Alberta’s Crown land vision
By Lethbridge Herald Opinion on December 23, 2020.
For those who call Alberta home, we are blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. It doesn’t matter where you hang your hat in this great province. Whether you live in the south along the wide open prairies, the north under the huge boreal forest or near the iconic eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, we all cherish our rich diversity of landscapes and our abundance of resources.
Our shared love for the land and our desire to protect it for our grandchildren and their children is what drives us. It also motivated our ancestors. In Alberta’s early days, the government set aside public lands to be managed by the Crown. Later, a parks system was also set aside to make sure all Albertans could enjoy the outdoors through recreation and camping while also protecting biodiversity. Together, parks and public lands – known as Crown lands – were administered under one system to be managed by the government for all Albertans and Indigenous peoples. Today, our Crown lands cover a vast amount of our province – about 60 per cent and are used for recreation, conservation and economic development.
Many existing policies were drafted with the notion in mind that specific areas of Crown land only have one use. Crown land policies need to recognize the fact that the land owned by all Albertans is used for multiple purposes, included those listed above.
The Alberta Crown Land Vision is our way forward. This vision will guide our work toward creating a common-sense approach to Crown land management by finding the right balance, simplifying the system, making sure we focus on outcomes, not processes, and support recreation in a way this province can afford and help us work as partners with communities, municipalities and Indigenous peoples who use Crown land to practise treaty rights.
This was our commitment to Albertans when we ran in 2019 and it remains our commitment.
It means understanding different perspectives to find the approach that works best for everyone. In some areas, a working landscape will be ideal with a mix of uses and various benefits. In other areas, conservation will be the main priority. We will use these diverse voices to update old, out-of-date Crown land rules that overlap with or duplicate other rules. We will update legislation and regulations that have accumulated over the years. We will simplify and make the rules easy to understand. And we will focus on outcomes – namely environmental protection, recreation and economic development – rather than further burdening Albertans with an overly administrative process that can get bogged down.
An important part of effectively managing Crown land is supporting sustainable outdoor recreation opportunities for Albertans to enjoy. To address the challenges of the increasing demand for recreation and trails in parks and on public land, we have committed to bring forward new measures, such as a Trails Act and fee framework, that will help deliver on those expectations. We want to hear from you about ways we can help make this happen.
You have the opportunity to share your ideas on how to support the development and sustainable use of trails, including how funding is generated and how dollars can be re-invested into recreation while also supporting education and enforcement activities.
You can also share your thoughts on how to strengthen partnerships with non-profit groups, businesses, municipalities and Indigenous communities, who have an important role in supporting fun, responsible and sustainable recreation on Crown land.
Please visit alberta.ca and search “sustainable outdoor recreation engagement” to participate and share your ideas.
Over the coming weeks and months, there will be other opportunities for Albertans to provide input on other Crown land initiatives. Together, we will create a clear, understandable system for land use, support sustainable funding and partnerships for recreation, and reduce red tape so we can focus on achieving the outcomes Albertans expect.
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What a load of two-faced horsepucky…….
I guess ‘working landscape’ means blasting the tops off mountains, dumping the rock into the river valleys, and mining coal to the detriment of wildlife, clean air, and clean water.
And, with what is left, people will have to pay a fee to access.
Clearly, the UCP does not care for our wilderness or for all Albertans to be able to enjoy nature
Right on! Sickening allowing this for 80 f/t permanent jobs.
Australian mining company pays for new clubhouse and golf course in CNP.as a PR stunt. That is the lowest of low. Are people that naive?
Jason K and his corporate leaning buddies think so.
What a bunch of doublespeak. Jason Nixon’s “complicated” history with parks and protected areas, and his preference for “anything goes”, is well known. This whole initiative is an effort to relax the rules to reward his buddies in industry and motorized recreation. For Nixon, there are just too many rules that keep “Real” Albertans from raisin’ hell.
Wait.
You want citizens to PAY to make use of Public Lands?
Are you an idiot? Or a corporate lackey looking to pocket more of our money than you’ve already wasted?
Oh and PS. – Get your Australian Coal Mining off of our property. We don’t need them (Or you) destroying any more of the dwindling legacy we have.
Nor do we need them (Or you) poisoning our watersheds for multiple generations.
Or did you forget the cesium and arsenic that are already in the watershed because of industrial scale coal and oil?
Understanding the coal mining in particular has a legacy going back to before we knew what to look for. And we’re still dealing with THAT.
Man. The UCP is just full of BS.
kinda brings tears to the eyes this does. not sentimental ones, mind you. the anger and disgust displayed in the responses to the ucp bs are, hopefully, just a smidge of the deep rooted feelings of the great majority of albertans. just what we all need on top of all else vexing us these says, a lump of coal for xmas.