Special places need to be protected

Alberta is blessed with many special places. The Castle Watershed (CW) is one of them, although not officially recognized as such by previous governments.

Unfortunately the human multitude and technological innovations have been threatening the integrity of the CW for many years; ever more human intrusions, be they with or without motors. Are Albertans willing to control their use of their environment?

Can we agree to protect this special place from our wants? Can we agree to let the CW restore itself from past intrusions? If we cannot agree on protecting our Special Places, how much hope is there for our other landscapes? Many other countries have neglected their special places. Are we willing to control our freedom to recreate anywhere for the benefit of Alberta pride into the future? Without control of our levels of intrusions, we only accelerate deterioration of the CW.

We finally have government leadership which recognizes the limit of intrusions into the CW and has outlined controls in the draft Castle Management Plan. And leadership it is, because the government is aware of the divisive public attitude. Nevertheless, it is introducing management (behavioral) practices for the long- term good of the CW. Objecting to restrictions means indifference to the need of this special place and placing short-term selfinterests first.

The more we focus on human wants now, the less is left for us and other species in the future. This is the last chance to salvage what we refer to as the Castle Wilderness.