By Aaron Haugen (@ahaugie on Twitter)

Conservation groups call for complete ban of off-road vehicles in Castle Parks

May 18, 2016 | 1:33 PM

CALGARY – Two provincial wilderness groups are calling for a permanent ban on off-road vehicles in the newly created Castle Parks.

The call from the Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition and the Alberta Wilderness Association stems from violations occuring during the provincial ban on off-road vehicles that required the intervention of police.

Joanna Skrajny, a conservation specialist with AWA, said an all out ban on off-road vehicles is the best method to protect the area.

“Enforcement will be easier and cheaper if we just say this specific area is simply too sensitive and too valuable to have any motorized recreation on it,” she said. “It would just be much less expensive if we didn’t have any motorized recreation in the Castle Parks.”

She said the space needed to protect endangered species like cutthroat trout is too large to allow for off-road trails in the area.

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“There’s not a lot of room left, if any, for places that wouldn’t have any detrimental effect,” she said. “Trails, in and of themselves, there has to be 0.2 km per square kilometer to keep westslope cutthroat trout in the ability to survive.”

The newly designated Castle Provincial Park and Castle Wilderness Park span from Waterton Lakes National Park to the Crowsnest Pass.