A quarter of public land in the southeast corner of Westlock County at the centre of allegations of anti-social and dangerous behavior was closed on Friday.
But during the June 23 Westlock County council meeting, councillors questioned what impact the lockout will have as further revelations of unlawful activity in the area have surfaced.
“Can anyone tell me what the objective is?” asked Coun. Mel Kroetsch.
“Why are they closing it for 28 days and what is it going to accomplish?”
Division 1 Coun. Ron Zadunayski also noted, “This is the wrong time of the year to be closing it. Fire season is basically being downgraded.
“Our issues are when they go in there in the spring.”
Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP), formally Environment and Sustainable Resources Department (ESRD), announced the closure a few weeks ago.
On Friday, June 26 staff from the department were at the quarter of Crown land putting up signs advising of the closure, while the county had installed a locked gate and barriers at some entrances.
However, there were many other tracks and pathways into the quarter that had not been blocked.
Meanwhile, Zadunayski, whose electorate takes in the affected areas, told councillors that he had seen people breaching municipal bylaws at the Echo Lake Campground as recently as Sunday, June 21.
The Echo Lake Campground has been used as a staging post for quaders to access the mixture of public and private land in the area.
Zadunayski said that he had seen off-road vehicles in the campground, despite signs saying they were not allowed in the space. He suggested that the municipality installed better signs with clear rules for users.
“I’m sure we have bylaws,” he said.
“We have to put up signs with those bylaws.
“We also need a much bigger sign basically saying no OHV, off highways vehicles, permitted.”
“We need a bylaw with teeth in it where we have a fine.”
Currently, the Echo Lake Campground does have signs indicating that quads aren’t allowed in the space, but they are small at about size of a magazine.
The councillor also said there had been a loud party on the Saturday in the campground that included discharging fireworks at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning.
The county peace officer attended campground at some stage during the weekend, but it’s not clear what action he took.
“There’s some people there that are families and enjoying the place and then there’s the other ones that kind of make it bad for them,” Zadunayski said. “I think if you prosecute a few people, word gets out pretty quick.”
The quarter at SW19-TWP59-RGE23-W4M has been the focus of attempts by the AEP to manage a range of anti-social activities after a started at an illegal shooting range two months ago.
A wildfire put the spotlight on the area, including the gun range, and that in turn spurred local residents into lobbying Westlock County for action.
Residents reported a range of activities including constant and unsafe shooting, quading on private property, vandalism, fence cutting, crop damage and threats towards people who took a stand against the perpetrators.
The activities were not limited to the closed quarter of Crown land and some councillors have questioned how the lockout will change behavior in other, near by areas.
CAO Peter Kelly said that the closure was a test case and that the AEP would be assessing its impact and that information would be shared with the county which will guide them in how to move forward.
“Pending the outcome of this test, and with the closures being put in place, we’d then review the situation and see if we’d go beyond that point,” Kelly said.
“I think Mr. Kelly is right here,” added Coun. Jim Wiese. “We need to get the policy, look at it, see how it’s going and review it.”
