Bighorn Backcountry – Monitoring and Resources

Bighorn Backcountry access management plan

The Access Management Plan is provided for general reference purposes. It is recommended that you obtain a copy of the Bighorn Backcountry Brochure for current information. Copies of the brochure may be obtained by calling the Clearwater Area Office at 403-845-8250. The Public Lands Administration Regulation should be consulted for the purposes of legal interpretation.

• Bighorn Backcountry Access Management Plan
• Public Lands Administration Regulation
• Traffic Safety Act

Recreational trail monitoring

• Recreational Trail Monitoring – Bighorn Access Management Plan
  Alberta government's trail monitoring program, based on recommendations from the Bighorn Advisory Group.
• Monitoring Group Terms of Reference

Monitoring group

The Bighorn Backcountry Monitoring Group comprises a Standing Committee and a Steering Committee. The Standing Committee members were chosen by the user group to represent their user group as well as other user types and the community as a whole. The Steering Committee consists of provincial government members.

• Standing Committee representatives
• Steering Committee representatives

Trail use

The below graphs show the general trail use in the Bighorn Backcountry. The raw data on these graphs are only baseline and preliminary data for considering the overall impact on trails within the Bighorn Backcountry.

The number of users on a trail is only one factor of many used for evaluating trail conditions and future maintenance or timing restrictions. More than one graph may be shown for the same trail.

Generally, the calendar year is divided into:

• summer season (July and August)
• fall hunting season (September through and including November)
• snow vehicle season (December through and including April)

Adverse weather and frozen ground conditions may affect the date or gathering of data from trail counters.

Two types of counters are being used to measure the usage: