76 2,214 km (855 sq mi) Provincial Recreation Areas 208 3 1,010 km (390 sq mi) | Wildland Provincial Parks 31 208 899 km (347 sq mi) | |
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31 17,314 km (6,685 sq mi) | ||
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 but most of this has not been formally protected. The total protected area throughout Alberta including federal and provincial protected areas is approximately 90,700 km2 (35,000 sq mi).
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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:
As of 2016, the province of Alberta managed 76 provincial parks, 32 wildland provincial parks, 208 provincial recreation areas, 15 ecological reserves, 3 wilderness areas, 139 natural areas and 2 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.
Other parks
Other provincial lands
Approximately 60% of land in Alberta is public land owned by the Alberta government. 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). The Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve was created by the Forest Reserves Act of 1964. There are also 32 provincial grazing reserves located throughout Alberta. They are administered by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.