Alberta 'Optimizing' Parks

[Thaco]

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Better development in campgrounds might not be a bad thing... Adding hookups, making the site's reasonable to accomodate modern RVs... Reasonable responsible development under oversight isn't a bad thing... Definitely would aid in improving tourism - as we've got a reputation for being hard to book trips ahead of time for these RV tour types.

to an extent, but development also costs money, private business doesn't do things for free, it's going to make a lot of these places much less affordable for a lot of people, the 2 scenarios i see are they completely shut down, or they get developed and costs increase.

I don't think this will make booking any easier because it's going to be a lot more scattered... having these parks on the Alberta parks site for booking was a central, easy to use and relatively stable experience, i try to book private campgrounds sometimes and it's a nightmare, most of them don't have online booking, you have to call every day to ask if there have been any cancellations because they're booked for years in advance and give preference as they see fit, you have to try to hunt down an illusive map to see if its a spot you might be even mildly interested in, they often don't have a lot of details, alberta parks site has maps and individual photos of every site in every park.

I am sure the odd park will see improvements, but overall, i really can not see this as a positive thing.

[AndyL]

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to an extent, but development also costs money, private business doesn't do things for free, it's going to make a lot of these places much less affordable for a lot of people, the 2 scenarios i see are they completely shut down, or they get developed and costs increase.

I don't think this will make booking any easier because it's going to be a lot more scattered... having these parks on the Alberta parks site for booking was a central, easy to use and relatively stable experience, i try to book private campgrounds sometimes and it's a nightmare, most of them don't have online booking, you have to call every day to ask if there have been any cancellations because they're booked for years in advance and give preference as they see fit, you have to try to hunt down an illusive map to see if its a spot you might be even mildly interested in, they often don't have a lot of details, alberta parks site has maps and individual photos of every site in every park.

I am sure the odd park will see improvements, but overall, i really can not see this as a positive thing.

If you have a 10-20yr lease - marketing plan, ability to actually make the needed upgrades... Even under the current system the operators weren't allowed to make changes.

Costs will increase - so will desired services - some costs could go down, to attract more visitors... The across the board pricing doesn't make a lot of sense in most cases - something more resort like and an unserviced unattended site cost the same...

The range of booking systems speaks to the government's failure to promote this - why isn't there a proper system still? Because they're not motivated to fix it.

[Stuart]

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The range of booking systems speaks to the government's failure to promote this - why isn't there a proper system still? Because they're not motivated to fix it.

I don't see why it's the governments failure that private businesses are doing a bad job.

[Tik-Tok]

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Better development in campgrounds might not be a bad thing... Adding hookups, making the site's reasonable to accomodate modern RVs... Reasonable responsible development under oversight isn't a bad thing... Definitely would aid in improving tourism - as we've got a reputation for being hard to book trips ahead of time for these RV tour types.

Ugh. More hookups means more people running their AC all day long. Accommodating modern RVs also means more "RV park" setups where everyone is 6' from eachother.

Reasonable responsible development with oversight isn't a bad thing, but I don't trust any government to actually do this. It only takes one persons approval to destroy a good natural area.

[AndyL]

Ah there will always be the new RVs with AC running. Question is whether you want to listen to them running off gensets or not

Lol, yeah no comment - our government has done crap jobs with the parks and campgrounds for decades. But we're boosting/promoting tourism?

[Brent.ff]

“We will not sell any crown land!”

One week later they slip this by...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...sale-1.5501163

[dirtsniffer]

Obvious distinction is obvious.

[ExtraSlow]

That land wasn't a park was it? What even was it, land we leased out for grazing?

I'm not crazy about selling anything, but that wasn't a park.

[Brent.ff]

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That land wasn't a park was it? What even was it, land we leased out for grazing?

I'm not crazy about selling anything, but that wasn't a park.

Crown land is crown land is crown land, doesnt matter in my mind where it fell under the AEP system. This selling all of our property for a basically zero financial benefit (also, native grassland is a pretty rare feature on the landscape)

[ExtraSlow]

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Crown land is crown land is crown land, doesnt matter in my mind where it fell under the AEP system. This selling all of our property for a basically zero financial benefit (also, native grassland is a pretty rare feature on the landscape)

Agree. Don't like selling crown land even if it's a parking lot. Just trying to ge the full picture so I can scale my outrage. Random parcel of farmland is gong to make me less mad than some protected wilderness area.

[Brent.ff]

To be fair, native grassland isnt a random piece of farmland until it is turned into it. It's not 'the mountains' for views but it's extremely rare and contains a disproportionate amount of rare animal and plant species. Like Amazon Rainforest / Great Barrier Reef.. just in prairie form

[ExtraSlow]

I'll have to take your word on the relative ecological value of one piece of grazing land over another.

[A790]

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Crown land is crown land is crown land, doesnt matter in my mind where it fell under the AEP system. This selling all of our property for a basically zero financial benefit (also, native grassland is a pretty rare feature on the landscape)

Agreed.

This is dumb. Short-sighted decision for what benefit, exactly?

[Tik-Tok]

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Agreed.

This is dumb. Short-sighted decision for what benefit, exactly?

Gotta fund the "war room"

[ExtraSlow]

Did anything ever get worked out for the long list of PRA's and smaller campgrounds that were going to be "removed from the parks system? Did that happen?

[Brent.ff]

Parks played the covid card and delayed release details that were due on May 1. Hoping they actually heard enough flack that they’re actually rethinking a 5 million dollar saving

[ExtraSlow]

Selfishly, I just wanna know what happens to the south trunk road PRA campgrounds. Those were the only ones that would impact me.