The provincial government has released a full list of cuts coming to Alberta’s parks system.
There will be 11 full closures, including Little Fish Lake Provincial Park and Bleriot Ferry Provincial Recreation Area near Drumheller, and nine partial closures – where the parks will stay open to the public but there will be no services – including the elimination of comfort camping at Dinosaur Provincial Park northeast of Brooks.
Another 164 parks have been identified for proposed removal from the system with the UCP saying they are very small and under-utilized.
In the immediate Lethbridge area that includes Park Lake Provincial Park, the Oldman River and Chin Coulee Provincial Recreation Areas, the Little Bow Reservoir, Travers Reservoir, Jensen Reservoir and Waterton Reservoir PRAs.
The government says these sites, and dozens more, could potentially stay open through partnerships with First Nations, municipalities, and non-profits or become vacant public land.
Several of the 164 sites have overnight uses and day/group uses and it’s not yet clear which areas will be affected by the potential for third-party management. A request for clarification from Environment and Parks has so far gone unanswered while a statement on the AEP website says “an expression of interest process for these sites is in development. More information about the initiation of this process will be available by May 1, 2020.”
The base camping rate at most campgrounds will also rise by $3 and rates for power, water, sewers and showers will increase by $1 where services are available.
For a full list of changes coming to provincial parks visit the Government of Alberta website.