Current Local News

Jan 12, 2012

Licence to log: Curbing Danger or Endangering Wildlife VIDEO LINK

Jan 6, 2012

Alberta Government is Deaf to Citizens Logging Concerns

Dec 20, 2011

Will the Grinch Steal Your Park This Christmas?

Dec 16, 2011

CPAWS response to Glacier Discovery Walk

Dec 2, 2011

Road Deferral Request for Grizzlies

Oct 18, 2011

Limits to Growth at Mount Norquay Expanded Once More

Sept 10, 2011 Emergency Sage Grouse Summit

Media Release

Communique

Aug 3, 2011

Lumbar boycott urged to protest clearcutting

Market action targets Cochrane sawmill

Parks Canada marks alberta wilds

Thumbs-up to Wildland Park for Castle and logging it panned by adjacent residents.pdf

Backcountry roads make life precarious for threatened species

Enviros bearish over development in the Castle wilds

Environmental group loses to shell

Alberta protesters lose Castle Wilderness Shell Canada sour gas drilling appeal

Conservation groups say it is high tome for changes in the ERCB

Albertagreen groups condemn ERCB's Castle sour gas decision

Ecosystem suffers from bear death

No last minute reprive for endangered grizzly

grizzly deaths still to high in the castle: Rally planned to protest logging

Castle Protest comes to Calgary

Alberta requested to designate more land for parks

Another grizzly bear killed in Banff National Park by Motorist

Bear Safety report

Morton Serves up New licence plate

Banff Park Day Party

Faulty fenceline and traffic cause grizzly death near castle junction

Grand Fondo Porposal for Banff

July 23, 2011

Conservation strategy 2010-2013

June 29, 2011

Alberta ranks fourth in wilderness protection in last decade: new report finds

March 29, 2011

Release of the Vision for the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan - Click here to provide your comments and learn more

March 29, 2011

Release of the Vision for the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan - Stay tuned for information on public input

March 19, 2011

The Bear Necessities

March 18, 2011

The Canmore Leader- 21 dead

March 15, 2011

The Nanton News Poll finds huge support for legislating Castle Special Place as Wildland Park and major opposition to logging it

March 15, 2011

Environmentalists demand province step up grizzly bear protection

March 14, 2011

Media Release Castle Poll

March 12, 2011

Pincher Creek Eco-Tourism businesses concrned that the public is being mislead over Castle Special Place Logging

March 10, 2011

Castle grizzlies threatened

March 7, 2011

Businesses want better protection of lands in the Castle wilderness

March 2, 2011

Pending logging in Castle special place sparks Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Advisory

Feb 15, 2011

Bragg Creek Panel says land needs more protection

Feb 14, 2011

It's time to renew our commitment to ALberta's Land-Use Framework

Conservationists renew parks action

Parks act is not coming back this spring

Feb 7, 2011

Minister's decision to withdraw Bill 29: an encouraging step for Albertas parks and protected areas

Jan 18, 2011

Public Forums Notice:Southern Foothills Community Stewardship Initiative

Dec 3, 2010

Province Pulls back Parks Act

Province hits Pause on Parks Bill

November 26, 2010

Conservation Groups happy that Tories Killed Alberta Parks Act

Park Minister Suspends Proposed Bill

Alberta Shines as Minister Withdraws Bill 29

November 24, 2010

Alberta Parks at Risk, Say Critics

Put New Parks Act on Hold

Bill Threatens to Dismantle Alberta Parks System

 

November 19, 2010

PUBLIC OPEN HOUSES

 

November 16, 2010

Groups feel via ferrata assessment process biased

Proposed Parks Act will Dilute Laws, Critics Warn

Conservationists are concerned about changes to the Parks Act

Conservation groups feel wilderness is at risk

Locals Pan Proposed Park Law

 


Press Release: Alberta likely headed into “Park-gate” with overhaul of the parks legislation

Calgary: Either today or Monday, the Stelmach government is set to introduce into the Legislature, which they dominate, a new parks Act that conservation groups expect will undermine more than four decades of protection for Alberta’s provincial network of parks, if the likely changes are not defeated by a public outcry now. Concepts that the new Act is based on were put out last summer for public input through a question and answer form on the government’s website. Those include collapsing Natural Areas, Wilderness Areas, Wildland Parks, Ecological Reserves, Provincial Recreation Areas and Provincial Parks into only one kind of park, where the new parks Act would entrench discretion for the Minister to approve commercial tourism development in any park. The Tourism, Parks and Recreation Minister has not released a synthesis of the input they got on their concepts for the new Act, nor has she or her department held any technical briefings or meetings with the concerned public. Other concepts included removing protection provisions from the strength of being in the current Acts, to the discretion of some unknown future regulations to be developed by the government after they pass the new Act.

“Protection only through the discretion of the Minister instead of assurances in the Act is what it’s looking like,” sums up Sarah Elmeligi, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Southern Alberta. “All provinces and territories, except Saskatchewan and the Maritime provinces, have stipulated in their Acts that the first priority is to protect or conserve natural areas and their ecological integrity.”

