Good morning
A plan is being developed that will guide land-use decisions in Southern Alberta for decades to come. The South Saskatchewan Regional Plan under the Land-use Framework will set a new direction for how we live, work, enjoy and protect our land and natural heritage. Have a voice on your land, your plan, your future.

Alberta's Land Use Secretariat invites you to attend the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan Public Information and Input Sessions being held in southern Alberta. These sessions will give you an opportunity to learn more about regional planning and how you can be involved in the development of the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan.



The sessions start on November 30 and end on December 10, 2009.
The sessions run from 4 to 7 p.m. in each of the 16 locations listed below.

Monday November 30
Calgary - Glenmore Inn - West Glenmore Room - 2720 Glenmore Trail SE
Vulcan - Vulcan Legion Hall 202 -1st Avenue South

Tuesday December 1
Strathmore - Strathmore Travelodge - Heritage Ballroom - 350 Ridge Road
Claresholm - Claresholm Community Centre - 59 Av & 8 St W

Wednesday December 2
Cochrane - Cochrane RancheHouse - 101 RancheHouse Road
Okotoks - Holy Cross Lutheran Church - 20 Banister Gate

Thursday December 3
Airdrie - Airdrie Alliance Church - 1604 Summerfield Blvd SE
Canmore - Quality Resort Chateau - 1720 Bow Valley Trail

Monday December 7
Lethbridge - Eagles Hall - 631 13 St N
Brooks - Brooks Heritage Inn - 1217 2 Street West

Tuesday December 8
Fort Macleod - United Church Hall - 220 20 St
Medicine Hat - Coast Hotel - Cabernet Room - 3216 13th Ave SE

Wednesday December 9
Pincher Creek - Ramada Inn - 1132 Table Mountain St
Taber - Taber Legion Hall - 5205 48 Ave

Thursday December 10
Cardston - Remington Carriage Museum - 623 Main St
Milk River - Heritage Hall - 213 Main St N

Thanks for posting Denver, I will be going to the Calgary Glenmore one on the 30th of Nov and or the Airdrie one.

Seeing as I will be in different countries for this round, do you think you could take a few notes.


Some things to bring to attention may be the baseline repair as well as the interest it sparked by the local communities as well as the people in red deer that read the editorial, it was in the news and on the radio for the day... some good did come of that.

I think that Dave Bartesko needs some "good" ammo for the govt to keep our stuff legal.


Also if you dont mind, maybe bring up the fact of the user fees for the crown lands, fees for a sticker based program like they have related to in BC as well as in the states....


If you still have my # give me a call if you like for more information.


Thanks.

Don't mean to put a damper on things but the user fee idea has been brought up a million times and it's not gonna happen (straight from SRD). Another idea was brought up about applying a fee when you register an off road vehicle that would go to trail maintanence but the govrnment said it didn't have the resources to implement that either. Another drawback is that most trucks are not registered as off highway vehicles so that makes it even harder to tag a fee on to them.
The one that might hold water is the sticker program but when there's no enforcement, no one is going to bother unless the fines are huge and that probably won't happen.

Don't get me wrong, I believe that some kind of system has to be implemented but finding one that will work is another thing. Unfortunately SRD is on a shoestring budget so they can't afford to hire more officers and the sheriff's dept doesn't really patrol those areas much, so until that concern is addressed, only the responsible user will abide by the laws.

I think the only thing we as a community can really do right now is to keep pressure on the government to come up with the funding for officers. That and harsher penalties to those who abuse these areas may then prompt the average user to be more responsible. Once that happens, we may have a shot at getting a user fee based system to work. The majority of the problems come from people who feel they have the "right" to be out there and do what they want. These people need to be educated (heavy fines are good educating tools) in order to become more responsible users.

For the most part, there are very few people that really need to be monitored. I see a lot more responsible users than irresponsible ones. The SRD also sees this and they know the off road community is doing all they can to help out. In all honesty, the reason most crown land is still open is because of the help SRD receives from the off road community. Without them, SRD would have closed most of it down by now because they just don't have the resources to manage the areas properly. There have been a ton of projects like bridges, trail inventory, trail assessment, reclamation, cleanups etc done by volunteers that without these groups of people, would have never been done otherwise.
Not everything can be left up to the government to take care of. If we want to keep these areas open, we as a group need to step up.
JMO

can you email me some picks of the base line repair before and after.... lw####@superiortruck.ca
"remove the ####" hate spam.

I agree with all comments to a point... need more enforcement, and more $'s for repairing trails.. To be honest, I don't really care what method they use to generate $'s, I just would like to see all users pay or invest, regardless of what vehicle they use.

I have a friend/customer that is a fish and wildlife officer, and going to pick his brain. We are also outfitting a bunch of their trucks so I do get opportunities to discuss, but must be careful.

At some point we maybe just need to say: what would you like us to do to help, as we want these trails, and can organize based on this.

That arguement is getting old.

In the last 3 years of study, it has been noted that there are more than 100,000 users of the western crown land from Grand Praire to Coleman.

The fee structure would require 2 administrative personnel. $120,000 / yr

The fees of $10 per vehicle AND trailer would generate $750,000 - $900,000 per year.

A trained officer that the parks use in the states costs $120,000 / yr trained with a vehicle.

There is the availability to put 7 + more park type officials in the western areas.

The reason the government will not do this has been stated time and again. They are not willing to make something happen without making money off of it.

Sustainable resources means that they need to make money, not sustain a principle amount.

And a profit of $100,000 per year per 100,000 people is not feasible.

I guarantee and everyone that has read the proprosals and written or even heard of them will agree that if a useage fee were inplace, there would not be the need to increase fines, or patrolling by officers.

The paying responsible people would report the irresponsible nonpaying people.

Report a plate with a picture of someone in the "area" that does not have a sticker... send a fine, generate more money.

These meetings are to demonstrate to the public that the govt is looking for feedback and they need ideas.

If in life, you want soemthing to happen, create a solution, let the person making the decision use that solution and it is a win win.

The reason they will not look at user fees is because not enough taxpayers have stated that they would like to see that happen.