CPAWS Southern Alberta

In case you missed our reels last week, here’s what you need to know about what’s happening to Alberta’s parks and protected areas right now.

The All-Season Resorts Act, which was introduced less than two years ago, is being used by YourAlberta (Government of Alberta) to open up lands in parks and protected areas to commercial development.

EVERY SINGLE designation under this new Act has involved the removal of public lands from the protected areas system.

This is absolutely NOT what Albertans have been asking for. In fact, the government’s own summary of consultation for the most recent All-Season Resort Area designation for the Silvertip Gondola stated that public feedback emphasized “that provincial park boundaries and protected areas are established through extensive planning and should be maintained to ensure long-term conservation.”

CPAWS Southern Alberta is urgently calling on the Ministry of Tourism and Sport to stop using protected public lands to accommodate large private commercial developments.

📨 Send your letter today to demand that the government:

1. Stop removing protections from Alberta’s parks and protected areas to accommodate private development.

2. Complete proper land-use planning before approving All-Season Resort designations, to avoid ecologically important areas (Wildlife corridors, areas already experiencing congestion, etc.)

Take action here: https://action.cpaws.org/page/200848/action/1

Hey YourAlberta (Government of Alberta), there IS a way to grow tourism sustainably in this province.

Using the All-Season Resort Act (ASRA) as a backdoor to remove protected lands and open them to private development IS NOT IT. (🎥 In case you missed it, check out our Conservation Specialist Emma’s reels on ASRA from last week.)

But that doesn’t mean we can’t welcome visitors to Alberta’s incredible landscapes.

In our latest blog, Emma breaks down six research-backed principles for building a tourism economy that would actually benefit Albertans.

Rather than taking a ‘more, everywhere’ approach, these principles highlight the importance of making sure tourism dollars benefit local communities and economies, taking a big-picture approach to planning and managing cumulative impacts across the landscape, supporting Indigenous-led tourism, and building accessibility into the process from the start.

❗Don’t let the government and developers convince you that tourism growth has to come at the expense of conservation. It simply isn’t true.

🔗Learn more about what tourism in Alberta *could* look like if we start doing things right: https://cpaws-southernalberta.org/six-guiding-principles-for-sustainable-tourism-in-alberta/

📸 by Mitch Leong

Six Guiding Principles for Sustainable Tourism in Alberta - CPAWS Southern Alberta Not every landscape can accommodate the same level of use — nor an ever-increasing level of use

🪵 Logging has been approved in the Highwood, and could soon be approved in Loomis Creek, despite the fact that both areas contain important, federally protected Critical Habitat for threatened native trout.

For logging to proceed, Fisheries and Oceans Canada must grant West Fraser Cochrane a permit allowing them to destroy Critical Habitat. They have already granted one for the Highwood.

One of DFO’s main justifications is offsetting — the idea that habitat lost in one location can be compensated for by restoring habitat elsewhere nearby. West Fraser claims its offsetting plans will fully compensate for the destruction of bull trout Critical Habitat in the Highwood and Loomis Creek.

Unfortunately, the evidence doesn’t show that offsetting is a reliable way to protect species at risk.

Learn more about the questionable logic behind claims that these offsetting plans will make the Highwood and Loomis Creek logging “no net loss” in our latest blog: https://ow.ly/y1Sb50ZO2fi

Please join us for the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of CPAWS Southern Alberta!

Date: Thursday, September 17, 2026
Time: 7pm MST
Location: Online (Zoom)

We’ll share updates on the chapter’s finances and board of directors, talk about our major conservation campaigns, and highlight some of the work made possible by our supporters. We’ll also share highlights from our award-winning education program and take a look at some of the key environmental issues facing Alberta right now. We hope to see you there!

Register here: https://cpaws-southernalberta.org/2026-annual-general-meeting/

Photo by Mitch Leong

We are so excited to announce much-needed GOOD news…!

The Government of Alberta has proposed a NEW protected area and, what’s more, it’s in the grasslands 💛

(For those who don’t know, the are some of the most biodiverse — but least protected — regions in our province.)

The draft Pekisko Heritage Rangeland Management Plan, released this summer, will designate a new protected area in along the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains southwest of and near the community of Longview 🌾🐂🐟

For those unfamiliar with Pekisko, it’s part of a landscape of native grasslands, foothills and forested uplands.

As our Executive Director Katie Morrison says, “The Pekisko is a key grasslands landscape of rolling foothills, is home to grizzly bears and bull trout and is at the heart of Alberta’s First Nations and ranching heritage. Legal designation of this area as a Heritage Rangeland ensures the protection of these values for generations to come” 🐻

In our province, only about 1.25% of the grasslands are protected, which makes this upcoming designation even more encouraging.

Since the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan was released in 2014, and even prior to that, we’ve been advocating for Pekisko to become a protected area and we couldn’t be happier to see that dream becoming a reality 🌱

For more than five years, tens of thousands of Albertans voiced their concerns about the impact coal mining will have — for our drinking water, for wildlife habitat, for human health, and for other industries, like agri-food, tourism, and recreation ⚠️

Indigenous Peoples, farmers, ranchers, scientists, conservation organizations, and Albertans across our province have a right to decide what does or doesn't happen in our headwaters region.

This year, over 200,000 Albertans signed the petition, demanding legislation that protects the Rockies and our headwaters ✊

Legislation. NOT a referendum.

A referendum is not a sure means of safeguarding our most precious resource, and so we’re reiterating to the Government of Alberta, to the Minister of Energy and Minerals, that we want what we’ve always wanted:

A permanent policy to protect the Eastern Slopes, Alberta’s water, and our communities 🏔️

Send a letter using our new pre-written tool — it only takes a minute. YourAlberta (Government of Alberta) can, if they choose, pass legislation now. Today, tomorrow, next week. Nothing is stopping the government from listening to Albertans.

Demand they do so at https://action.cpaws.org/page/195940/action/1 👈