Public land closures and advisories

Overview

The Alberta government is able to achieve the objective of land and resource management with tools provided in the Public Lands Act and the Public Lands Administration Regulation.

Closures

One of the available tools is the use of closure on public land to address conservation and public safety concerns. The provisions in the Public Lands Act and the Public lands Administration Regulation incorporate the best practices of what the department has always done when there was a need to close an area that includes:

• Section 48 of the Public Lands Administration Regulation provides the reasons and the process to be followed for closure of vacant public land for periods of up to 28 days.
• Sections 96 and 97 of the Public Lands Administration Regulation provide for the process by which roads authorized under Licence of Occupation may be closed by an order of a director. A director’s order that authorizes the closure of a road under a Licence of Occupation (LOC) is to be registered and a copy of the order is to be made available to the public.
• Section 71.2 of the Public Lands Act and Section 184 of the Public Lands Administration Regulation authorize a director to issue an order to prohibit or restrict entry into all or part of a public land use zone, public land recreation area or public land recreation trail.