Castle area(southwest alberta) soon to be protected area

[Summitric]

[h=1]Province to fully protect Castle area[/h]Commercial forestry in the Castle Special Management Area has been stopped and the process to designate the entire area under Parks’ legislation is underway.

A view of the Lynx Creek Valley within the Castle area. Photo credit: John Novotny

“Protecting the Castle is critically important for the biodiversity and water quality of this entire region. Under Parks’ legislation, and with the input of all Albertans, we will permanently protect this special place for future generations to enjoy as we transition the land to support good local jobs in tourism and recreation.”
Shannon Phillips, Minister of Environment and Parks​

Government is protecting the area with two new designations within the Castle: an expanded Wildland Provincial Park and a new Provincial Park.
Covering nearly 104,000 hectares, the Castle area is an ecologically-diverse expanse of mountains, foothills, forests, grasslands, rivers and lakes in southwestern Alberta. It is prized for its headwaters, biodiversity and functions as a key wildlife corridor. The Castle is culturally significant to First Nations, and forms part of the Crown of the Continent – the mountainous region where Alberta, British Columbia and Montana meet.

“This will mean more visitor signatures in our guestbook from all over Canada, the U.S. and beyond, who come to play in our backyard. As parents of three young kids, we know how special and pristine this area is, and the importance of preserving it for our kids to enjoy with theirs one day.”
Jessica Atkinson, Owner, Stone’s Throw Café, Blairmore ​

“We applaud the government for protecting this significant piece of the southern Alberta Rocky Mountain landscape. As a business owner in a protected area, we know the benefits and jobs they create. These are jobs and opportunities that are compatible with this landscape and preserve the critical watersheds that they hold.”
Beth Russell-Towe, Owner, Bear Mountain Motel​

Designating the Castle under the Provincial Parks Act will allow government to focus on stewardship, protecting and enhancing biodiversity, and boosting the local economy by promoting the area as an outdoor destination for Albertans and out-of-province visitors.
Consultation with Albertans on the future of the Castle Special Management Area begins today and will remain open for the next 30 days. For more information and to participate, please visit albertaparks.ca/consult.
Aboriginal consultation will also begin immediately. The province is fully committed to upholding First Nation Treaty Rights across Alberta.
In addition to discontinuing commercial forestry within the Castle area, there will be a prohibition on surface rights access for any new petroleum and natural gas leases. Existing petroleum and natural gas leases will be honoured. No new tenure will be sold for extracting metallic, mineral, coal or surface resources. Existing leases for metallic, mineral and coal commodities will be cancelled, consistent with direction under the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan. Current livestock grazing permits will be respected.
[h=1]Related information[/h]

• Parks Consultation
• Land Use Secretariat Consultation
• South Saskatchewan Regional Plan
• Provincial Parks Act

[h=1]Multimedia[/h]

• Photo gallery: Castle area

 

[SnowJunkie82]

I thought we had dodged this bullet after the "South Saskatchewan Regional Plan" failed to get traction. Guess I was wrong. It's disappointing as this is my primary winter riding area. Can't really see how this will be a net benefit to the economy in the area. I will add a comment in the Alberta parks forum and would urge others who wish to see this area remain open to off road use to do the same.

 

[Grinder]

On Friday, September 4th, the Provincial Government announced a new Provincial and Wilderness Park in the Castle Mountain area.  This is the first park in Canada to allow the present use of ATV'S on the designated trail system in the Castle area, and also to allow hunting.  Logging is out.  We will no longer be able to ride on pipelines, or power lines, however Environment and Parks has assured us that there will be a lot of money put into the Parks for trail maintenance and upkeep and also possibly new trails to replace lost pipe and power line trails.  The government is holding a 30 day public forum where you can provide your feedback and you are all strongly urged to complete this feedback.  The stronger the voice, the more we can influence our views.  Please go to the following link which explains the Parks and what is allowed and what will not be allowed and take the survey for the feedback. Our office was advised of this announcement 20 minutes prior to it being announced.  Rob Simieritsch, who is the new Regional Director, (replacing Daryl) for Environment and Parks called our office as they themselves had just found out about it.

 



 

From quad squad site

 

[Grinder]

Email from Quad Squad sorry for the long read.

Good Day Everyone. I just wanted to bring you up to speed on our AGM held May 15th, 2016. The following report was given to the attending membership. “I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for coming to our AGM. First and foremost, I would like to extend our board and my personal thanks to Melissa for all the hard work that she has put into the Club. She is an extremely dedicated and hard- working employee and is doing a wonderful job. Over the past year the club has faced many challenges which your board has taken head on with some amazing results. Clearly the biggest challenge was the announcement of the new Parks, and the issue of continuing to ride in the south country. Your board responded with letters to the Minister of Environment outlining why we should be allowed to ride in the Parks. As a result of our efforts we were invited to a general meeting of stakeholders with the Minister, Shannon PHILLIPS to present our case and then a subsequent meeting with only the quad squad and the Minister to discuss how to implement the use of OHV'S in the Park. As a result of these two meetings we were assured in writing that we will be allowed to ride in the new parks and also will be involved in the planning of recreational use in all forestry areas. We found that the best way to prove that we are responsible and care about the environment was to show what the Club had done in the past, our current projects and what we are planning in the future. Our partnership with the Oldman Watershed Council, Cows and Fish and the Flood Rehabilitation program through AE&P also helped our cause. Through our partner-ships, building bridges over the waterways, and promoting good forest stewardship, we have earned a solid reputation as a Club that is concerned about the environment and we are doing something about it. We are well respected by a number of groups and especially the Government. The other major hurdle was the Environmentalist Groups, who were calling for a total ban on OHV use. We again responded with News Releases explaining what we have accomplished and what we will be doing in the future. The majority of groups simply do not know all that we do. For the season opener last year, we had about 40 members attend the dinner and about 30 went on the Guided Rides. We had a total of three rides that weekend and a fun time was had by all. We had members work the Sinister 7 Race, doing the trail sweeping and pulling off the markers. We need more volunteers this year to make things easier and allow for more manageable shifts-day and evening. The race is July 9 & 10 so please advise the office if you can help

Another issue that we dealt with was riding on the roads in the North and South, which are being considered a highway under the Traffic Safety Act. We have met with government officials to try and resolve this issue and progress has been made and changes may be coming to allow us to use roads such as Atlas and Lynx Creek area so that we can travel on the road to get to the next trail head. We teamed up with AE&P to spend our $87,000.00 Grant money to build 3 bridges, one culvert and about 5 kms of new trail around the south shelter, repairing the trail from flood damage. We donated 3 bridges to the Flood Rehabilitation Program which were placed in the south country and a work crew decked two bridges at the end of August. 25 members participated on the ride in August over Crown Mountain into BC and back through Deadman's Pass. A great ride with a few mishaps. Just a reminder to everyone to be mindful of riders behind you –we must wait at turnoffs etc to ensure no riders are left behind. Some of our members attended at Dutch Creek to help Cows and Fish do bank restoration by planting willows. Our season windup was a blast at best with about 30 riders going to the North Kootenay Pass over the new bridges that we donated. Beautiful ride. In September we organized a ride to the Plane Crash taking the students from Nippon to view the Composting Outhouse they designed. It was an eye opener and an experience that they will never forget. We repaired three bridges in the Spoon Valley area late September, adding new decking, rails and strength to the old bridges, and moved one of them to more solid ground.