Sad report from Bighorn Backcountry.

[Red Bullets]

I'm thinking this could get pretty grim. Alberta Environment's Bighorn Backcountry Standing Committee's most recent report says things are getting insane out in the Bighorn area.

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/other...id=hplocalnews

With parks being closed and inadequate camping areas Alberta as we knew it may be gone. I can see where if the mess continues the gov't will shut it down. Or maybe the gov't wants everyone to mess up the back country so it doesn't matter if mining comes in then.

I am going out on a limb here and saying that I bet 99.8% of the mess was left by folks who claim to love the outdoors.

[Sundancefisher]

Need an enforcement blitz. Also some sting operations to catch thieves.

[dodger]

Severe fines for all the idiots. Even some of the ponds in Southern AB are packed with people and the garbage is everywhere.

Dodger.

[does it ALL outdoors]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Also some sting operations to catch thieves.

^^^ Especially that.

[pikergolf]

I remember when golf was the sport for all the cool kids. Never saw so much boorish behavior in my life. Well they have moved on to camping and hunting, it will subside when they move on to something else.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Need an enforcement blitz. Also some sting operations to catch thieves.

They don't even police this crap.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...ous-complaints


Grizz

[wildwoods]

Enforcement starts by looking in the mirror. Obviously the idiots ruining things for the rest of us lurk on this very forum.
Smarten up!

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by wildwoods

Enforcement starts by looking in the mirror. Obviously the idiots ruining things for the rest of us lurk on this very forum.
Smarten up!

Of course nobody would admit to that, so we will all suffer.

Grizz

[sjemac]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

They don't even police this crap.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...ous-complaints

Grizz

My kid was at that party. He left, disgusted, before the police arrived.

[raab]

I hate to say it, but random camping with trailers(except grazing lease holders) should be banned and more campgrounds created. They are just to hard on the environment. We need to allow people the ability to get outdoors, while minimizing their impact on our natural lands. Quadders should also have an organization, who looks after the quadding trails in the west country. In order to use the trails you should be forced to volunteer time, and have a membership fee like the gun ranges. Maybe then these idiots will smarten up, though I have my doubts.

[trigger7mm]

It just boggles my mind at how lazy and uncaring people can be. Doesn’t matter where I go, it seems I’m always packing garbage back to the truck. It’s a lot lighter packing it out than bringing it in people. Even at the local trout pond, they have cans with sand in them for cigarette butts, and yet people would sooner just throw them on the ground right beside them. What a disgrace.

[Who Da Fisherman]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

They don't even police this crap.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...ous-complaints


Grizz

Grizz,
You don't remember the big bush parties 40yrs ago?
I can rememberthem from Piercland to Borden.
Maybe not 500 but a couple of hundred at times, we didn't have social media back then to announce these lol.
As for the mess, I don't think we left behind more then bottles and cans and those were grabbed the next day for another run for off sales
WDF

[Dick284]

I work out there, and in my 14 years of doing so, this is so far beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
Semi organized, mass pandemonium, is the only way to describe it.


Frankly my company is so worried from a liability point of view, and after incurring financial losses due to vandalism and increased area maintenance, that they are talking of gating the whole site off right at the highway. It’s only talk at the moment, but let’s face it if it’s being discussed to us underlings, it’s on the brink of happening.

I can only imagine the impact that would have.

[Bigwoodsman]

Went out May long for the Saturday and again at the end of June for a couple of nights. It was nuts both times. I’ll go back in late September through October for a few trips. People are insane and zero enforcement of rules. That area needs a blitz. Bring in the sheriffs RCMP F&W forestry parks and start fighting tickets. There’s no respect for the land or others. Kenney wants to get the economy going start writing tickets.

Maybe there should be a levy on RV purchases that goes to funding enforcement and the maintenance of back country camp grounds. I’m thinking 12 to 15 percent on the purchase price.

BW

[Red Bullets]

The report mentions double or triple the normal number of people using the back country.

It is ironic that people spend so much money on gear, grub and gas to "get away" and then go stay in a tent city and live like homeless people for the weekend.

The only solution is: anyone can go into the back country freely but they can only take a tent or tarp, a knife, flint & steel, a pot, maybe a fish hook and the clothes on their backs. No axes allowed so no trees get cut down. Then they have no garbage to leave behind. Pre teens and seniors could be allowed sleeping bags. Might have to have big parking lots to stop the cars and then have shuttles that take people to the camping areas.

[ESOXangler]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

The report mentions double or triple the normal number of people using the back country.

It is ironic that people spend so much money on gear, grub and gas to "get away" and then go stay in a tent city and live like homeless people for the weekend.

The only solution is: anyone can go into the back country freely but they can only take a tent or tarp, a knife, flint & steel, a pot, maybe a fish hook and the clothes on their backs. No axes allowed so no trees get cut down. Then they have no garbage to leave behind. Pre teens and seniors could be allowed sleeping bags. Might have to have big parking lots to stop the cars and then have shuttles that take people to the camping areas.

Or how about a nice, organized park to keep the citiots centralized. We could call it Big Horn. Oh wait that's a NDP idea, what we need to do is close off access and put a coal mine there...ahhh yes that's better.

[creeky]

Outdoorsman have been extremely lucky for decades. These types of garbage before the pandemic & recession where all traveling and recreating in other places.

Now with a travel restricted lockdown & jobs & money being tight, the places outdoorsman are grateful for, respect and take care of are systemicaly being overrun, vandalized and thrashed.

This is what happens when you "let the rabble in".


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ward]

Originally Posted by dodger

Severe fines for all the idiots. Even some of the ponds in Southern AB are packed with people and the garbage is everywhere.

Dodger.

