Heavily disturbed natural area and the only one (so far) deserving of a score of “0” for Naturalness, a rating of ‘Terrible’.

The Redwater River Natural Area, as of 2024-03-29, is heavily disturbed by ATV tracks, an illegal gun range, and dumping sites, posing safety risks and environmental damage. Remediation activities like signage, cleanup, and ongoing monitoring are urgently needed. This site requires immediate attention due to extensive abuse and neglect.

1. Inspection Report
2. Sound File
3. Images from Inspection

Inspection Report

Question	Q##	Response
		General Information
Date/Site/Submitter:	Q21/22/12	2024-03-29: Redwater River; Phrank P.
Guest Names	Q14	Frank Potter
SAPAA Member	Q16	Yes
		Over all Impression of the Site
What is the Naturalness of the Site? 4=Great, 0=Terrible	Q31	0 – Terrible
How Natural?: comments	Q32	A site that has been partially destroyed through bush parties, ATVs, and an illegal gun range. Visit with extreme caution.
		How was your visit to the PA?
Trip Duration	Q41	1-2 hours
Why Did you Go?	Q42	Other (see comments)
Visit Details	Q43	Visit while researching for yegville.ca.
		What is in the Site?
Ease to Visit	Q51	Parking lot or parking for 2 or more cars
Biological Observations	Q52	The western portion, most affected by ATV traffic was devoid of fresh animal tracks (rodent, ungulate) or scat. Only when I moved away from the illegal gun range area were there some older deer and hare tracks. One tree was stripped of bark, unclear of the animal doing the munching.
Submissions to iNaturalist	Q53	No, did not see anything of note
Geological Observations	Q54	Nothing of note
Designation as a Protected Area	Q55	Exists but in disrepair
Comments	Q56	A single boundary sign on RR230.
		Human Activities/Disturbances
Agricultural Activities	Q61	None noted
Resource extraction	Q62	None Noted
Motorized disturbances (ATV or vehicle activity).	Q63	Off Highway Vehicles (e.g. quads, motorbikes)
Animal or self propelled activities	Q64	Other (see comments)
Gathering and Dumping Activities	Q65	Camping (lean-to’s, fire rings, etc.), Bush party sites (e.g. bottles), Recent fires or burns, Garbage dumping
Infrastructure encroachment	Q66	None Noted
Comments	Q67	This NA is heavily disturbed. The extensive ATV tracks makes for easy walking but the impromptu gun range makes getting shot easier still.
		What Needs to be Done?
Remediation/Protection Activities Needed	Q71	Fencing, Re-vegetation, Cleanup, Signs, Continued Monitoring, Educating Neighbours about Site Usage
What Have you Done Recently to Help the site?	Q72	Visit and Submitted This Report!
Nearby Stewards?	Q73	59103 Range Road 230, the Marr’s Farm
Comments	Q74	This site has suffered significant abuse and is in desperate need of a clean up, fencing, signage, and ongoing monitoring. About six different dumping sites were noted with some tree cutting. Beyond trails, ATVs have created ‘donut’ pits in which a 100M+ area has been stripped of vegetation as a result of the circular direction of travel by vehicles. Most worrisome is the gun range set up roughly at 54.075577, -113.298419. The ground is littered with spent shell casings, skeet targets, and the back stop of trees seems to have been shot down (rather than cut down). Beyond the potential lead in the shot, this is an extreme safety risk for visitors. The direction and apparent inexperience of those using the firearms could give rise to accident shootings.
Last Words	Q82	Shooting and dumping is widespread throughout the area.

Sound File

The Government of Alberta’s Chief Scientist office requests that we collect a sound recording from sites. Not much to hear, which is a good thing! Collected 2024-04-09, 1300h, coordinates provided in the sound file.

Images from Inspection