Alberta adds big provincial park near Waterton

The Canadian province of Alberta last week created a new 250,000-acre provincial park last week just north of Waterton Lakes National Park.

The Castle Special Place is part of the internationally celebrated Crown of the Continent ecosystem.

"This announcement puts Alberta back on the map in terms of international conservation success stories," says Wendy Francis, Interim President of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.

But the park doesn't afford all the same protections that one would find in wilderness or in national parks in the U.S. The area will still allow existing oil and gas leases to proceed, allows for ATV use on some trails and hunting is allowed as well, noted Katie Morrison of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

However, it does ban commercial logging, which many in the region saw as the largest threat, Morrison noted. It also bans any future energy leases.

The Castle River is a premier trout stream. The park creation should also hem in ATV use to trails only. In some areas, ATVs were running off trail in streams and other sensitive areas.

"The Castle is the source of 30 percent of the water for the Oldman River basin. Protecting these headwaters is essential to ensuring clean water for downstream communities such as Lethbridge and Medicine Hat," Morrison said.

In a sense, it also makes Waterton whole again.

The Castle region was once part of the park, but was given back to the province in 1921, for resource extraction.