Enhance, protect and share the unique natural and cultural experiences of Kananaskis Country through public participation and environmental education.

Land Use Designations – An Overview

As we discuss here, Kananaskis Country is a complex of various lands managed under one framework. On this page, we offer a primer on those land use designations, put in order from “Most Protected” to “Least Protected”, and give you a flavour about what the land use designation is for. You can read the official Alberta Parks primer on 4 of these designations here. Click on the links to read more about an example of that particular land use in action (more links are coming as we move previously published newsletter content to our website).

Ecological Reserves (ER):

  • Protection: Very High
  • Purpose: To provide a high level of protection for significant ecologically sensitive areas
  • Managed for: Protection of the ecologically sensitive nature of the area.
  • Number in K-Country: 1 (Plateau Mountain Ecological Reserve)
  • Restrictions: Many, including no camping, no vehicles, no trail development, no visitor facilities, no hunting. Interestingly: range grazing of livestock is permitted.

Provincial Parks (PP):

  • Protection: High
  • Purpose: To protect environmentally significant areas by managing human use.
  • Managed for: Ecological integrity first, human use second. Top priority is given to wildlife and ecological protection. Wildlife closures common.
  • Number in K-Country: 5 (Peter Lougheed, Spray Valley, Bow Valley, Sheep River, Canmore Nordic Centre)
  • Restrictions: Restricted camping including no random camping & designated back country campgrounds; designated trails; limited defined trail development (CNC is an exception); visitor facilities permitted to enable education and appropriate use; no hunting; no grazing; no industrial activity.

Provincial Recreation Areas (PRA):

  • Protection: High
  • Purpose: To manage and often encourage human use in specific areas.
  • Managed for: Human use so that ecological integrity is maintained.
  • Number in K-Country: +60. Examples include Evan-Thomas & Heart Creek.
  • Restrictions: Restricted camping including no random camping; visitor facilities permitted to enable education and appropriate designated uses; generally no hunting; no grazing; no industrial activity. PRAs tend not to have many trails, due to small size, but trails are allowed, and many PRAs are just trailhead parking lots. Other than different management strategies, PRAs have virtually identical rules to Provincial Parks.

Wildland Provincial Parks (WPP):

  • Protection: Moderate
  • Purpose: To provide ecological sustainability while promoting recreation.
  • Managed for: Hunting, fishing and other forms of outdoor recreation, while considering ecological sustainability.
  • Number in K-Country: 4 (Bow Valley, Elbow-Sheep, Bluerock, Don Getty).
  • Restrictions: Limited facilities and visitor services. Random camping permitted. Limited formal trail development. Hunting & grazing permitted. No industrial activity such as logging or oil & gas exploration. Can have formal backcountry campgrounds, but may not be necessary.

Public Land Use Zone (PLUZ):

  • Protection: Low
  • Purpose: To enable sustainable public access on Crown land.
  • Managed for: Managing human use and permitting (or denying) specific use of Provincial land.
  • Number in K-Country: 4 (Kananaskis, Sibbald, McLean Creek, Cataract).
  • Restrictions: Limited facilities and visitor services. Random camping permitted. Most Kananaskis PLUZs exist to permit or preclude OHV or snow machine usage. Limited formal trail development. Hunting & grazing permitted. Resource extraction (such as logging, oil & gas or coal mining) permitted. Can have designated backcountry campgrounds, but may not be necessary.

A (very small) subset of PLUZs is Public Land Recreation trails. Kananaskis country has 2 of the 5 in Alberta: Little Elbow Loop and Ford Creek-Jumpingpound Forest. Read more about them here.

Natural Areas (NA):

  • Protection: Low
  • Purpose: To keep land in a natural state.
  • Managed for: Hunting, fishing and other forms of outdoor recreation, while considering ecological sustainability.
  • Number in K-Country: Technically 0, but 1 borders K-Country (Ole’ Buck Mountain).
  • Restrictions: No facilities and visitor services. Random camping permitted. No formal trail development. Hunting permitted. Land is left in a “natural” state, but may have various dispositions.

Public Land (PL):

  • Protection: Essentially none.
  • Purpose: To manage land under Crown ownership.
  • Managed for: Maximization of the value of the land to the Crown.
  • Number in K-Country: Some. Eg: Fortress, various mining leases.
  • Restrictions: Limited facilities and visitor services. Can be leased for various permitted purposes, such as mining or skiing or for water rights. Can have formal commercial activities including campgrounds. Random camping permitted if not leased, or with permission of leaseholder. OHVs permitted. Limited formal trail development. Hunting permitted. Resource extraction (such as logging, oil & gas or coal) permitted.

Private Land

  • There are very few bits of privately owned land in K-Country, but just like the Burns Property, they are fully managed by their private owners.

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