So, I was dreaming about being filthy rich and buying 150 acres of land to mow into a picture perfect kite field and stumbled across a reference to "Recreational Access to Public Agricultural Lands" and discovered that the good old Gov't of Alberta has set aside some pretty sizeable chunks of land to be used for a variety of purposes but all the while to be open to the public. There's a small catch and that is that people can lease portions of these lands for cerain use (like grazing livestock, planting crop, forestry etc.) but even ifthe land is leased out it must be open to the public. All the "public" has to do is call the leaseholder for permission prior to entry.

Now, it could be all forest but Google Earth seems to indicate otherwise for a few of the listed locations. You can find all the info on the SRD website. Please, help us figure out how this all works and then let's scout out all of the parcels to find our very own kite haven! I'm going to hit the Wabamun and Buck Lake chunks this week/next but there's more to explore! You can even go camping on these lands for up to 14 days at a stretch. Open fires are permitted...you name it.

The map feature doesn't work so well on the Mac but I managed to find some chunks of land not far from Edmonton.

- One on the west/southwest end of Wabamun, (called Jack Pine),

- One in / around the intersection of Hwy 763 and what would be 22 if it continued North to 763 (Connor Creek),

- One north/northeast of Buck Lake split clean in half by HWY 761 stretching from HWY 22 on the west side to one TWP short of HWY 20 on the east side (Buck Mountain).

- One south of Buck Lake/HWY 13 spanning from HWY 20 west to one TWP short of HWY 22 (No Name) and another down by Medicine Lake near the bend on HWY 53 if you were heading east from 22

Check out the map and see if you can figure it out. The "How To Use This Map" really is helpful and explains how you find out if a lease is open and who to call. Hit the website and see what you can dig up.

Maps:
http://srd.alberta.ca/lands/usingpublicland/recreation/acces...

How To:
http://srd.alberta.ca/lands/usingpublicland/recreation/acces...

hey maccyB,
i played around with SRD map today...
i thought those were provincial parks at first glance of mapping utility. they are indeed "huge a$$" provincial grazing reserves. good snag.
now how do we get 'them' to sod it all
Paul

Great info for Alberta kiters, thanks macboy.

Quick update, the site address has changed, you can now access the land usage information here: http://www.srd.alberta.ca/RecreationPublicUse/RecreationOnAg...

And the map is now available here: http://xnet.env.gov.ab.ca/imf/imf.jsp?site=rec_access