In summer 2009, Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation proposed to consolidate six provincial recreation areas at Dickson Dam and around Gleniffer Lake into one provincial recreation area, and to remove a small portion of an Alberta Transportation gravel pit. Feedback was gathered during a 60 day online public comment period that ended July 27, 2009. The province took all comments into consideration before making a decision. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback.
Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation has consolidated the following six sites through Order-in-Council:
The Order-in-Council also included an administrative correction to the legal land description as outlined in the proposal. A portion of an Alberta Transportation gravel pit in Dickson Dam - North Dyke Provincial Recreation Area was included in the original designation but was never intended to be within the park site. The gravel pit was removed from the legal description and will be managed under the authority of Alberta Transportation.
There will be no impact to the operations or public use at this provincial recreation area, which will continue to offer public recreation opportunities.
The six Dickson Dam PRAs are located in central Alberta at various points around Gleniffer Lake, which is a man-made reservoir approximately 50 km southwest of Red Deer. Combined, these sites have a total area of 148.68 hectares.
The Dickson Dam was constructed on a southwest reach of the Red Deer River in 1983 to augment winter river flows and thereby ensure adequate water supply and wastewater dilution for the communities of Red Deer and Drumheller. The large reservoir created by the dam was named Gleniffer Lake and the six recreation areas were established and managed by Alberta Environment to take advantage of the recreation potential provided by the dam. The dam, reservoir and all crown lands surrounding the lake were managed by Alberta Environment.
In 1992, the six recreation sites around Gleniffer Lake managed by Alberta Environment were transferred to Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation and established as provincial recreation areas under the Provincial Parks Act as part of the province's effort to consolidate the management of recreation opportunities under one provincial program.
These six sites are focused on the recreation opportunities related to the dam and the reservoir. Combined, they offer four boat launches, three campgrounds and multiple day use sites. Gleniffer Lake is enjoyed mainly by the local community and residents of Red Deer and Calgary.
As part of the Plan for Parks, the province has committed to clarifying the park system and providing quality park experiences for all Albertans. A part of that commitment is communicating what types of experiences are offered and where they are available in the parks system. A large component of this communication can be achieved through effective signage and ease of access to information about the location and range of recreation opportunities available to the public. By consolidating these six sites, they can be more simply marketed as a single site that offers several different opportunities around Gleniffer Lake.
Consolidation of these sites will also create efficiencies in management, operations and costs so that resources can be allocated more effectively.
*Disclaimer: We thank you for providing your input. Those who submit feedback will not be contacted individually regarding their submission.
