KANANASKIS COUNTRY – Five years since the Kananaskis Conservation Pass was introduced, the province has collected roughly $60 million through the vehicle-based access fee, but some say there is still a need for a clearer picture of where the money is going. Bringing in approximately $12 million each year since its inception in 2021, the pass revenue is reinvested into conservation, mountain rescue, facility maintenance, recreation planning and enforcement, according to the province. “The $12.4 million collected through the Kananaskis Conservation Pass in 2025-26 is being reinvested to support visitor experiences, including conservation, environmental education, trail maintenance, mountain rescue and dispatch, recreation planning, facility operations, and enforcement,” said a spokesperson with the Ministry of Forestry and Parks in an email. This year, $0.9 million went toward conservation, environmental education and human-wildlife coexistence, $2.2 million to investments in trail stewardship and maintenance, $1.5 million for mountain rescue and dispatch, $1.6 million for recreation planning and administration, $4.1 million for facilities maintenance and operations and $2.1 million toward enforcement technology and resources, according to an annual report from the Minister of Forestry and Parks. “Although pass sales were impacted by G7 Leaders’ Summit related closures, the 2025-26 revenue amount is generally aligned with average annual revenue values from previous years,” states the report. In its first year, the pass brought in $12 million (2021), followed up by $11 in 2022-23. In 2023-24 the total was $12.1 million, followed by roughly $13 million in 2024-25. Pass ‘lacks transparency’ Banff-Kananaskis Alberta NDP MLA and former Alberta Parks planner Sarah Elmeligi, who has previously called for the removal of the pass, says the system “lacks transparency.” “The lack of transparency with this pass has always been problematic and it raises more questions than it answers every year,” she said. “We know how much money is being raised, but we don’t know if all of that money is staying in Kananaskis. There’s evidence in the past that it was redistributed to other parks in the system.” In 2022, the province deployed 19 new conservation officers throughout Alberta using $1.5 million generated by the conservation pass for the hiring and training of the officers. According to the province’s news release at the time, only six were appointed to Kananaskis Country. “All provincial parks need financial support, but Albertans are buying the Kananaskis Conservation Pass thinking that that money is going back into Kananaskis,” Elmeligi said, adding her “biggest problem” with the pass is the high cost for Albertans, stating that Albertans are “paying twice” – once through their taxes and then through the pass. “It’s called the Kananaskis Conservation Pass, but when we see what the money is going towards, it’s actually just the ‘Kananaskis’ or the ‘Alberta Parks operations pass’ because the money isn’t going towards conservation initiatives. It’s not going towards habitat restoration or enhancement or ways to focus human use that reduce the impact of visitors on ecosystems. “It’s just going towards general parks operations, which is what taxpayers are already funding.” While calling the pass an “effective mechanism” for generating revenue, Elemligi says there needs to be more accountability and ultimately argues the path forward is to “scrap” the pass. “Albertans do want to support their parks, and they show that. It is up to the government to demonstrate how that money is being spent so that Albertans know it’s being spent on what they think it is,” she said. “ Kananaskis faces tremendous visitation pressures, and that pressure is reflected in various challenges … so there is the need for restoration and habitat rehabilitation in lots of areas.” The province says K-Country has continued to see high visitation since 2020 when the area saw a record of nearly 5.4 million visitors. In 2021, 5.2 million people visited. In 2022, 4.2 million visitors were recorded, followed up by 4.7 million in 2023, 4.9 million in 2024 and five million in 2025. Ten years ago, in 2016, K-Country saw 3.7 million visitors. The pass price has remained the same since it was introduced in 2021, at $15 per day or $90 per year per personal vehicle. ‘A lot of evidence’ points to province’s investment in K-Country Trevor Julian, executive director of the Friends of Kananaskis Country, says it’s not totally clear how all the money is allocated, but the non-profit does receive grant funding that appears to come from pass revenue. “What we don’t know is … there’s not really a clear accounting of all of the money that’s collected from the conservation pass and where it goes,” he said. “ What I know is that the Friends of Kananaskis has been receiving grants from the provincial government in the years since the conservation pass has been implemented,” he added, noting an annual contribution from the provincial government equates to about a third of the organization’s annual operating budget, which contributes to everything from maintaining tools to transportation costs to and from trails in need of maintenance. Despite this, Julian says the Friends have “seen a lot of evidence” of the government’s investments in K-Country since 2021. “We’ve seen they’ve added more park rangers, they’ve added more conservation officers, they’re building infrastructure in different areas, and there’s examples of that in the last few years,” he said, pointing to the construction of a parking lot at the Highwood Meadows day-use area, and trail improvements at Ptarmigan Cirque and Prairie Mountain, along with investments in other day use areas. With visitation expected to increase, Julian says regular maintenance and stewardship is only more vital. “I really hope that the government continues to reinvest that money into Kananaskis. They’ve done it, it seems that they’re doing it and we certainly see the benefits and would like to see that continue,” he said. “We want good experiences for the visitors, but also ensuring that the funding’s there on the conservation side and helping to support and manage wildlife so that we can continue to have such a great space, which is Kananaskis Country. [It] requires ongoing funding and care and attention.” Elemligi also emphasized the need to develop a “strategic direction” for Kananaskis through the updating of “outdated” protected area management plans. “It’s those management plans and that management planning process that would help identify what the priorities are for Kananaskis given its current visitation reality,” she said, noting that some of the parks management plans haven’t been revised since the early 2000s or earlier. “We really do need to update those management plans so that we can identify what the priorities are, where they are, and how these parks can continue to host five million people a year and still retain all of the natural characteristics that make them special and important in Alberta.” The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. The position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.
