SAPAA members and Stewards are associated with numerous organizations. On this page you can find Protected Area partners, Government contacts, and organizations with similar interests.
Welcome to the Affiliates and Protected Area Reading Room page. See links for similarly minded organizations. The reading room are our suggested book used on this site or worth having to best enjoy the protected areas. Finally, the ‘Year in Review’ lists links that were of interest for a particular calendar year. Starting in 2023, they provide a listing of what was important to protect Alberta’s natural treasures.
- Government Contacts & Resources
- SAPAA Members – Partners in Protected Areas
- Other Organizations
- The Protected Area Bookshelf
- Year in Review
Government Contacts & Resources
| Site/Page | Uses and Last Accessed |
| Land Reference Manual | Alberta Parks | A complete listing of lands under the administration of Parks Division of Alberta Environment & Parks. |
| Site Inspection Form | Electronically submit inspections. |
| Environment and Protected Areas | Alberta.ca | One of the two ministries responsible for protected areas (see 2023 Year in review). |
| Forestry, Parks and Tourism | Alberta.ca | One of the two ministries responsible for protected areas (see 2023 Year in review). |
| Government staff directory | Alberta.ca | Look up a department or a GoA employee (2023-03-03). |
SAPAA Members – Partners in Protected Areas
| Site/Page | Uses and Last Accessed |
| Nature Alberta (NA) | NA is a long standing partner with SAPAA including providing the association’s insurance. NA’s current focus is on helping Albertans learn about, experience, and protect our native wildlife and ecosystems. In collaboration with our clubs, NA also host a Nature Network that promotes nature education and stewardship across the province. |
| Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) | AWA is both a member and a contributor of content to the SAPAA website (2023-03-03). |
| JJ Collett Natural Area | |
Other Organizations
While not currently members, the following organizations share many of SAPAA’s values and objectives in relation to Alberta’s Protected Areas.
| Site | What They Do |
| Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) | CPAWS seeks to achieve conservation of public lands and protection of parks and wilderness in Alberta through science, collaboration, and community engagement. Note, there Alberta has two chapters: southern and northern. |
| Red Deer River Naturalists (RDRN) | RDRN seeks to Involve Citizens through education and opportunities that engage them to appreciate and defend biodiversity, ecological integrity and environmental stewardship in central Alberta. |
| Alberta Native Plant Council (ANPC) | .ANPC and SAPAA have a long standing affiliation. ANPC’s has several in respect to Alberta’s native plants. These objectives include a forum to promote knowledge and conservation; co-ordinate information and activities; encourage research; conserve and monitor preservation; and, develop guidelines for the appropriate use of Alberta native plants. |
| Buffalo Lake Nature Club | |
| Alberta Mycological Society | |
| Friends of Kananaskis Country | |
| The Edmonton Nature Club | |
| North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance (NSWA) | NSWA is a not-for-profit organization collaborating with a diverse range of stakeholders to find practical solutions to watershed issues. |
| Lac La Nonne Enhancement and Protection Association |
The Protected Area Bookshelf
SAPAA acknowledges and thanks numerous organizations and government entities who have made invaluable content available for free. The following books have been used on this website or will make a great addition to any bookshelf.
| Resource | SAPAA Acknowledgement & Uses |
| Google Maps | THANK YOU Google for making available an amazing and easy to use mapping tool. Everyone what a Google Map is, but just in case – Google Maps – Wikipedia |
| Wikipedia | Like Google Maps, Wikipedia provides for a good “‘”layman’s” view on a topic. |
| Place Names | Aubrey, Merrily K., ed. Concise Place Names of Alberta. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2006. Used extensively for the origin of a site’s name. Also see this online resource: Peel 5240: Geographic Board of Canada, Place-names of Alberta (1928) (ualberta.ca) |
| Alberta Lakes | Sadly, out of print and no longer available online. This is a resource in desperate need of a re-make; Mitchell, Patricia, and E. E. Prepas. “Atlas of Alberta Lakes.” Edmonton, Alberta: University of Alberta Press, 1990. |
| Alberta Geology | Now nearly 20-years old but still an excellent resource, occasionally used on SAPAA pages. Mussieux, Ron, and Marilyn Nelson. A Traveller’s Guide to Geological Wonders in Alberta. Repr. Edmonton: Provincial Museum of Alberta, 2005. |
A Year in Review
The following links and downloadable content were relevant for the year(s) noted in the heading. The are generally presented in reverse chronological order.
2023
- Discussion on the organizational structure of the former Alberta Parks’ Ministry.
2022
- December 19, 2022: Nations Adopt Four Goals, 23 Targets for 2030 In Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement.
- Summer: Your Big Say on Big Island.
The following are Best Practice Notes [remove before finalizing]
My personal feeling is that your outbound links should be structured in one of 3 ways:
- When appropriate, link directly from content. This is particularly applicable if you’re citing a study, a journal or another web page. Links can be in articles, news, blog entries, even biographies and be valuable and helpful to your readers.
- If you’re providing lists of resources on subject matter, split them into the most usable segments possible. In some instances, this may mean a full fledged directory with a categorical structure and multiple levels but in most cases, it simply means seperating links into 3-10 lists, ordered by the type of service or knowledge they provide.
- Citation or additional references lists at the bottom or sidebar of long article pages are also helpful. This fits the format model for academic and research papers and can serve to help readers who need more information or additional substance to help back up your findings/suppositions.
Beyond these formats, there are others that can be used properly, but the worst kind of link pages are the ones I see most often – lengthy, useless lists of links with “optimized” anchor text and virtually no compelling description or logical reason that ties them to the site they’re on. It may not be today or tomorrow, but one day, search engines are going to start discounting or even penalizing these smaller versions of the “link farm”.
SAPAA 