Forestry And Park Closures Effective September 4Th, 2017

[Smitty]

Castle Wildland Park, Forestry Reserve, and Waterton to be closed as of today. From minister Philips:

 

"With wildfires threatening parks and campgrounds in the province, there are several current and impending closures people need to be aware of.

 

In southern Alberta, a full forest closure is expected to be in place by 10 a.m on Monday, September 4. This closure will include all areas south of Willow Creek.

The South Castle Valley in Castle Wildland Provincial Park is now closed.

A full closure of Castle Wildland Provincial Park is expected to take place by the afternoon of Monday, September 4.

A wildfire north of Crescent Falls Provincial Recreation Area has led to its closure and the evacuation of the campground.

The threat of wildfires has also closed several trails in Castle Provincial Park, Thompson Creek Provincial Recreation Area and Kootenay Provincial Recreation Area. Visit our website for details: http://www.albertaparks.ca/albertaparksca/advisories-public-safety/advisories/

 

Wildfire conditions in these areas are well past the extreme level. In these conditions, wildfires can move very fast, and embers can create new fires several kilometres away. Forecasts indicate a new fire can reach up to 45 hectares in size in under an hour.

 

Please stay safe and visit AlbertaParks.ca for the latest details on closures."

[jgib01]

A good portion of Waterton trails were closed as of yesterday (only limited ones, mostly in the townsite area, remain open). Crandell Campground, Red Rock, and Cameron Lake (visitor use) are closed. Forecast is for scorching hot temps all week, so can only get worse from here.

[BurningChrome]

The forestry area (Oldman, Dutch, Racehorse) is closed as well.

[jasonvilly]

So I assume this means all activity in the areas are closed? Not just the campgrounds.

[BurningChrome]

So I assume this means all activity in the areas are closed? Not just the campgrounds.

That's correct. You need a special permit to enter the area. If you go to albertafirebans.ca it shows the exact closure area.

[jasonvilly]

Will be good for the bulls and cutts to have an earlier break this year.

[dh024]

Similar closures to the west in BC and some south in Montana, also. Desperate times.

[northfork]

Good for the fish and the elk. This closure screws up a lot of folks, myself included, elk hunting plans. Frankly this should've happened weeks ago.

[jasonvilly]

You can still access the Elk from the boat launches between Hosmer and Elko I believe, but no walk and wade access.

 

So the back country rivers are all closed.

 

When the closure first started, the BC guys started bringing their clients to AB. Not sure what they will do now that our rivers are closed as well.

[bcubed]

He meant Elk hunting?

[jasonvilly]

ahhhh yes, my bad.