Northern areas of Alberta experiencing high to extreme fire danger

May-11-12, 3:00:00 PM

December 16, 2011

Online input on land-use advice extended until property rights

Timeline for approval of oil sands region land-use plan also extended
Edmonton… Albertans have until April 30, 2012, to fill out an online workbook on advice from the South Saskatchewan Regional Advisory Council for a land-use plan for southern Alberta. Originally, the deadline was December 19.

More here…

AOC’s newest Member

The Alberta Society of Professional Outfitters (APOS) has become our newest member. 

The Alberta Professional Outfitters Society (APOS) is a not for profit, Delegated Administrative Organization (DAO), an arms-length, self-funded, legal entity established for the purpose of delivering a service traditionally done by government, that administers the outfitted-hunting industry in Alberta. APOS celebrated its 10^th anniversary in 2007.

There are over 400 member Outfitter-Guides and almost 1500 Guides registered through APOS that provide big game, waterfowl and bird game services to several thousand clients each year.

The Alberta Outfitting Industry is an active participant in the Alberta conservation community and contributes considerable funding to conservation projects and research through the APOS Legacy Fund, the Wildlife Management Fund as well as significant contributions by individual outfitters.

AOC welcomes Premier Redford

Oct 18, 2011

Dear Premier Redford

As organizations representing Alberta outdoorsmen and women along with other individuals who enjoy and cherish their backcountry spaces, we would like to extend our congratulations on your election as Premier. Continue reading…

Draft plan for northeastern Alberta outlines economic, social and environmental goals for the region

 Aug 29, 2011

 Edmonton… After two years of extensive consultation with thousands of Albertans, the updated draft regional plan – the first developed under the province’s land-use framework – is being shared with the public. (more here…)

Lower Athabasca Draft Plan here…

 NEW Public Lands Administration Regulation

Aug 25 2011

The new Public Lands Administration Regulation responds to requests from Albertans, user groups and resource developers to update the management tools for public land. The regulation strengthens public land stewardship with new rules to deal with those who abuse this valuable resource. (More here…)

Frequently Asked Questions

NATIONAL TRAILS ROUNDTABLE - NEWS RELEASE

July 25, 2011

JOIN THE NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON RECREATIONAL TRAILS!

The National Trails Roundtable is calling on all Canadians who use motorized and non-motorized recreational trails, or who develop, build, maintain, fund or advocate for trails in their provinces, territories, regions or communities, to give their input by responding to the National Trails Survey.

This Survey has been prepared by the National Trails Roundtable following a meeting of trail enthusiasts from all parts of Canada in November 2010.

The objectives of this Survey are to determine the most important challenges and priorities of Canadians who care about trails, to see where there is general agreement and to identify areas for potential collaboration.

For more information about the National Trails Roundtable please read the Backgrounder which accompanies this News Release.

Construction on Grave Flats Road

Mining in this area involves building two culverts. One culvert is for

the McLeod River and the second is a public underpass for the Grave

Flats Road. These crossings facilitate the movement of waste rock

from the McLeod area to the previously mined area of Cheviot Creek.

Construction began the week of May 24 and is expected to end by

August.  (Read more…)

Canadian forest deal at risk

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110330/full/471560a.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20110331

Christopher Pala

For conservationists, the promise seems almost too good to be true — and some worry that it is. The Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, a deal between the forestry industry and environmental groups, aims to set aside nearly 30 million hectares of northern wilderness and subject a further 42 million to strict tree-harvesting standards. (more here..)

For Release April 19, 2011

Outdoor Network requests release of firearms studies

   Hidden documents may offer different perspective on long gun registry

Canada’s Outdoor Network, representing over 500,000 outdoor enthusiasts across the country, is calling for the release of a long-buried Liberal study on the effectiveness of the controversial long gun registry. (more here…)

Draft Lower Athabasca Regional Plan

Apr 5, 2011

• • Strategic Plan
  • Implementation Plan
  • Proposed Regulations
• Workbook
• Consultation Dates/Locations

Speak up because you have a special relationship with this land. Your views about land use matter. Have your say as the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan in northeast Alberta is finalized. Read the draft plan, fill out a workbook, attend a public session in your area.

