• Effective Date: November 17, 2023, until further notice.
• Where: Bow Valley (daily locations will vary). 
• Why: The Calgary Forest Area’s Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) control program for the 2023-24 season will soon be active and could run until March 31^st 2024. You may see our contractors (Xylem Silviculture & Infinite Forestry Consulting Ltd.) and their subcontractors working in the Bow Valley and Kananaskis. We have MPB west of Barrier Lake in Kananaskis, Bow Valley Provincial Park and spread throughout the Bow Valley from Exshaw to the Banff National Park boundary. Daily emergency services notification of burn activity/locations will commence 24 hours prior to ignition. If you are out in these areas, you may see our MPB signage, surveyors, inspectors and control crews in trucks, quads and snowmobiles. Most notably, when conditions are safe to burn, you will see smoke in the air from control crew work.

• Effective Date: September 11, 2023, until further notice
• Where: 
  • Cougar Creek canyon from the junction of Montane Traverse Trail and Lady Macdonald Trail upstream for approximately 1 km.
  • Access to the Lady Macdonald Trail will be closed as of 6 am on Monday, September 11 to facilitate safe blasting work. The trail will remain closed until the end of November, 2023.
  • Montane Traverse Trail and Horseshoe Trail are not affected by this closure.
• Why: There will be construction and BLASTING activities to support the Town of Canmore Cougar Creek Sediment Retention Structure Project. To ensure visitor safety around the construction site, Alberta Parks is closing the access to Cougar Creek canyon for all recreational uses.

Please follow directions on construction signage and fencing. 

Visitors looking for alternatives to Cougar Creek canyon may consider Heart Creek, Grotto Canyon or hire a guide that can safely show you other options.

• Effective Date: June 10, 2020, until further notice
• Where: Heart Creek drainage, including informal parking for Heart Creek hikes in the Highway 1 ditch.
• Why: Be advised that the Municipal District of Bighorn has begun construction of a flood mitigation project on Heart Creek upstream of Highway 1.

The informal parking in the Highway 1 ditch for access to Heart Creek is not available at this time. Recreational users accessing Heart Creek, Heart Mountain and the Quaite Valley connector trail must park in the Heart Creek Day Use Area.