Castle Special Place Committee: Parks Initiative

Sierra Club of Canada

The Sierra Club of Canada has launched a professionally-facilitated, citizen-led initiative to promote public understanding of the unique protection needs of the 1040 sq. km. Castle Special Place. Long-term, this effort will lead to improved ecological integrity of the area and the international Crown of the Continent ecosystem, which provides important habitat for threatened and endangered species such as grizzly bears.

RESULTS

The investment of a few Ecotrust dollars into a well-supported, well-planned and well-facilitated process resulted in some terrific outcomes.  By hosting a series of community meetings, and engaging in a consensus-based process, Sierra Club was able to achieve something that had been out of reach over the previous four decades: reaching consensus among a very diverse group of stakeholders and completing a draft conceptual proposal for the legislation of the Castle Special Place within Alberta's current protected areas & parks legislation.

While this project did not result in any direct protection of the Castle Special Place - a process that takes decades and government approval - Sierra Club gained skills that will allow them to continue on with their important work. 

Dianne Pachal, the coordinator, noted the greatest learnings they received through this process were: "Overcoming defeatist views, community organizing, citizen empowerment and consensus building at a local level where five municipal communities are involved and historically there has not been consensus."

For a snapshot of issues and some of the successes and challenges, read an article from the Pincher Creek Echo, published in March 2009.