Water, economic development, conservation key areas of advice for land-use plan

Government will ask for public input on council recommendations
Edmonton…

 The South Saskatchewan Regional Advisory Council recommends that a regional plan for southern Alberta should focus on water supply, economic development and conservation needs.The Alberta government will seek public input on the recommendations in the fall, before developing the draft regional plan. An online workbook will also be available at www.landuse.alberta.ca by the end of April. The province will consult again with Albertans before the final plan is developed.South Saskatchewan Regional Advisory Council’s Advice to the Government of Alberta RAC Candidate Conservation Management Areas on Public Lands DocumentRAC Recommended Land-use Classification Document

Bill 10, the Alberta Land Stewardship Amendment Act

Bill 10, the Alberta Land Stewardship Amendment Act introduced on March 1, respects all the existing compensation and property rights Albertans enjoy. The bill proposes new processes that allow:

• persons directly affected by a regional plan to request a review of a regional plan;
• title holders to apply for a variance of a plan; or
• landowners to apply for compensation if they believe their rights have been taken away.

Read more about Bill 10

Land-use Planning and Property Rights

More here…

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: 440,000 birds killed each year by wind turbines 

ADVISORS SUPPORT DEFERRAL OF OFFSHORE WIND PROJECTS

  On behalf of the stakeholders committed to restoring and enhancing the fisheries of the Great Lakes, the Committee of Canadian Advisors to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC) congratulates the Ontario government on its recent decision to defer development of offshore wind turbine projects until further scientific information is garnered, analyzed, and impacts assessed. More here….

Amended land-use Act addresses landowner concerns

March-01-11, 2:45:00 PM

Bill 10, the Alberta Land Stewardship Amendment Act will create a review process for people who believe they are directly and adversely affected by a regional plan. It will also require public consultation during planning and that draft regional plans be provided to the Legislature before being approved.

GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO GET RID OF PUBLIC LAND
Posted: 2011-02-18 15:17:58

(Edmonton February 18, 2011)… Alberta’s largest conservation group, the Alberta Fish & Game Association (AFGA), is dismayed that the provincial government is transferring more than 84,000 acres of public land to municipalities in order to “allow municipalities to make decisions on the land that are best for the local area” and “create opportunities for local municipalities to build stronger communities for tomorrow.”  
(More here…)

Grizzly Bear Survey

Jan 22 2011

In April 2008 and after a lot of thought, the Willmore Wilderness Foundation decided to gather as much grizzly bear information from traditional sources as we could. This Grizzly Bear Survey would be used to supplement the data gathered by the Foothills Research Institute.  View Grizzly video here and more…

Robin Campbell – MLA West Yellowhead makes a motion to protect the Willmore Wilderness Act

Be it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the govern-
ment to not bring forward changes to the Willmore Wilderness
Park Act which would restrict traditional land uses such
as outfitting, trapping, hunting, and fishing.

Hansard transcripts of the discussion at the Leg here.

50 Years of Off-Roading

Reflecting on lessons learned and our outdoor future

By Del Albright, BlueRibbon Ambassador

The bikini clad Rock Zombie girls were all over my Jeep giving it the wash job of its life as I sat perched on my roof rack marveling at 50 years of off‐roading. They were raising money for landuse, so I’m always in for a good cause. What really hurt, though was realizing the combined age of any two of the girls did not equal my number of years of trails and dirt roads! More here…

Welcome to the Alberta Outdoors Coalition (AOC) website.
The intent of this website is to provide Albertans a single point of outdoors news and information relating to land access issues impacting what we as outdoors folks hold dear to our hearts, and that’s being outdoors.   More  here…

Environmentalist Protest Northern Gateway Pipeline Community Advisory Board Meeting…..what you didn’t see on TV…

Dec 02, 2010

If any of you caught the Edmonton CTV news last night you would have seen Sierra Club, Forest Ethics, Green Peace and four guys who said they were U of A Engineering students, protest the Enbridge Northern Gateway Community Advisory Board in Edmonton.

More here…

AOC welcomes Friends of Eastern Slopes as our newest Member Group

Nov 26 2010

We are extremely pleased to announce that Friends of the Eastern Slopes (FOESA) have joined our AOC family.  Those of you that frequent the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch will be very familiar with the stewardship work at the Bighorn campground at the Ranch.

More here…