The Praxis Group™ | Involving People.

As of 2009, Alberta lacked a comprehensive outdoor recreation plan for public lands. Both the Land-use Framework and the 2008 Alberta Recreation Study indicated the need to develop a province-wide strategy to manage the growing challenges and to cultivate the emerging opportunities facing outdoor recreation users and recreation/ tourism providers.

In its move toward developing a Provincial Recreation Strategy for Public Lands, Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation (Alberta TPR) secured Praxis to conduct a situation analysis of outdoor recreation on Alberta’s public lands. This base study examined Albertans and out-of-province visitors to determine users’ outdoor recreation preferences; trends influencing use; general patterns of outdoor recreation in the province including favoured destinations for outdoor recreating; the relationship between outdoor recreation and tourism development; and existing provincial legislation and policy governing outdoor recreation. The study also reviewed policy and strategies adopted by similar jurisdictions to identify best practices in the area of outdoor recreation planning and management. Alberta TPR will use the findings of this study to assist in the drafting of the Provincial Recreation Strategy for Public Lands.