Backcountry reservations in Alberta parks have more than doubled over last year. But outdoor enthusiasm is about to be put to the test, with cold weather moving in.

At least five popular recreation areas in southern Alberta are surrounded by coal exploration plans and one of them has been partly given over to an exploration lease.

Duane Bratt of Calgary's Mount Royal University says the announcement is the first time he's seen the government back off an unpopular policy since coming into office.

The Alberta government says it won't be closing any provincial parks, whether it can find someone to run them or not.

A townhall organized by the UCP caucus on contentious changes to Alberta's parks took a turn after moderators disabled the chat on Zoom, where questions were being posed by participants. 

Alberta's UCP and NDP are both currently running pop song-based campaigns around the provincial parks.

The Alberta government says skiers will need to pay for parking to have groomed cross-country trails in the popular Kananaskis Country.

While graffiti isn't an entirely new problem for conservation officers to deal with, at least three separate incidents of tagging were enough to prompt Alberta Parks to take to Twitter to remind visitors of the penalty they can face if they are caught defacing a mountain or park infrastructure. 

Alberta RCMP confirmed Sunday that an 11-year-old girl died last weekend after falling into the water at Maligne Canyon in Jasper National Park.

More concerns are being raised about the future of some provincial parks in Alberta.