All-Season Resort Policy Released, First Resort Area Designations Remove Land from Beloved Protected Areas 

Amiskwaciwâskahikan/Edmonton | Moh’kinstsis/Calgary, AB

On December 10, 2025, the Government of Alberta released the new All Season Resorts Policy, outlining the criteria for designating areas and evaluating site-specific development proposals.  

Developing a sustainable tourism economy and offering increased opportunities to access and connect with nature in Alberta is an important step in diversifying our provincial economy. However, it must be done so in a socially and environmentally responsible manner and with opportunities for Albertans to engage in the process.  

Enacted on December 12, 2024, the All Season Resort Act (ASRA) exposes Alberta’s parks, protected areas, and public lands — places cherished by Albertans and vital for biodiversity and ecological integrity — to the development of year-round, privatized resorts. 

While sustainable tourism development is laudable, it is crucial that developments are in appropriate locations and this must be part of a broader land-use plan to improve Alberta’s public lands conservation and increase the parks and protected areas system, not just expand commercial development in regions that are already overburdened by visitation.  

Given the lack of overarching planning in ASRA (details here: All-Season Resorts Act – CPAWS Southern Alberta), the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s Northern and Southern Alberta Chapters are deeply concerned about the accompanying policy. While the policy states that designations must be made in accordance with applicable legislation, we already see the first designations thwarting this direction by changing park boundaries and delisting areas to accommodate expanded developments that may risk environmental values and equitable access to Albertans’ public lands. 

Alongside the release of the new policy, the first three All-Season Resort area designations were announced for:  

• Nakiska Ski Area, including the removal of the Provincial Recreation Area designation; 

• Fortress Mountain Resort, including the removal of 131 hectares of provincial park land; and 

• Castle Mountain Resort, including changes to the boundary of Castle Wildland Provincial Park. 

This has happened without public consultation, and without transparent assessment of environmental impacts. Moreover, it contradicts previous consultation, in which Albertans clearly indicated opposition to new major commercial developments in Alberta’s parks, including Kananaskis Country. 

“The identification of ASRAs at Fortress and Nakiska are a betrayal of Albertans’ desire to not permit any further major developments in Kananaskis Country as clearly expressed during public consultations for the Kananaskis Recreation Policy.” says Steve Donelon, Chair of the Board, CPAWS Northern Alberta and former employee of Alberta Parks and Ministry of Environment and Parks for 35 years. 

Construction of tourism infrastructure, including hotels and expanded recreation infrastructure, can block important habitat and connectivity for Alberta’s wildlife, disrupting their ability to move across the landscape, to eat, and to mate. Parks and protected areas are, in large part, designed to protect wildlife from these types of disturbance.  

“Arbitrary decisions to change boundaries or delist portions of protected areas solely to accommodate infrastructure developments, which would not be allowed within a park, sets a dangerous precedent and threatens the security of Alberta’s protected areas system,” says Katie Morrison, Executive Director of CPAWS Southern Alberta. 

If All-Season Resorts are to move forward, strong safeguards are essential to ensure that conservation and local economic benefits are prioritized, in keeping with the values Albertans have expressed. 

“The new All Season Resort Policy still leaves many questions about whether or not it can protect the very reasons Alberta’s nature is a desirable tourism destination in the first place.” Says Tara Russell, program director with CPAWS Northern Alberta. “Places it has identified for future ASR designation like the David Thompson Corridor, need landscape protection before resort development to ensure that the nature people come to visit is secured into the future. In areas that lack protection in the first place it is putting the cart before the horse.” 

The ecological impact of ASRA will depend largely on the implementation process guided by the policy and regulation. Our government must deliver on mechanisms – including an effective designation process through proper land use planning to avoid ecologically significant areas and align with other land-uses, that would support public recreation access, local community development, and human wildlife coexistence – to conserve our cherished natural spaces and species for current and future generations.  

Here’s what’s needed: 

Land designated for All-Season Resorts should be established through a proper land-use planning process — namely, as part of a subregional planning process or as an issue-specific plan under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act. This approach would ensure appropriate conditions, meaningful consultation, and avoidance of cumulative impacts within designated areas and on adjacent lands and waters. 

The designation process must include clear requirements for Indigenous and public consultation led by the Government of Alberta, as well as explicit avoidance of parks and protected areas.  

A robust land-designation process is essential to evaluate environmental, social, and cultural factors at a broader scale prior to proceeding with site-specific resort approvals. These elements should be embedded in regulation rather than policy, unless they are clearly defined as legislative and binding. 

As Albertans, we must hold our government accountable to this, demanding tourism opportunities that support and ensure public and Indigenous access, local benefits, and meaningful safeguards that protect and conserve vital ecosystems from large-scale privatized development.