If the government’s concepts become entrenched in the new Act or by what it leaves out, Alberta will no longer have any legislated land-use designation that sets aside public land to preserve natural landscapes from degradation and harm for this generation, our children and grandchildren. Sixty percent of Alberta is public land. Citizens have a struggle ahead of them for their parks, with the Stelmach government holding 68 of the 83 seats in the Legislature where the new Act could be pushed through within a week or two.

“It’s clearly been an in-house agenda of the Minister and her Deputy to pull the teeth from the current parks Acts and dismantle the types of parks,” observes Dianne Pachal, Sierra Club Canada. “Two years ago they used various approaches to consult Albertans about a new policy, but for the new Act, which will be pretty much written in stone when passed, there was no comparable consultation. Anyone can see from their surveys on the policy that Albertan’s number one priority is setting aside more parks. Albertans didn’t ask for dismantling the types of parks or weakening the existing provisions in the Acts that preserve them from harm or degradation.” The surveys were only release after Cabinet approved the policy, Alberta’s Plan for Parks.

A similar overhaul of the parks legislation came forward from Ty Lund, MLA for Rocky Mountain House, in the Klien Government. That proposed Natural Heritage Act was defeated in 1999 by sustained, public outcry. Only national parks, Willmore Wilderness Park and Heritage Rangelands, which are parks established with the agreement of grazing lease holders, will be left unscathed by the proposed change, with their legislation continuing to state their purpose of preserving the natural landscape.

For more information:

Dianne Pachal, 403 234-7368, Alberta Wild Director, Sierra Club Canada Sarah Elmeligi, 403 688-8641(cell), Senior Conservation Planner, CPAWS-Southern Alberta

 

Press Release: Gala Evening Honors Canadian Environmental Conservation

Group to receive special award during Banff’s 125th anniversary year

October 12, 2010—The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society invites Canadians to join in their celebration of the 125th anniversary of Canada’s first national park at a gala evening, November 12, 2010 at the Red and White Club, McMahon Stadium, Calgary where the 2010 J.B. Harkin Conservation Award winners will be honoured.

j.p hawkins poster

Click poster to enlarge

The J.B. Harkin Conservation Award honours individuals who have demonstrated a significant contribution throughout their lifetime to the conservation of Canada’s parks and wilderness. This year’s award recipients, members of the Panel on the Ecological Integrity of Canada’s National Parks, are responsible for producing a groundbreaking report in 2000 that led to world-leading standards for managing national parks to protect the ecological systems within them.

“We are delighted to honour these amazing Canadians who labored out of the limelight on the incredibly important task of ensuring that our national parks will be forever wild. We believe that J.B. Harkin, as founder of our country’s national parks system, would be thrilled with the Panel members’ work, conducted a century after he first laid out his vision for protecting our natural treasures,” says CPAWS Executive Director Eric Hebert-Daly.

The Harkin Award Gala will also feature keynote speaker, Professor Stephen Herrero from the University of Calgary, who has achieved worldwide recognition for his research on one of Canada’s most majestic animals, the Grizzly Bear.

CPAWS is also hosting a free afternoon seminar on November 12th, entitled The Future of Ecological Integrity In Our Parks and Protected Areas in the Olympic Room in the Volunteer Centre at the University of Calgary. This will be a thought-provoking seminar exploring the integrity of our national parks and where we are headed. The seminar will take place from 2:00pm to 4:30pm.

Seats may be reserved for the Harkin Award Gala at www.cpaws.org/harkin or by calling 1-800-333-9453. Individual tickets are $70 or purchase a table of eight for $520. Partial charitable tax receipts provided.

CONTACT: Name: Holly Postlethwaite, National Public Relations Coordinator

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has been Canada’s voice for wilderness protection since 1963 and has taken a lead role in establishing two-thirds of Canada’s protected wild spaces. Learn more at www.cpaws.org

For more information please visit: http://www.cpaws.org/harkin/

 

Join CPAWS with Cross Canada Oceans Tour

Exciting talks from marine scientists, conservationists and traditional cultural performances from the Haida First Nation to celebrate the long-awaited creation of Canada's first deep sea National Marine Conservation Area in B.C.'s much revered Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve waters.

Come out to the event in Calgary and enter to win a trip to Gwaii Haanas courtesy of Bluewater Adventures.

dare to be deep web button
  Where:The Plaza in Kensington (1133 Kensington Rd NW)

  When: October 28th, 2010

  Time: Doors open at 6:30 pm-Presentation 7:00 - 8:30pm

  Tickets (at the door): $10

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click image for tour dates and locations

 

Current Local News : PDFs

Groups feel process biased


 

Current Local News

Take a look at the latest media releases from and the most current media coverage about the Southern Alberta Chapter of CPAWS and their associates and related conservation organizations.

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