Public Land Use Zone proposal worrying local recreation group

The President of a local recreation group says the province’s proposal for a Public Land Use Zone (PLUZ) south of Grande Prairie will impact a lot of people.
 
Alberta Environment and Parks recently came out with a proposal to turn land along the Wapiti River from the Simonette River recreation area to past Pipestone Creek, along with everything between Highway 40 and Forestry Trunk Road south past the Big Mountain Creek Recreation Area into one of these zones.
 
Wapiti Off-Road Association President Cory McInnis says this is 10 times the size of what was originally discussed.
 
“We were in verbal communication with them while we were registering trails and bridges to try to take (in) the area we were believing was to be affected by PLUZ from (what we were ) told by the AEP personnel. Then, all of a sudden, it became a 300,000-acre land grab by them without consultation from us or, from what we can tell, any of the other users.”
 
The government says such zones protect sensitive areas, but also restrict motorized vehicles to roads and designated trails. But, McInnis says similar changes in other areas have had a negative effect on all users.
 
“Every traditional user of crown land. All the way from industry to your angler in the river, motorized users, non-motorized users. Down south, other clubs are constantly keeping us notified on the changes that have come through with PLUZ there and everything is negative.”
 
He adds they were never told directly by Alberta Environment and Parks how big an area would be included.
 
“All we know about Public Land Use Zones is what we’ve heard from the other ones that went through in Alberta and we know that AEP can change the rules after negotiating it, so you can’t stand by what they tell you, because it all can change in the AEP office.”
 
McInnis says a provincial election coming next year is also a concern, as is First Nations not being notified of the changes, noting they have “a lot of power in this decision.” He adds they cannot get information on when this will go to the legislature for debate. He is encouraging people worried about this proposal to contact the Association through its Facebook page or to email the Association and the office of Environment Minister Shannon Phillips.