The province unveiled its long awaited plan for the South Saskatchewan River Basin on Wednesday and says the new land-use project will help manage growth pressures and protect the environment in southern Alberta.

The project covers a huge area of southern Alberta stretching from the BC to Saskatchewan borders and from the American border all the way up to Crossfield, north of Calgary.

“The South Saskatchewan region is without question one of the most beautiful areas of our province with its breathtaking mountains, rolling grasslands and many lakes and rivers. Albertans are proud of the beauty of our province and the new land-use plan will manage the growth pressures in this region so our children and grandchildren will benefit from a pristine environment and a growing economy,” said Alberta Premier, Dave Hancock.

The South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP) will create:

  • Eight new or expanded conservation areas; including a new 54,588-hectare Castle Wildland Provincial Park and the 34,356-hectare Pekisko Heritage Rangeland
  • Two new and six expanded provincial parks and recreation areas, adding 1,511 hectares
  • 12 new primitive recreation areas for camping and trail access

“The SSRP places a strong emphasis on protecting headwaters, supporting watershed management, maintaining biodiversity and conserving important habitat in Castle and throughout the region’” said Robin Campbell, Alberta Environment Minister.

The Castle Wilderness area is a thousand square kilometres. It is where the prairies meet the mountains and conservation groups say the entire area is in need of protection.

“The Castle landscape in particular has been identified for decades as an area that has tremendous wildlife and biodiversity and is a buffer to Waterton Lakes National Park and deserves more protection,” said Wendy Francis, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

Conservationists say the government is simply renaming an existing conservation area and claim the new park is mostly rock and snow. They maintain that it is less than half the area that needs protecting.

“There’s still a lot of logging in a really sensitive eco-system that can’t support that activity, there’s still a lot of off highway vehicle random use, random camping everywhere and the landscape is being trashed,” said Sean Nichols, Alberta Wilderness Association.

The big concern is for the area outside of the new park that is still inside the Castle area and conservation groups insist they'll redouble efforts to have the entire wilderness area designated  a provincial park.

The province says the plan includes strategies for responsible energy development, sustainable farming and ranching, forest management, and nature-based tourism.

“Commercial forestry will still be allowed but they must operate under the mandate of headwaters protection so that means the way they conduct their logging. We will be watching them and working with them to ensure headwaters are protected,” said Beverly Yee, Alberta Stewardship Commissioner.

The SSRP will take effect on September 1 and the total cost for implementation in year one is $5.7M for operation and capital costs.

For more information on the SSRP click HERE of scroll the document below.

(With files from Kevin Green)