Take Kananaskis with you. You can wear it on your sleeve.

Kananaskis is a park, right? Wrong.

About half of Kananaskis is an industrial development zone where gas extraction, logging and cattle grazing activities occur next to hiking, cycling, horseback riding and other outdoor recreation pursuits.

In the Elbow Valley alone, there are about 100 gas wells and 74 km of pipeline. Spray Lakes Sawmills plans to clear-cut about 50,000 trees per year. About 1/2-million people visit the area annually. The government must assume its responsibility for public lands. No more leases should be sold or renewed in Kananaskis, no permits issued and the areas where industrial development is allowed should be protected and reserved for public use. Preservation of the watershed in a natural state is the overriding goal.

Recreational Access Management Workshop

Organized by: Federation of Alberta Naturalists and Alberta Off Highway Vehicle Association. This odd pairing recognized the need to do something.

• Foster direct stakeholder communication regarding a range of recreational issues related to access planning and management on public land in Alberta.

• Identify a framework, roles, responsibilities and a schedule to begin to address key recreational access planning and management issues and needs.

• Provide a consensus-based voice representing the views of key stakeholders to assist government land and resource managers in access management and planning decision making.