List of protected areas of Alberta

Alberta Parks
Type	Number	Area (km²)
Provincial Parks	69	2,124
Wildland Provincial Parks	33	21,926
Provincial Recreation Areas	248	805
Ecological Reserves	16	294
Wilderness Areas	3	1,010
Natural Areas	149	1,324
Heritage Rangelands	1	78
National Parks	5	63,045
Total	524	90,606

Dinosaur Provincial Park

File:Dry Island Provincial Park2.jpg

Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park

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Fish Creek Provincial Park

File:Greene Valley Provincial Park.JPG

Greene Valley Provincial Park

File:Little fish lake provincial park campsite.jpg

Little Fish Lake Provincial Park

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Lakeland Provincial Park

Pembina River Provincial Park

Peter Lougheed Provincial Park

Pigeon Lake Provincial Park

File:Spray-Valley-Szmurlo.jpg

Spray Valley Provincial Park

File:Williamston park-ab.JPG

Williamson Provincial Park

Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

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 90,000 km² (35,000 sq mi).

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:

• Ecological reserves
• Wilderness areas
• Wildland provincial parks
• Provincial parks
• Natural areas
• Heritage rangelands
• Provincial recreation areas

As of 2005, the province of Alberta managed 69 provincial parks, 33 wildland provincial parks, 248 provincial recreation areas, 16 ecological reserves, 3 wilderness areas, 149 natural areas and a 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.

• Ghost River Wilderness Area
• Siffleur Wilderness Area
• White Goat Wilderness Area

List of provincial parks

Park	Nearest Community	Established	Coordinates	website (ID)
Antelope Hill Provincial Park	Hanna	2014, December 4
Aspen Beach Provincial Park	Bentley	1932, November 21		1
Beauvais Lake Provincial Park	Pincher Creek	1954, February 1		6
Big Hill Springs Provincial Park	Cochrane	1957, November 22		12
Big Knife Provincial Park	Forestburg	1962, October 2		11
Bow Valley Provincial Park	Canmore	1959, July 27		293
Bragg Creek Provincial Park	Bragg Creek	1960, January 19		324
Brown-Lowery Provincial Park	Turner Valley	1992, October 29		16
Calling Lake Provincial Park	Athabasca	1971, July 20		248
Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park	Canmore	1988		294
Carson-Pegasus Provincial Park	Whitecourt	1982, May 19		247
Chain Lakes Provincial Park	Nanton	1969, December 23		19
Cold Lake Provincial Park	Cold Lake	1976, August 18		22
Crimson Lake Provincial Park	Rocky Mountain House	1955, November 22		27
Cross Lake Provincial Park	Athabasca	1955, November 22		28
Crow Lake Provincial Park	Fort McMurray			574
Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park	Medicine Hat			29
Dillberry Lake Provincial Park	Provost	1957, January 8		38
Dinosaur Provincial Park	Brooks	1955, June 27		246
Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park	Trochu	1970, December 15		39
Dunvegan Provincial Park	Fairview	1992, May 21		40
Eagle Point Provincial Park	Drayton Valley	2007, August 29		589
Fish Creek Provincial Park	Calgary	1975, June 10		45
Garner Lake Provincial Park	Vilna	1953, July 14		49
Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park	Calgary Cochrane	2008, April 17		593
Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park	Consort	1932, November 21		51
Greene Valley Provincial Park	Peace River	2000, June 6		147
Gregoire Lake Provincial Park	Fort McMurray	1969, October 21		52
Hilliard's Bay Provincial Park	High Prairie	1978, October 24		3
Jarvis Bay Provincial Park	Sylvan Lake	1965, July 8		61
Kinbrook Island Provincial Park	Brooks	1951, November 14		65
Lakeland Provincial Park	Lac La Biche	1992, January 16		280
Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park	Slave Lake			68
Little Bow Provincial Park	Champion	1954, January 20		69
Little Fish Lake Provincial Park	Drumheller	1957, April 8		71
Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park	Edmonton St. Albert	2005, April 19		437
Long Lake Provincial Park	Boyle	1957, March 25		72
Midland Provincial Park	Drumheller	1979, June 5		78
Miquelon Lake Provincial Park	Hay Lakes	1958, May 20		81
Moonshine Lake Provincial Park	Rycroft	1959, April 21		82
Moose Lake Provincial Park	Bonnyville	1967, April 19		83
Notikewin Provincial Park	Manning	1979, November 20		87
Obed Lake Provincial Park	Edson			203
O'Brien Provincial Park	Grande Prairie	1954, June 29		88
Park Lake Provincial Park	Lethbridge	1932, November 21		143
Pembina River Provincial Park	Entwistle	1953, September 21		92
Peter Lougheed Provincial Park	Kananaskis	1977, October 7		307
Pierre Grey's Lakes Provincial Park	Grande Cache			209
Pigeon Lake Provincial Park	Wetaskiwin	1967, May 26		98
Police Outpost Provincial Park	Cardston	1970, April 21		108
Queen Elizabeth Provincial Park	Grimshaw	1956, March 1		110
Ram Falls Provincial Park	Nordegg			213
Red Lodge Provincial Park	Bowden	1951, May 7		114
Rochon Sands Provincial Park	Stettler	1957, January 8		116
Rock Lake Provincial Park	Hinton			215
Saskatoon Island Provincial Park	Wembley	1932, November 21		118
Sheep River Provincial Park	Turner Valley			330
Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park	Lac La Biche	1952, September 29		120
Spray Valley Provincial Park	Kananaskis	2000, December 1		308
Strathcona Science Provincial Park	Edmonton	1979, December 12		123
Sundance Provincial Park	Edson	1999, April 28		142
Sylvan Lake Provincial Park	Sylvan Lake	1980, January 16		125
Thunder Lake Provincial Park	Barrhead	1958, January 28		137
Tillebrook Provincial Park	Tilley	1965, July 20		138
Two Lakes Provincial Park	Grande Prairie			222
Vermilion Provincial Park	Vermilion	1953, May 29		152
Wabamun Lake Provincial Park	Wabamun			154
Whitney Lakes Provincial Park	Elk Point	1982, June 23		158
William A. Switzer Provincial Park	Hinton	1958, December 22		159
Williamson Provincial Park	Valleyview	1960, November 7		165
Willow Creek Provincial Park	Stavely	1957, December 10		167
Winagami Lake Provincial Park	Donnelly	1956, November 13		169
Woolford Provincial Park	Cardston			173
Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park	Coutts	1957, January 8		177
Wyndham-Carseland Provincial Park	Strathmore	1979, May 2		178
Young's Point Provincial Park	Valleyview	1971, August 3		180

Other parks

• Birch Mountains Wildland (wildland)
• Caribou Mountains Wildland Park (wildland)
• Chinchaga Wildland Park (wildland)
• Dillon River Wildland Park (wildland)
• Gipsy-Gordon Wildland Park (wildland)
• Hay-Zama Lakes (wildland)
• Kakwa Wildlands Park (wildland)
• Kananaskis Country (not a park but a provincially run tract of land containing several parks)
• Kazan Wildland Park (wildland)
• Richardson Wildland Park (wildland)
• Willmore Wilderness Park (wilderness area)

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.

Municipal parks

Main article: Urban parks in Canada

See also

• List of Canadian provincial parks
• List of National Parks of Canada
• Buffalo National Park (delisted national park)

External links

• About Alberta's Parks
• Alberta Parks -list of provincial parks
• Alberta Community Development - Parks and Protected Areas Land Reference Manual