alberta parks

The United Conservative government announced in February its plan to close 20 provincial parks and seek third-party management for 164 Crown sites, and the public was furious.

Then COVID-19 hit.

With all that has occurred in 2020 to date, it’s easy to understate the importance (and danger) of this decision, as what is already a vastly under-protected environment is opened up to the possibility of exploitation for profit. But a 57,000-signature petition urging the reversal of the UCP’s decision suggests plenty of Albertans are fighting for parks, and with the pandemic highlighting our need to preserve nature, this is a story that deserves more of our focus.

Grace Wark is a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association, a Calgary-based, non-partisan, non-profit group devoted to promoting community care of wildlife and wilderness. She joins The Forgotten Corner this week to offer expertise into the impact that park closures of this magnitude will have.

In an environmentally essential episode, we dissect the UCP’s shortsighted decision and discuss some of the various for-profit results that could emerge at the literal expense of Albertans and the wilderness surrounding them.

Follow Grace on Twitter at @WarkInProgress
Follow the Alberta Wilderness Association on Twitter at @ABWilderness

Read Grace’s op-ed in the Narwhal here.

Read more on the parks closures here:
https://calgaryherald.com/news/politics/ucp-moves-forward-with-plans-to-delist-alberta-parks-as-government-commits-43-million-to-improve-existing-sites/wcm/2c11bb0f-6d8a-4c6c-ad0b-19bfbab253d7/amp/

https://globalnews.ca/news/6899395/alberta-government-parks-partnership-rules/amp/

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5484095

This week Terra Informa debuts a new show format we're calling a 'News Roundup'. Very original title, no? We do in-depth coverage and a little bit of Terra Informa opinion-piece on major environmental news headlines from Alberta. Listen to find out why we wanted to make these specific news episodes, and learn about changes in Alberta Parks and public land management, the suspension of environmental monitoring requirements for the Alberta energy sector, and what the new Critical Infrastructure Defense Act means for local environmentalists looking to demonstrate their dissent through public protest.

Speaking of public protest, in response to Black Lives Matter demonstrations taking place across the United States, Canada, and many other countries, we take some time in this episode to connect the dots between environmental issues and systemic oppression. Here is a list of Anti-Racist Environmental Resources we compiled and used in this episode, and as part of our ongoing learning.

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