BANFF-KANANASKIS – The Banff-Kananaskis NDP candidate is worried an Alberta government ministry shuffle will weaken protections for parks in the province, including areas within the local riding.
Under the changes made last week by Premier Danielle Smith, Alberta Environment and Parks is being split in two: the Environment and Protected Areas ministry and the Forestry, Parks and Tourism ministry.
Canmore-based NDP candidate Sarah Elmeligi and the national conservation organization, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), say most troubling is the merging of parks and forestry into a single ministry, and the potential for changes in allowable activities contrary to environmental protection.
“Splitting this off just looks like Danielle Smith is trying to weaken protections of a land base that Albertans have very clearly shown support for,” said Elmeligi, who was a park planner for Alberta Parks from 2016-19.
No one from the province nor current Banff-Kananaskis MLA Miranda Rosin, who is now the UCP’s new parliamentary secretary of tourism, got back to the Outlook.
However, the premier has stated to another media outlet that her intent behind the decision is to give forestry, which is a major economic driver, more prominence. She said attitudes need to shift to recognize that parks are for use and noted that forestry is also a way to open up the parks.
This is a big worry for Elmeligi, who noted managing access is one of the existing challenges within parks and protected areas.
“Incursions of ATVs, motorized trails from public land use zones into parks, is one of the current challenges that many of our parks face in terms of human use management – that’s not an opportunity,” she said.
“I worry that this move could weaken protections by perhaps looking at access for motorized recreation into some of our parks, and that is potentially very concerning, especially for parts of Banff-Kananaskis land base where we have public lands bordering protected areas.”
According to CPAWS, the change in ministries transfers management of almost 94 per cent of the land mass previously managed as protected areas under Alberta Environment and Parks into the new Forestry, Parks and Tourism portfolio.
The Provincial Parks Act and Willmore Wilderness Park Act are now under the authority of the Forestry, Parks and Tourism Ministry. This includes all provincial parks, provincial recreation areas, wildland provincial parks and the Willmore Wilderness Park.
CPAWS says the change leaves less than five per cent of Alberta’s protected areas to be managed under the new Environment and Protected Areas ministry.
Katie Morrison, executive director of CPAWS’ southern chapter, said this raises concerns over the potential reduction or loss of protections in these ecologically important areas.
“All parks are meant to provide a form of environmental protection,” she said in a news release.
“By transferring the management of our wildland provincial parks and the Willmore Wilderness Park to a department that ostensibly will only manage them for tourism and may even allow industrial activities to take place within them is shocking,” she said.
Chris Smith, a conservation analyst with CPAWS’s northern chapter, said the dual biodiversity and climate crises have illuminated the need to put in place greater protections for land and water in Alberta, augmenting the group’s concern over the merging of parks and forestry.
“Albertans have been clear that they want more protected places in Alberta, not fewer, and that they oppose any removal or reduction of protections for our parks,” he said in a news release.
