List of protected areas of Alberta

Alberta Parks
Type	Number	Area (km²)
Provincial Parks	69	2,124
Wildland Provincial Parks	33	21,926
Provincial Recreation Areas	248	805
Ecological Reserves	16	294
Wilderness Areas	3	1,010
Natural Areas	149	1,324
Heritage Rangelands	1	78
National Parks	5	63,045
Total	524	90,606

Dinosaur Provincial Park

Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park

Fish Creek Provincial Park

Greene Valley Provincial Park

Little Fish Lake Provincial Park

Lakeland Provincial Park

Pembina River Provincial Park

Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

Pigeon Lake Provincial Park

Spray Valley Provincial Park

Williamson Provincial Park

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

This is a list of protected areas of Alberta. Protected areas are managed by the Government of Canada or the Government of Alberta. The provincial government owns 60% of Alberta's landmass^[1] but most of this has not been formally protected. The total protected area throughout Alberta including federal and provincial protected areas is approximately 90,000 km² (35,000 sq mi).

International recognition

Five of Canada's thirteen World Heritage Sites are located in Alberta: Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks (partly in British Columbia), Dinosaur Provincial Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park (partly in the USA) and Wood Buffalo National Park (partly in the Northwest Territories).

Federally protected areas

Five National Parks of Canada (Banff, Elk Island, Jasper, Waterton Lakes and Wood Buffalo), managed by Parks Canada are located in the province. Several former national parks (such Buffalo National Park, Wawaskesy National Park, and Nemiskam National Park) formerly existed in Alberta, but were delisted in 1947.

Provincially protected areas

There are several different departments and agencies that deal with land use in Alberta, however Alberta's provincial parks are managed by the Government of Alberta's Tourism, Parks, and Recreation ministry whose mandate is to protect the province's natural landscapes in Alberta. The government has divided these natural areas into seven categories, provincial parks being one. These categories are:

• Ecological reserves
• Wilderness areas
• Wildland provincial parks
• Provincial parks
• Natural areas
• Heritage rangelands
• Provincial recreation areas

As of 2005, the province of Alberta managed 69 provincial parks, 33 wildland provincial parks, 248 provincial recreation areas, 16 ecological reserves, 3 wilderness areas, 149 natural areas and a heritage rangeland. Although these areas are the responsibility of the Alberta government, private companies have been contracted to handle various aspects of the operation of many parks (e.g. maintenance and campground operation).

List of wilderness areas

Wilderness areas have the strictest level of protection, no development of any kind is permitted, and travel is only permitted by foot.^[2]

• Ghost River Wilderness Area
• Siffleur Wilderness Area
• White Goat Wilderness Area

List of provincial parks

Other parks

• Birch Mountains Wildland (wildland)
• Caribou Mountains Wildland Park (wildland)
• Chinchaga Wildland Park (wildland)
• Dillon River Wildland Park (wildland)
• Gipsy-Gordon Wildland Park (wildland)
• Hay-Zama Lakes (wildland)
• Kakwa Wildlands Park (wildland)
• Kananaskis Country (not a park but a provincially run tract of land containing several parks)
• Kazan Wildland Park (wildland)
• Richardson Wildland Park (wildland)
• Willmore Wilderness Park (wilderness area)

Other provincial lands

Approximately 60% of land in Alberta is public land owned by the Alberta government.^[4] For administrative purposes, the province is divided into two broad land use areas: the Green Area (forested land, almost entirely provincially owned) and the White Area (other).^[4] The Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve was created by the Forest Reserves Act of 1964.^[5] There are also 32 provincial grazing reserves located throughout Alberta. They are administered by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.^[1]

Municipal parks

See also

• List of Canadian provincial parks
• List of National Parks of Canada
• Buffalo National Park (delisted national park)

References

External links

• About Alberta's Parks
• Alberta Parks -list of provincial parks
• Alberta Community Development - Parks and Protected Areas Land Reference Manual

Protected areas in Alberta World Heritage Sites Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks Dinosaur Provincial Park Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park Wood Buffalo National Park National parks Banff Elk Island Jasper Waterton Lakes Wood Buffalo Provincial parks, wildlands & wildernesses Canmore Nordic Centre Cypress Hills Dry Island Buffalo Jump Fish Creek Hay-Zama Lakes Kananaskis Country Lakeland Vermilion Willmore Wilderness Writing-on-Stone more... Urban parks Calgary Zoo Devonian Gardens Edmonton Valley Zoo Edworthy Park Mill Woods Park Muttart Conservatory North Saskatchewan River Valley Nose Hill Oldman River Valley Pearce Estate Wetland Museums & historic sites Alberta Central Railway Museum Atlas Coal Mine Canadian Grain Elevator Discovery Center Cold Lake Air Force Ellis Bird Farm Fort Calgary Fort Edmonton Park Fort Victoria Fort Whoop-Up Frank Slide Galt Historic Railway Park Heritage Acres Farm Museum Heritage Park Krause Milling Co. Pioneer Acres Prairie Elevator Museum Reynolds-Alberta Royal Alberta Royal Tyrrell Scandia Eastern Irrigation District Museum South Peace Centennial Museum Spruce Grove Grain Elevator Museum St. Albert Grain Elevator Park Ukrainian Village Warner elevator row Whyte National historic sites Provincial historic sites

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