SUNDRE — Basic etiquette and common courtesy can help avoid potential conflicts among recreational land users eager to camp on Crown land in the West Country as summer finally seems to be arriving.
Sgt. Logan Vanimschoot, a liaison officer with the Environmental Enforcement Branch under the Ministry of Alberta Environment and Parks out of Rocky Mountain House which was in charge of spearheading the May long weekend joint task force, said complaints over claimed camping spots are for the most part relatively uncommon.
“For the tens of thousands of people we have camping on a weekend in a summer, those types of complaints are rare, or unique,” Vanimschoot told the Albertan on Thursday, June 2 during a phone interview.
The Sundre RCMP detachment had recorded a number of such complaints over the course of the Victoria Day May long weekend, which authorities had reported was in this region otherwise fairly quiet.
“We did have complaints from people claiming areas for their own,” said Vanimschoot. “Generally, Crown land camping is on a first-come, first-served basis. But there are no strict guidelines other than having to move for a period of 72 hours after a 14-day maximum stay on vacant public land.”
After all, Crown land belongs to all Albertans and everybody should have equal opportunity to access public spaces, he said.
Shared public land
“The idea around that,” he said about the 14-day maximum stay period, “is that it provides opportunities for more Albertans to enjoy the same areas.”
That’s not unlike the regulations for provincial park campgrounds, which have a 16-day maximum stay limit before people must vacate the site so as to allow “maintenance teams to reset the campsites back to that provincial parks standard and someone else to enjoy that area,” he said.
“The concept exists on public land camping, or random camping, or Crown land camping—all those terms are almost interchangeable,” he added.
So, while campers don’t necessarily have to go home after the 14-day stay limit on Crown land, they for the following 72 hours cannot stay in the same spot or even just relocate nearby either.
“You can’t move 100 metres down in the same reclaimed oil lease site, and you can’t switch spots with your brother-in-law and say that you’ve moved—you have vacate the Crown land,” he said.
With regards to recreational land users reserving a spot by driving out days or even upwards of a week before a long weekend to claim a spot in advance, he said that is technically allowed.
“As long as it’s not for longer than 14 days,” he added. “If someone wants to get out early and put their camper in a spot, they’re welcome to. But that’s when the clock starts, so then you’ve only got 14 days after that.”
Over the May long weekend in the area, there was a similar situation involving one group that had earlier in the week staked out a spot and left, only to find an unpleasant surprise when they got back days later.
“When they returned to camp in that spot, people had parked within an arm’s length of them,” he said. “It was a very unique situation, because that doesn’t happen often.”
When the new neighbours refused to budge—for which there are no regulations in place—the group that returned had to decide whether to “tolerate that lack of etiquette” or simply find somewhere else to go.
“In this case, the people packed up and moved, like I would have as well,” he said, urging people to extend common courtesy to one another.
Etiquette and courtesy encouraged
“Campers should use an etiquette around first-come, first-serve, although it’s not a legislated guideline,” he said.
Fortunately, public land users who intimidate others represent by and large the exception of Albertans who enjoy recreating in the backcountry, he said.
“It’s very unique, it’s not something that we get often,” he said.
The more common occurrence, he added, is when a person or group stakes a claim in advance and proceeds to deliberately leave their RVs parked out all summer long in such a manner as to prevent others from camping nearby.
“That type of thing happens more oftentimes than someone bullying their way into a spot that’s already taken,” he said.
That all being said, he encourages anyone who notices long-term campers who have stayed beyond the maximum grace period to call 310-5263 (LAND) and report people who are exceeding those limits. The hotline is a relatively new service introduced earlier this spring with the goal of providing an avenue for concerned individuals to report public safety incidents as well as illegal activity relating to provincial parks and recreational public land use.
Other infractions
That might include instances of off-highway vehicle or four-by-four enthusiasts unlawfully damaging streams and river banks as well as other bodies of water, he said, referring to a term coined recently by the provincial government called “wheels in water.”
“If you see an off-road vehicle or a four-by-four illegally crossing a stream or illegally being in a water body, you can phone 310-LAND to report that,” he said, adding either a Conservation or Fish and Wildlife officer will follow up.
Another type of complaint the task force dealt with over the weekend was reports relating to RV owners depositing their accumulated waste.
“They just pull their sewage into the forest. And that’s illegal,” he said. “Any sewage or grey water that is collected in RVs, is to be towed away from public lands and then you utilize an approved dump station in a local community or back at home,” he said.
Additionally, off-highway vehicle mishaps are generally speaking preventable, he said, reminding people to play safe with protective gear like helmets and never operate a motorized vehicle while intoxicated.
And anyone who might just be learning how to ride or drive off-road vehicles should always be mindful of their abilities; or perhaps lack thereof, he said.
“It’s important that people know their skill sets, and try not to push it in remote areas,” he said.
Vanimschoot also praised the longstanding relationships that have been established through inter-agency cooperation among law enforcement agencies as well as volunteer-run organizations such as Mountain View Search and Rescue, whose members set up an incident command post available to provide logistical support to coordinate emergency responses or even just offer the public first aid.
