An environmental nonprofit group is calling on Alberta to better protect the Ghost River watershed after problematic camper behavior in the area this summer.
The Ghost Watershed Alliance Society says the pandemic has increased the number of people visiting the area, multiplying behaviors that have endured in the area for many years.
In a 27-page report submitted to the Department of the Environment, the group states: Although the problems associated with recreational activities in the Ghost River watershed are not new, we are seeing a large increase in recreation in places. uncrowded before COVID-19.
The report explains that campers often set up too close to the river, when the government normally imposes a minimum distance of 60 meters and there are no places to dump the wastewater from motorized caravans. Some people therefore dump them in the middle of nature. Members of the Ghost Watershed Alliance Society have also seen an increase in the litter piles left in the wilderness and makeshift toilets.
