Folks,
After reading some of the Cali stuff, this is all coming together.

In 2001 the Alberta government closed all the OHV use in the entire southern half of the province due to "extreme drought conditions". The public outcry was minimal as people agreed that fire was serious. There was no public forums, no public input, no warning, just governement closure.

In 2006 the Alberta government closed off the major OHV areas north of Calgary "due to extreme over use" they held meetings but implemented the original plan.

In 2007 they closed the major OHV areas south of Calgary "due to extreme over use". This was done much like the fire closures. No input, no warning.

Here are some pictures from the area and a little info
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=594568

These fire closures are more then an attempt to prevent fires, they are political tests of the water to see how the public reacts. It allows the government to know how far they can push the public. If they have to they can retreat. The publics opinion needs to be voiced on these.

well Up here the fight is getting good we have lost 2 major areas and not due to wheeling but thatnks to the fuck dumb shit kids that go out to party

From a closurist perspective, this is a simple strategy that can result in overall closure.
1.) close an area for public safety (Fordyce, for fire, or maybe Spider Lake, for sanitation) - questionable science or no justification
2.) wait a season, then close the areas not closed for public safety due to over-use

In many cases, the public safety closure is never lifted. Sometimes they do, but then they just repeat step 2, above.
1.) re-open public saftey closure
2.) wait another season, then close the areas due to over-use, since no other recreational opportunity is available.

So Aaron has it right -- if we don't enage early, they will have us on the run...

Randii