Do we need an omnibus Alberta austerity thread?
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Twenty provincial parks will see full or partial closures in 2020, in a move estimated to save $5 million as part of the Alberta government’s 2020 budget, unveiled last week.
Alberta Parks announced the list of closures online, which will leave some sites entirely off-limits to the public this year and others with specific campgrounds or facilities closed.
Shortened operating seasons will be in effect for some provincial campgrounds, meaning later opening dates and earlier closures than usual.
.... Nixon was unable to say how much money the move would save. Documents released by his department late Monday put the figure at $5 million in the 2020 budget year.
Beginning this fall, Alberta Parks staff will also no longer groom cross-country ski trail tracks in three areas of the Kananaskis Region. Those include Peter Lougheed Trail, Mount Shark Trail and the Kananaskis Village area.
Grooming will continue at the Canmore Nordic Centre, while track-setting by the West Bragg Creek Trails Association will still occur in the West Bragg Creek area.
The Alberta budget tabled last Thursday also included job losses to seasonal staff and increased camping fees. The government estimated that the equivalent of 25 public sectors positions under the umbrella of Alberta Environment and Parks would be eliminated in the 2020-21 fiscal year.
Of parks impacted by closures this year, 10 will be fully closed to the public, impacting 4,490 hectares of provincial land.
... With last week’s budget, the government also announced it identified 164 of its 473 sites for proposed removal from the system.
“Sites removed from the parks system would have their legal park designations removed, and could be open for alternate management approaches,” Alberta Parks stated online.
“This includes potential Park Partnerships through sale or transfer to another entity such as a municipality, so that sites could continue to provide important economic and recreational benefits to local communities. Some of the sites could also stay open under a public lands management model or revert back to vacant public land.”
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