Open Spaces

[habman12]

Anyone else see this? I thought the whole thing was still a go?
Sorry if this is duplicated anywhere.
http://www.albertalocalnews.com/redd...oors_plan.html

Minister scraps controversial outdoors plan
By Bob Scammell - Red Deer Advocate - April 03, 2008
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Open Spaces Alberta closed somewhat with the announcement by minister of sustainable resource development, Hon. Ted Morton, at the mid-March annual meeting of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties, that the government would not be proceeding with the most controversial of his two Open Spaces Alberta Pilot Programs.

The scrapped program is the one that would have rewarded landowners who protect wildlife habitat and grant recreational access to their land with up to 15 per cent of the resident tag allocations, which they could then re-sell as they saw fit. The pilot program in which the reward would be $10 to $20 per acre will go ahead.

Of course the AAMDC had voted non-support for the Open Spaces pilot programs. That, coupled with the unanimous rejection of the programs by the delegates to the annual conference of the Alberta Fish and Game Association the last weekend in February, obviously convinced the minister to consider his options.

Clearly the AFGA believes that some method must be found of compensating landowners for protecting wildlife habitat and providing public access to it and that the money method might work, with some fine-tuning after public compensation, but the tags for access program was too open to abuse and would clearly lead to highly-paid access that would exclude resident hunters.

The whole controversy demonstrates that the real opposition in Alberta is large, widely representative organizations, not the press, which likes to think it serves the function, and certainly not Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition itself.

The Alberta Liberal Party issued a miffed press release over not being permitted to address the pre-provincial election AFGA conference, since Morton was permitted to hype his Open Spaces ideas there. But the lands and forests, and now the SRD ministers have addressed AFGA annual conferences forever and seldom, if ever, do MLAs from opposition parties ever show up.

An exception was the Conservatives way back when they were in opposition and coming on. They recognized the importance of large, widely-based provincial organizations and I first met Peter Lougheed himself when he attended and listened carefully at two AFGA conferences I can recall.

As has become routine in recent years, there is really not much new in the 2008 Alberta Guide to Sportfishing Regulations which are in force and effect from April Fool’s, as is the requirement for a 2008 sportfishing licence for those between 16 and 65.

One new thing is that the resident sportfishing licence has increased $2.25 this year, except for seniors who we are afraid to charge anything for the privilege of fishing the entire year. The resident sportfishing licence will now cost the rest of you $25.66. Ironically, outrageously, and stupidly, that is exactly the same as we are charging nonresident Canadians to fish the entire year in Alberta.

To put it in perspective, look at the neighbours. Saskatchewan charges its residents $29.44, seniors, $15, and non-resident Canadians $58.87 per year. British Columbia: residents, $36 (there is no senior’s exemption), non-resident Canadians, $55 per year, plus $40 and $20 per day to fish, respectively Class I and II Classified Waters. Montana: residents, $26, non-residents $70 and seniors, $8 for the season.

The AFGA may have extended the SRD minister the usual invitation to address it, notwithstanding the imminent election, but the traditional “Minister’s Message” is missing from this year’s guide to sportfishing regulations. Instead there is a “Message from Sustainable Resource Development,” one paragraph of which will blow out any angler’s BS Detector: “Alberta anglers continue to demonstrate a strong conservation ethic, which contributes to healthy, productive fisheries. Only 13 per cent of fish caught in Alberta are harvested. The other 87 per cent are caught and released. This is the highest percentage of catch-and-release angling in Canada.”

Where are these numbers coming from? Who did they ask? You? Me? That reminds me of another of those Alberta “studies” proving water is wet; this recent one concluding that anglers tend to comply with the regulations when they see enforcement officers in the field. Duh! It has been at least a decade since you could count on seeing an enforcement officer in the field anywhere in Alberta in fishing or hunting seasons, ever since gas allowances and weekend patrols were curtailed.

Getting back to large, geographically representative organizations, I am late in congratulating old friend, Neil Downey of Red Deer on his recent induction into the Order of the Bighorn, Alberta’s highest honour for a conservationist. Neil has worked hard for the Red Deer Fish and Game Association for more than 30 years, but also slaved away sufficiently during that time for Ducks Unlimited Canada that he was elected its president last year. Not many people realize that there is no pay and precious few expenses for these big jobs: they eat up personal resources, time and money; the rewards are satisfaction from doing good and the friends you make while you are doing it.

Bob Scammell is a Red Deer lawyer and an award-winning outdoors freelance writer. He can be reached by email at bscam@telusplanet.net