trails and facilities in K Country (2005)
Trail users may be interested in the extensive upgrades to trails and backpackers' facilities in the Elbow Lake area. The fine structure in the photo is a "Phoenix Composting Toilet" installed in 2004 as an experiment. Clean and odour-free so far! Metal lockers and a high bar for storing food, tent pads, and gravelled trails in the camping area have greatly improved this heavily-used area. Kudos to K Country staff!
2005 Alberta budget brings more money into Parks! (April 14, 2005)
Alberta Parks & Protected Areas operating budget for 2005-06 is $36 million*, 25% less than in 1992-93, but 35% more than in 2004-05 (expressed in 2004 dollars).
The P&PA capital budget for 2005-06 is over $11 million greater than the figure announced in 2004, which included last year's announcements of funding for the Canmore Nordic Centre, Centennial funding for some visitors' centres, and some water system upgrades. The Capital Plan announced in the 2005 budget will provide $79 million over 3 years of capital funding to Parks. We hope that this will help considerably to repair aging facilities and eroded trails.
For more details see our press release of April 14, 2005 and the government press release of April 18, 2005. Also see this story in the Canmore Leader.
A story in the Calgary Herald of April 15, 2005 quoted Minister Gary Mar as saying: "Kananaskis still looks pretty good, but there's a lot of provincial parks in this province that need some capital monies in order to be restored to the kind of condition they ought to be in....Our parks should be like embassies of what our province is all about....People visiting our parks should see that this embassy is in a pristine condition. Albertans are very very proud of their network of parks and protested places and natural areas in Alberta. They are signatures of the quality of life we enjoy in this province."
A related story quoted Cheryl Robb, spokeswoman for Alberta Community Development, as saying: "Parks bring in $1.3 billion annually to Alberta's economy (and) 8.5 million visitors a year, with 1.5 million of those being out of province".
National Parks receive more money (March 1, 2005)
This story in the Canmore Leader discusses an increase to the budget of Parks Canada for 2005-06 -- "the biggest in the organization's history".
KTUA makes presentation to MLA's (Jan 28, 2005)
View our Presentation.
Kananaskis Trail Users Association, led by Dorothy-Ann Reimer, made a 15-minute presentation to the Calgary Caucus of PC MLA's, in Calgary on Jan 28, 2005. We were honoured that Community Development Minister Gary Mar was in attendance. Mr. Mar's department has prepared a Business Case study about the requirements to bring Parks' infrastructure back up to appropriate standards. He has stated that the capital value of Parks' infrastructure is about $450 million, but they spend only about 1/3 of 1% of that, per year, maintaining it. (Many jurisdictions use 1-3% of the capital cost of a structure as a rule of thumb for yearly maintenance spending).
The object of our presention was to convince MLA's that increased and stable operating budgets, as well as capital funds to rehabilitate infrastructure, are needed for Parks and Protected Areas. "A small investment by the Province of Alberta into Parks will reap unparalleled dividends in terms of health, the environment, and tourism".
We subsequently met and provided the same presentation to Mr. Harry Chase, Liberal MLA for Calgary-Varsity.
These photos show the kind of damage in our parks that is not getting fixed due to insufficient staff and funds. Not the sort of thing that encourages Albertans or tourists to come out to enjoy our wonderful parks!
Fees which were in place for this season at Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Spray Lakes (Mt Shark) and Evan Thomas (Ribbon Creek) trail systems have been discontinued. Fees at Canmore Nordic Centre remain in place.
See the government press release here.
KTUA is concerned that there may be no extra money given to K Country to make up for the lack of fees. Are we going to be faced with locked biffies, closed visitor centres, reduced interpretive programs, or reduced tracksetting, again?
Read KTUA's press release here.
Evan-Thomas Management Plan finalized (Oct 8, 2004)
Alberta Community Development has announced the release of the final Evan-Thomas Provincial Recreation Area Management Plan. Click here for the government news release.
B.C. Parks get better funding - is it enough? (Sep 2004)
This story from the Western Canada Wilderness Committee shows what public pressure can do!
Latest schedule of K Country Cross Country Ski Fees (Sep 27, 2004)
Click here for a recent letter from Alberta Community Development about the fees and where to buy the passes.
Click here for the schedule of fees.
Volunteers needed at Lake Louise Oct 2-3, 2004 (Sep 25, 2004)
National Parks management has just given Alasdair Fergusson of the Calgary Ski Club Lake Louise Loppet permission to organise a joint work crew of National Park staff and ski volunteers to do a variety of trail work that will improve XC skiing at Lake Louise, in Alberta’s snowbelt, for this coming winter.
For more information and to register, please contact Alasdair
Fergusson
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Volunteers needed in K Country October 2004 (Sep 25, 2004)
If you are interested in working on the following trail jobs in October,
please contact Don Cockerton (don.cockerton@gov.ab.ca), or Erika Jensen
of FKC at (403) 678-5500 ext. 279.
- routine clearing of XC ski trails
- completing new snowshoe trail in Ribbon Creek area by removing brush
from trail
- more work on the Montane trail in the Canmore area
Alberta government survey (Sep 3, 2004)
The Alberta government has issued another vaguely-worded survey of people's views on government spending after the debt is paid off. The "It's Your Future" survey is available online at http://www.finance.gov.ab.ca/surveys/itsyourfuture.html and has also been mailed out.
The surveys are to be completed by September 24, 2004.
Health and education spending will obviously top most people's priorities,
and that has caused parks, the environment, and trail-based recreational
opportunities, to fall off the politicians' radar. It is worth trying
to raise the profile of these relatively low-cost departments. Please
consider adding a few words about them when you complete your survey.
