It's an issue Alberta Parks have been facing for a while, people littering and misusing public land and now changes are coming.

 As of May 31st, some major changes are coming to the way that Alberta Parks Officers handle the misuse of public land.

The first change is they are stepping up their education campaign to educate users of where they can camp, where they cannot camp and the issues facing those regions. 

"That includes expanding our social media reach, improving signage, developing new educational material, ensuring staff and officer presence is maintained or even enhanced in some areas and the continual use of our report a poacher website." 

For 2018 the government has created new penalties to deter public land abuses. 

A new $402 fine for entering a restricted area has been added and the fine for camping on public lands longer than fourteen days will increase from $172 to $270. A new fine of $310 will be given to people who refuse to report to a watercraft inspection station and those who don't pull the drain plug on the boat will also face a $272 fine.  

Enforcement personnel will now have the power to write an on the spot ticket, the government believes this will leave officers spending less time in court and more time in the environment enforcing its rules. 

 

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