By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

Tickets to be Issued for Destructive Use of Public Lands

Jul 13, 2016 | 4:45 PM

ALBERTA – Those who violate public lands in Alberta will once again face being ticketed if caught.

The Government of Alberta released on Wednesday that amendments to the Public Lands Act will re-instate specific penalties . Depending on the severity of the offence, tickets will range from $100 to $500.

Officers will be able to issue tickets related to off-highway vehicle use, damage and destruction to resources and waste disposal. However, not all offences under the Public Lands Administration Regulation (PLAR) are ticketable.

It comes as a new tool for enforcement officers to issue written warnings, require those responsible to repair any damage or compel them to appear in court.

The PLAR was consolidated in 2011, including the Forest Recreation Regulation. At that time, violations were amended, but specific ticket amounts were left out.

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Shannon Phillips, Minister of Environment and Parks, outlined that the goal of the amendment is to further protect public lands, saying it “will ensure enforcement personnel can be out on the land helping Albertans instead of spending their time in court”.

The Alberta Government is now organizing public education and awareness sessions in coordination with enforcement personell. It wants to make sure everyone knows what penalties they could potentially be facing.

In May, heightened enforcement was implemented for public lands. Since then, nearly 1120 written warnings and 845 charges have been issued under numerous pieces of legislation.

The newest amendment goes into effect August 6th.

The official amendment from the Queen’s Printer can be found here: http://www.qp.alberta.ca/documents/orders/Orders_in_Council/2016/716/2016_204.pdf