Volunteer Alberta stewards still monitoring natural areas years after government program faded

Nature lovers in Alberta say they are continuing to act as volunteer guardians of natural areas, even though a government-run stewardship program that used to formally recognize their efforts has all but disappeared in recent years.

Alberta has hundreds of protected areas across the province, from national parks and provincial parks to natural areas, which are smaller parcels of land with limited facilities for visitors.

Starting in 1987, through the Alberta government's volunteer steward program, dedicated volunteers checked in on areas and acted as the government's eyes and ears. They sent reports to the province about problems like dumping and gathered at annual conferences to socialize with other stewards.

The government recognized their efforts with awards and featured their stories in a seasonal newsletter.

In a newsletter published in the summer of 2003, the assistant deputy minister responsible for the program called it "one of the most effective volunteer steward programs in North America" and said it had been a model for other initiatives in Western Canada.

The government reported at that time that there were 271 individual, 60 group and five roving stewards looking after more than 160 sites in Alberta.

Guy Swinnerton, a retired professor from Edmonton who spent more than 25 years volunteering as a steward, said government staff stopped communicating with stewards after the last annual conference, before the pandemic.

The government stopped running the conferences and stopped recruiting new stewards, but did not tell volunteers the program would be officially ending, multiple stewards told CBC News.

"It became almost impossible for us to have a real understanding of what was going on," Swinnerton said.

Swinnerton said he became disillusioned with the government's commitment to protected areas and hasn't submitted a report about the Hastings Lake Islands Natural Area in the past year.

Other stewards say they are continuing to keep the spirit of stewardship alive, with or without a government program.

"We're recognizing the government program, for all intents and purposes, although it hasn't been officially killed, has been a zombie for a long time," said Frank Potter, vice-president of the Stewards of Alberta's Protected Areas Association (SAPAA) — a group that formed in 2000 to represent volunteer stewards.

Potter, who has been visiting natural areas in recent years as a retirement hobby, said the organization is in the process of reimagining itself so stewardship continues.

The association revamped its website, started encouraging people to submit site inspection reports for public posting and explored partnerships with other organizations.