Draft of South Saskatchewan Regional Plan released

image from draft South Saskatchewan Regional Plan

Chris Davis, Crowsnest Voice

In a press release issued yesterday, October 10, the Alberta Government released the draft South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP), asking Albertans to "Help define the future of southern Alberta" by providing feedback via an online workbook or by attending one of 21 community sessions and stakeholder workshops.

The first of these is scheduled  to be held in the Crowsnest Pass on November 5 at the Elks Hall located at 2025 129 Street Blairmore.  A Pincher Creek session is scheduled for November 26 at the Pincher Creek Community Hall, located at 287 Canyon Drive.  A reservation is required for the stakeholder workshops, which are scheduled from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm.  Public sessions are scheduled from 4:30 pm until 7:30 pm and require no reservation.  Click here for a full list of workshops, contact information, and other information.

"The South Saskatchewan Region includes the South Saskatchewan River Basin, the Milk River Basin and the Alberta portion of the Cypress Hills. The region includes 15 municipal districts, one specialized municipality, two improvement districts, five cities, 29 towns, 23 villages, two summer villages, and seven First Nations. The South Saskatchewan Region covers 83,764 km² or about 12.6 per cent of the total area of Alberta. About 1.6 million people live in the region, or 45 per cent of the provincial
population." ~ excerpt from draft South Saskatchewan Regional Plan

The SSRP was a contentious issue in the last provincial election, and was one of the factors that led to the defeat of the Conservative incumbent Evan Berger by current Livingstone Macleod MLA Pat Stier, a member of the Wildrose party. Berger was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development by Alison Redford shortly after she attained her position as Premier.  In that ministry Berger was essentially the point man for the SSRP. In a 'Meet the Candidates" interview with me in April of 2012 Berger discussed his viewpoint of the SSRP at length (click here).  "It was ruled that we had to come up with a new Act because the court ruled against the last one, which was the Restricted Development Area Act," said Berger at that time.  "I think, especially down in this area where we have all these competing land uses, when a plan is developed, the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan, if the Plan came forward and said there cannot be a mine in this area, the Alberta Land Stewardship Act says not even the NRCB, the ERCB, the local government, or the Province can go against what that Plan is," Berger said, explaining one example of how the SSRP might be applied.

In the government's press release Stewardship Minister Diana McQueen is quoted as saying "Southern Alberta is diverse, vibrant and prosperous, but its rapid growth has increased pressure on sensitive lands and water resources. The regional plan will advance our conservation efforts, including water supply protection, strengthen communities and enable greater stewardship efforts with landowners, farmers and ranchers, and our many stakeholders, while respecting individual property rights.”

Alberta Wilderness Association Executive Director Christyann Olson said “The Land-use Framework planning process provides a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to participate in planning and decision-making about Alberta’s landscapes and the values we have for conservation, development, wilderness, wildlife and water. Albertans have an opportunity to learn from many sectors and to participate by letting the government know what is most important as the process for developing the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan continues to unfold.”

Draft South Saskatchewan Regional Plan highlights (from Government of Alberta press release)

• Proposes 32 new and expanded recreation and conservation areas, including Castle Wildland Provincial Park, Castle Conservation Area and Pekisko Heritage Rangeland.
• Increases the percentage of conservation areas in the eastern slopes to 33 per cent from the current 22 per cent. This action would add 134,666 hectares of legislatively protected land, an area two and a half times larger than Waterton National Park.
• Establishes environmental management frameworks for air and surface water that include strict limits.
• Provides certainty and clarity for industry, recreationists and other land users about operating and accessing public lands.

Public consultations about the SSRP were held last November and December.  Environmental groups with a stake in our area including the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and the Castle Crown Wilderness Coalition (CCWC) have been asking that the Castle Special Place area be part of the SSRP to protect it from logging, damage from excessive recreational use, among many items of concern to them.

MLA Pat Stier has discussed his concerns regarding the SSRP with me on several occasions, so it was unsurprising that his reaction to the government's announcement was swift and specific.  In a press release issued yesterday he said, among other things, “From the beginning, we have warned of the dangers of central planning.  Plans like these are too big and too vast and strip away autonomy from the communities they impact.  As a result the rights of landowners are put at risk.”  According to the press release Stier said he will be holding consultations and town halls throughout communities impacted by the SSRP over the next several weeks to listen to concerns.

Related stories/sources (from the Pincher Creek Voice):
SSRP draft will have broad implications: MLA Pat Stier
Meet the candidates: Evan Berger, PC
What Alberta can learn from Nova Scotia about land-use planning (CPAWS)
Province announces public consultations for South Saskatchewan plan
Conservation groups restate vision for the Castle Special Place in the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (CPAWS/CCWC)

Related links/sources:
CPAWS
Opposition to the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (Facebook page)

Related Government of Alberta SSRP links/sources:

Draft South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (pdf)

Attend a community session (pdf)

Complete the online workbook 

SSRP highlights brochure

Phase 2 consultation summaries