Castle Special Place

Threats to the Castle

Although the Castle was designated as a protected area in 1995, it is not legislated as such under the Ministry of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism. Currently, the area is managed by the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development (SRD). SRD does its best to manage the Castle, but is not mandated to prioritize ecological integrity nor enforce regulations associated with recreational activities. As such, the Castle has suffered degradation from industrial, recreational, and other activities. It is not too late for the Castle, but it will continue to face further threats if it is not legislated as protected area under Parks and Protected Area legislation. For further and extensive information, please see Selected Ecological Resources of Alberta's Castle Carbondale: A Synopsis of Current Knowledge Ecological Resource Report, published jointly by Shell and CPAWS in 2005.

On this page: Off Road Vehicles Unmitigated Petroleum Exploration Commercial and Residential Development Current Management Logging

Off Road Vehicles

The majority of the current environmental problems which plague the Castle Special Place such as wildlife harassment, soil erosion, high-impact random camping, and vehicle damage stem from an extensive network of industrial roads and its associated uncontrolled off-road vehicle (ORV) access. An estimated 700 kilometers of new roads have been pushed into the Castle Wilderness since 1950.

The Castle Access Management Plan, approved by the Alberta government in 1996, does contain a series of designated trails for motorized recreation. This attempt to regulate off-road vehicle use is valuable, but regulation enforcement is poor to non-existent. Areas that are supposed to be off-limits to ORVs often show evidence of illegal off-road use. In addition, under this plan 24 out of 26 valleys receive some form of motorized use. In one study 16 of the 22 sites visited showed ORV damage and nine were found to be heavily damaged.

It is not CPAWS Southern Alberta's intention to eliminate ORV recreation from the Castle Special Place. It is CPAWS Southern Alberta's stance that in order for this form of recreation to be environmentally sustainable, it must be regulated and enforced to ensure that it is does not decrease the ecological integrity of the area. This requires management that limits the number and location of designated trails, and the enforcement to ensure motorized recreationists stay on trail and limit their impact. We encourage ORV users to recreate responsibly to minimize their impact on the Castle's fragile ecosystems. Just as backcountry campers and hikers should practice low-impact recreation techniques, ORV users can take steps to ensure the Castle remains ecologically healthy and intact.

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Unmitigated Petroleum Exploration

In 1957 the first successful natural gas well in the Waterton gas field was drilled just outside the boundary of the Castle Wilderness. Since then, more than 50 wells have been drilled within the Castle, and more are planned.

Although the wells appear as small dots on a map and industry practices have improved substantially over the years, the cumulative surface disturbances caused by the well pads, the associated pipeline infrastructure and new access roads are significant. These new roads increase habitat fragmentation and decrease the amount of core habitat available for large ranging mammals, such as grizzly bears and wolves, thus decreasing habitat quality. Also, new roads open up the land to motorized access that brings people and their machines deep into the wilderness, and displaces wildlife from their natural habitat.

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Commercial and Residential Development

Surface disturbances such as roadways caused by industrial activities may be rehabilitated. Once residential and commercial housing developments are in place its presence will always be felt. In 1993, a major expansion of an existing commercial downhill ski operation in the West Castle valley was proposed. While the Alberta government rejected this proposal, piecemeal development of resort homes is being allowed in the core of the Castle Wilderness. The Area Structure Plan for the Castle Mountain Resort states a commitment "to maintain a small scale development and a family oriented atmosphere", which will be accomplished by balancing the economic and recreational needs of the ski hill with the environmental needs of the surrounding areas. Any development adjacent to a major wildlife corridor needs to be assessed carefully, however, and we need to be diligent to ensure that impacts are minimized.

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Current Management

The Castle is part of the Rocky Mountain Forest Reserve which is administered by the Alberta Forest Service. The Alberta Forest Service is part of the Department of Sustainable Resource Development. In 1998, the Castle was zoned as a Forest Land Use Zone (FLUZ) and named the Castle Special Management Area FLUZ. FLUZs are a regulation under the Forest Act which allows the designation of defined areas and trails as either open or closed to public off-road vehicle use, snowmobile use or random camping (but only if enforcement is adequate, which it is not). It has no effect on industrial activities or other forms of development; the Castle Special Management Area FLUZ does not protect the Castle. It is for this reason that CPAWS Southern Alberta has joined with a citizen-led initiative to protect the Castle under Protected Areas legislation.

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Logging

Logging has resulted in the greatest surface disturbances in the Castle Wilderness. Currently, an estimated 15 percent of the Castle's forested area has been clear-cut.

Ecological effects of clear-cut logging include habitat fragmentation, increased road-related disturbance, soil degradation, weed invasion and spread, erosion, stream siltation and loss of fish habitat. Since the 1930s, an estimated 50 percent of old growth forest has been lost due to logging in the Castle. Today less than 10 percent of the forest cover in the Castle area is composed of old growth. Old growth forest is important to many species of animals, such as marten, lynx, and red-tailed chipmunks which live only or principally in such habitats.

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