SUNDRE - Jason Nixon, Sundre-area MLA and minister of Environment and Park, says new fees for random camping along the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies starting June 1 are fair and will help conserve wilderness areas and public infrastructure.
Critics call it an ill-timed and unreasonable new charge for outdoor recreation on public property.
The fees are set out in Bill 64, the Public Lands Amendment Act, tabled in the legislature last week.
Under the new legislation, passes will be required by individuals age 18 and over when random camping on public land in the West Country, including west of Sundre and Cremona.
Each pass would cost $20 per person for a three-day pass or $30 per person for an annual pass. They will be available for sale online at albertarelm.com and at locations where fishing and hunting licences are sold.
Fees collected would be used to fund upgrades to infrastructure, improve public education, fund conservation officers, enhance public safety and ensure better environmental and waste management, said Nixon.
“What it will do is take that revenue and make sure it is dedicated back to the Eastern Slopes to be able to be used for enforcement, partnerships with non-profits, to be able to create infrastructure, and to deal with some of the safety and environmental concerns that we have seen in the West Country,” Nixon told The Albertan.
“Thirty dollars a night is what it costs to camp in most campgrounds, so $30 a year is a fairly modest fee to be able to accomplish the objectives we are doing.”
Although he couldn’t say exactly when the bill will pass, he did say the new fees will be in force on June 1.
They are expected to bring in about $4 million or $5 million, he said.
The charges are for overnight, random camping, not day use.
Fees collected will be re-invested in conservation and maintaining public lands, he said.
Asked what type of infrastructure will be funded, he said a “large portion will be spent with organizations that are working in the backcountry. Down in the Sundre area we would be familiar with the Friends of the Eastern Slopes.
“This is to get them money for their trail work and for random camping locations. We’ve already seen some of that work taking place in the constituency; washrooms for example and places for garbage.”
Mountain View County reeve Bruce Beattie says he hopes the fees collected will end up supporting the West Country.
“The most important thing is that the dollars that are generated are actually dedicated back into the West Country and protecting the environment,” said Beattie.
“If the dollars don’t go in to general revenue but are directed back into the environment, it’s a good thing.”
Clearwater County reeve Cammie Laird says the new fees will “provide an essential source of funding to ensure public lands have sufficient facilities and services to respond to increasing visitor demands.”
NDP Environment and Parks critic Marlin Schmidt says the new fees may discourage people from visiting the West Country.
“We need to be encouraging people to spend their summers and their time outdoors in the province, not charging them more to do so at a time when so many Albertans are struggling to make ends meet,” said Schmidt.
“At a time where Albertans are looking to be outside as much as possible, the UCP are once again doing everything they can to hammer household budgets. Alberta’s beautiful outdoors has provided a welcome refuge for so many who needed to get away from the difficulties of the public health emergency and our economic recession.”
In response to Schmidt’s comments, MLA Nixon said, “That’s a ridiculous comment from the official Opposition who were bringing in a plan to shut all random camping and remove random camping from the Eastern Slopes.
“Their (NDP) plan would have resulted in the removal and closing of most of the random camping areas.”
Paul McLaughlin, president of Rural Municipalities of Alberta, says the fee program will support responsible use of public lands.
“The program provides for an important revenue stream that will be invested directly in the safety, services, and protection of public lands,” said McLaughlin.
Alberta Fish and Game Association president Brian Dingreville says the fee program will “promote better conservation and waste management.”