I have frequented a local lake for 20 years that is fenced and clearly marked no vehicles. For a few years the Province played games with vandals who would cut the fence and drive in. Sometimes fairly large gatherings would take place on weekend nights, leaving a bit of a mess. This progressively got worse and it is now to a point where families and the party crowd are ignoring the signs and driving in seven days a week. I ran into a F&W officer who was checking for fishing licenses one day and pointed out a vehicle parked inside the fence. He said no one cares anymore. I replied that was the problem, and what are we going to do when no one cares about anything ? He told me to have a nice day.

I remember seeing a post on AO where someone said something like “Alberta, enjoy it while you can because the future does not look good”. I am sure I am not quoting him verbatim , but it looks like he may have been right.

[bessiedog]

Originally Posted by Dick284

I work out there, and in my 14 years of doing so, this is so far beyond anything I’ve ever seen.
Semi organized, mass pandemonium, is the only way to describe it.


Frankly my company is so worried from a liability point of view, and after incurring financial losses due to vandalism and increased area maintenance, that they are talking of gating the whole site off right at the highway. It’s only talk at the moment, but let’s face it if it’s being discussed to us underlings, it’s on the brink of happening.

I can only imagine the impact that would have.

You guys fence and gate up areas guys think they have a ‘right’ to go.... they just accept the challenge and cut or winch out whatever barrier you e put up.

I see it lots down here.

Tonnes of trails and camp spots down here that were fenced or gated off.... folks just pulled out the gates or cut the wire and rode on.

[bezzola]

The wife and i are leaving for the bighorn area tomorrow like we always do this time of year and every year i report people. Was talking to a game warden i know and he said they are going to hit them areas hard this weekend.
They are predicting 80.000 people out that way This year. Has anyone been out there in the this last week

[wildwoods]

Originally Posted by bezzola

The wife and i are leaving for the bighorn area tomorrow like we always do this time of year and every year i report people. Was talking to a game warden i know and he said they are going to hit them areas hard this weekend.
They are predicting 80.000 people out that way This year. Has anyone been out there in the this last week

Yes I drove thru on Sunday night from bc and it was a ZOO.

[209x50]

I had a conversation with an outfitter who was/is advertising resident sheep hunts. I mentioned that this might be unpopular with DIY residents and the extra pressure and competition for a ram. He said there would be no one in the mountains this fall sheep hunting. I said I thought there will be the most people ever this year. It looks like plenty of people with time on their hands are out and about.

[snowman160]

I have a cabin on the Tay River west of Caroline.the place is getting destroyed an I mean destroyed.few have respect for the land Out there and it starting to show.not sure if it’ll change either.

[slough shark]

Originally Posted by ESOXangler

Or how about a nice, organized park to keep the citiots centralized. We could call it Big Horn. Oh wait that's a NDP idea, what we need to do is close off access and put a coal mine there...ahhh yes that's better.

Problem is you’d also be one of the ones “centralized” as well, also parks have a habit of being blocked off to a lot of additional access, sometimes no hunting, you could also say goodbye to camping somewhere down by a river not surrounded by a million others, also the ability to ride a quad or sled. This whole issue is due to a lack of enforcement, if the ucp had put a quarter of the funds the ndp had earmarked for turning the place into a park into enforcement we wouldn’t have half these issues

[Albertadiver]

I would gladly pay a fee or yearly pass to add more enforcement.

[bezzola]

Me to i would pay a yearly camping fee

[forestrover]

I spent a week and a half there in July. The Dam was complete chaos. I have never seen it so full. Trailers stacked in every crevice all the way down past the river. Countless dude bros with speakers all set up and ready to party.

On the other side of the lake it was also packed. I saw lots sleeping in cars with there dogs, human feces and toilet paper on the side of roads and trails, a big black bear eating cheezies left on the point by some fool..

It's a sad state. I have been camping there for 30+ years and I have never seen anything like this. I also had some pos sneak to my trailer in the middle of the night and empty my cooler full of beer. Fun times.

Didn't see one type of enforcement agent the whole time.

I can handle people and some crowds but cmon, if you need to use the washroom bury it. I still can't believe all the human waste laying around.

Would I want Bighorn a park? Heck no. I want rules enforced and people to be respectful. All that was being enforced was closed ATV trails, nothing else.

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

You guys fence and gate up areas guys think they have a ‘right’ to go.... they just accept the challenge and cut or winch out whatever barrier you e put up.

I see it lots down here.

Tonnes of trails and camp spots down here that were fenced or gated off.... folks just pulled out the gates or cut the wire and rode on.

Large corporations are like the Government and will make examples of a few individuals and ensure they inflict the maximum amount of leverage both legally and financially. So let them do what the feel is their right, and risk everything?

Also messing around with facilities that are deemed critical infrastructure could bring some charges federally and get really painful, so the dough heads can go be dough heads.

Life is hard, it’s way harder when you’re doing time in the Federal Pen.


I have zero say in what is going to happen, and believe me it’s been let go far to long, and should have been started before the insanity ran amuck.

[buckman]

Two COs in the whole area,what a joke. This government has been shutting down ranger stations left and right for the last 20 years.

Used to be the officers came back in to check on random campers and hunters. In the last ten or more seasons I have been checked at my camp zero times. If I do get checked its only on the road or at the staging areas.

Cant see the situation getting better until the cold weather hits.

We can probably kiss the majority of random camping and offroading areas goodbye, anywhere south of Nordegg soon.

[bessiedog]

I wish you success Dick

Might wanna reach out to the boys at the Shell Waterton plant... they’d have a few tales about how they deal with vandalism around 7 Gates and Jackson creek area....

It’s an ongoing struggle. Best to get to know the locals and you’ll more than likely be able to find the key guys to work over.

And yea..... it’s been goin on too long.