Alberta government moves to protect vast Castle wilderness

WATCH ABOVE: Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips held a press conference Friday to announce the province’s plan to protect the Castle Wilderness Area with a new Provincial Park. Global’s Blake Lough reports.

CROWSNEST PASS – Years of legal battles, protests and run-ins with police have led to change. The Alberta government announced in Blairmore its plans to turn a vast wilderness area in the southern part of the province into two provincial parks.

“Your new government will designate more than 107,000 hectares as an expanded wildland provincial park,” said Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips to a packed Blairmore café. “The adjacent land will form Alberta’s 77th provincial park.”

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The two proposed parks would total more than 1,000 square kilometres, essentially doubling the amount that would have been protected under the previous Conservative government’s plan.

The announcement has been welcomed by environmental groups, who have been fighting to preserve the area’s mountains, foothills and grasslands for more than 40 years. They say the government’s announcement represents a complete victory.

“People will still be able to use the area and get out and enjoy it, but with regulations and legislation in place to make sure the values of the Castle are protected for the future,” said Katie Morrison, conservation director of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society in southern Alberta.

“People have been working towards this designation for decades so this is really exciting.”

The newly-proposed parks build on the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan, which will need to be amended once the fall session of the legislature begins.

Consultations with Albertans concerning the future of the parks opened Sept. 4 and continues for 30 days.

With files from The Canadian Press