Albertans Want More Wilderness Protected

January 22, 2018
By: admin

Albertans Want More Wilderness Protected

Alberta is home to some of the world’s best landscape for recreation. The demand for outdoor recreation is growing as the population grows. However, we can love our parks and wilderness areas to death if we don’t have a plan for sustainable use for the future.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Southern Alberta and Northern Alberta chapters commissioned The Praxis Group to survey Albertans about their recreational activity use and their behaviour, attitudes and values related to nature and outdoor recreation. The survey was developed the survey with input from academics, conservation and recreation groups and government planners.

This survey is foundational because:

It is the first to identify both what is happening on the landscape and the values Albertans hold about wilderness, public lands and recreation.
It is representative of Alberta’s entire adult population province-wide.
It is broken down according to Alberta’s seven Land Use Framework (LUF) regions (Lower Peace, Upper Peace, Lower Athabasca, Upper Athabasca, North Saskatchewan, Red Deer, South Saskatchewan)

The findings show that the majority of Albertans are participating in some form of outdoor recreation. The results also show Albertans prefer non-motorized recreation, and they support wilderness and protection.

The Threat

The demand for outdoor recreational opportunities is growing as the population grows and more people are exploring and moving to this region. While connecting with wilderness is an important part of living in this beautiful province, we need to plan ahead to ensure we are protecting our water, wildlife and wilderness experiences.

What CPAWS is doing?

We are sharing the results across Alberta. To be used by recreation groups, conservation organizations, municipalities, government land-use planners and others to help inform future land-use planning to conserve Alberta wilderness, ecosystems and communities.

CPAWS is participating in the land-use planning process in both the development of regional land use plans, such as the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan, and in the resulting Management Frameworks including the recreation management plans. CPAWS SAB will continue to provide recommendations to the government and encourage public input into the development of regional plans and frameworks.

CPAWS Northern and Southern Alberta continue to honour Albertan’s clear desire for more wilderness conservation by advocating for more protected areas, and better wilderness management.