Many advocacy groups will be trying to use this
survey to get their message across, so let's get our cause in, too.
There are only two places in the survey where you can enter options of
your own choice. One place is limited to 300 characters, the other, 3
lines of 50 characters. Here are a few suggestions that fit these spots:
- Fund a capital reinvestment strategy for provincial parks infrastructure, similar to City of Calgary.
- Restore adequate sustainable operating funds to parks and wildlife-related departments.
- Provide grants to community groups to build and maintain outdoor recreational trails and facilities.
- Protect wildlife, wilderness, clean environment.
- Provide 1st class parks and rec opportunities.
- Invest in trails for healthy cheap recreation.
- Invest in wildlife protection
- When the oil is gone, ensure that a clean environment and parks remain to attract tourism.
- Improved Parks and outdoor recreation are cheap ways to keep Albertans healthy and attract tourism. Restore parks, wildlife protection funding.
Mountain biking trails in National Parks (July 27, 2004)
This story from the Banff Crag and Canyon talks about pressures to improve mountain biking trails in the National Parks.
Sylvan Lake residents rally to demand better funding for their park (July 1, 2004)
Here is an article about residents' dissatisfaction with Sylvan Lake Park upkeep and proposals for municipal takeover.
Sylvan Lake News reported that "Provincial officials attending a rally in Sylvan Lake on Canada Day received a rough time from the crowd concerned about the future of Sylvan Lake Provincial Park. They were heckled and told point blank the provincial government is not doing the job it’s supposed to be doing in maintaining the park. They were also told loudly NO to user fees.....".
Canmore Nordic Centre funding announced (June 23, 2004)
The provincial government has announced that they will spend $16.5 million to upgrade the Canmore Nordic Centre to international competition standards. Details in the Alberta Community Development news release. The Nordic Centre was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics and is used heavily by cross-country skiers, mountain bikers, disc golfers, and dog sledders.
Click here for a story from the Canmore Leader of June 30, 2004.
Skier
on the Banff Trail at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
Friends of K Country Trail Care group begins 2004 season (May 2004)
We encourage all
our members to participate in volunteer trail work with the Trail Care
Group. Work days are the second Saturday of each month, May-Sept, but
sessions on other dates can be arranged for your group. For more information,
contact Erika Jensen of Friends of Kananaskis Country (403)678-5500 ext.
279. See Friends'
website too. Erika says, "This year in addition to our regular
trail maintenance duties we are in the process of building 5 new trails
within the Canmore area. Volunteer members of the Bow Valley Trails Advisory
Group have worked with the Town of Canmore, Alberta Community development
and the MD of Bighorn to come up with a network of trails that will accommodate
the ever-expanding user groups and
will also help to protect important wildlife habitat. Please let me know
if
you are interested in assisting with these special and important projects."
Update June 2004: the first two sessions of the Trail care group have been very successful. In addition to work on hiking/biking trails, over 100 members of the Alberta United Recreationists Society participated June 12 in a work session on the MacLean Creek ORV trails.
K Country East - Recreation and Industry (April 2004)
K Country staff have initiated the "East K Country Trails Review" to pro-actively seek user input about areas in the east part of K Country which may be affected by industry in coming years. This is to provide input into Spray Lakes Sawmill's FMA planning process, and to prepare for proposed oil and gas developments. Two workshops have been held, with several reps from local hiking, equestrian, biking, ski and other clubs, and a draft report circulated.
Trail Fees for Cross Country Skiing in K Country (March 2004)
The 2004-05 Alberta budget included the approval for new user fees for cross-country skiing at three sites in K Country (Canmore Nordic Centre has charged a fee for several years now). The three sites are: Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, Ribbon Creek, and Mt Shark. As of July 2004 there has been no formal announcement, but Visitor Centre staff have supplied some details on trail fee rates for 2004-05. We have been assured by Parks staff that all monies collected will go back into the operations of ski trail grooming, estimated at about $300,000 annually.
This fee has been controversial. Many of our members think that it is reasonable to ensure the long-term viability of groomed XC trails by charging a fee, and see it as no different from charging a fee for a campsite. Others view the low net profit on collecting such a fee as an argument against it, and fear that it will deter some skiers from skiing. Fees are charged by commercial entities and most clubs who operate groomed XC trails outside of K Country. See KTUA's press release.
Alberta Budget 2004 - capital reinvestment in Parks but no increase in operating funds (March 2004)
The 2004-05 Alberta budget included an additional $21 million in capital funds for Parks, allocated mainly for water/sewage projects throughout the system. This is good to see, since the total capital budget for all of Alberta's 12 parks has been around $1.26 million per year for several years now. However, operating budgets remain substantially unchanged from the last couple of years. See government news release. Read KTUA's press release.
KTUA publishes "Kananaskis Country 25 years later" (October 2003)
KTUA distributed several thousand copies of its leaflet in the 25th year of Kananaskis Country's official existence. The Calgary Herald's story on Nov 24, 2003 quoted Minister of Community Development Gene Zwozdesky as saying "Quite frankly, I share these concerns and recognize we need more money for park infrastructure and am doing my darndest to get it...Kananaskis Country is the crown jewel of our provincial parks. We've tried our best to keep it at that level, but we do need to step up our attention to it".
Download the leaflet (555 kb pdf file) here. If you need Adobe Reader (free download), click on the symbol below.
Corrections: The downloadable version, we have corrected two errors that we found since the original leaflet was published.
Fears of losing XC ski trail grooming (Fall 2002)
View a clipping from the Calgary Herald from November 2002. This story errs in giving the impression that minimum-security inmates did ski trail grooming; they in fact did manual labour allowing the skilled Parks staff to do grooming.