Site Inspection Form – 2024

This form is used to collect the status of a Protected Area site by SAPAA members, designated Government Stewards, and citizen-stewards.

This page is no long in use but preserved until December 31, 2027 for reference.

Who to Contact

This form is collect information about protected areas. If you are witnessing illegal activities, an emergency, poaching, etc. please use these contacts:

  • An Emergency: Call 911 or contact the local RCMP or police detachment.
  • Significant damage or disturbances: To report illegal activity and public safety issues on public land or in Provincial Parks, call 310-LAND.
  • Poaching: Report suspicious or illegal hunting and fishing activity, or dangerous wildlife encounters online or by phone, 1-800-642-3800.

This page is no long in use but preserved until December 31, 2027 for reference.

The Fine Print Up Front

Thank you for both visiting and reporting on Alberta’s protected areas. Before doing so, however, there are some critical thing you need to know:

  1. You are NOT a SAPAA Volunteer. SAPAA is not asking you to conduct site inspections of protected areas, nevertheless….
  2. Send Us a Report. If you have visited a protected area on your own, as part of a group, etc., please consider documenting your visit and contributing to the body of knowledge about these sites.
  3. Your Privacy and Data. Your personal information shared with SAPAA (name, email, phone numbers) are protected and will never be re-shared or distributed with the following exceptions.
    • The GoA: we will share the data set with the relevant government department(s) and which will include your name, visit details, and contact information. Once shared, it is the Government of Alberta’s responsibility to protect this information.
    • In Summary: If you are a regular contributor, your first name and initial will be listed. A pseudonym can be used (e.g. Bob S. for Robert Suruncle).
  4. Revisions. You will receive a copy of the submission. Unfortunately revisions via the form are not possible but significant changes can be made by contacting webmaster@sapaastewards.com.
  5. Report Frequency. If you visit a site more than once, feel free to submit a report for each visit.
  6. Editorial Prerogative. In reporting the visits, SAPAA reserves editorial control over reporting on the visits. For example, it may amalgamate or not use your report(s). Every valid report will be given to the province as part of the annual reporting process.

You can download a manual version of this form. Note, only online submissions are accepted by SAPAA.

For Government designated Stewards submitting annual reports, an annual report format is available:

How to Use this Form

  1. Who to Contact
  2. The Fine Print Up Front
  3. How to Use this Form
  4. General Information
  5. Overall Impression of the Site
  6. How was your visit to the PA?
  7. What is in the Site (that should be there)?
  8. What are the human activities/disturbances affecting the Site?
  9. What Needs to be (Has Been) Done?
  10. Thank You and Do You Have Pictures?
  11. Thank You! 
Inspecting Mathew's Cross NA, 2023-07-28 (P.Potter)
Inspecting Mathew’s Cross NA, 2023-07-28 (P.Potter)

By completing and submitting this form, you agree that your have read, understand, and agree with the terms of this form as outlined above.

Go back

Thank you for site inspection report!

General Information

This section will gather Who Are You, When did you Visit. Where Did You Go?

↑ Who Are You, select your name from the list or use “I am a Guest” if not listed and add your name to the field below. Not a member, becoming one is easy!

SAPAA Member? (Q16)(required)

↑ SAPAA members received a newsletter and notice about Alberta’s Protected Areas. Complete a membership form and become a member today!

↑ When did you visit. Use your last day of visit if multiple days and note dates in the Steward Name Section.

↑ Select the name of the area from the drop down. If one visit spanned two or more adjoining sites, note this in the optional field. Not sure where you went, check out our list of Protected Areas.

↑ Are you the named, Government of Alberta Steward? Are an individually named Steward or are you a member of group that is the designated Steward. Do you consider your self to be the ‘Citizen Steward’ for this area? Alternatively, just stopped by thanks…

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Overall Impression of the Site

If you only answer one question, this is the one. How Healthy was the site and what are your thoughts? Used for further site visits, reporting, etc. to members and the government.

What is the Naturalness of the Site? 4=Great, 0=Terrible (Q31)(required)

↑ YOUR gut reaction and assessment. 4 is for what you would expect from the site; pristine wilderness for some, mowed grass for others. 0 is the opposite; perhaps vandalism or dumping. 1, 2, and 3 are relative points in between.

↑ A few words for your assessment of How Natural was the Site?

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How was your visit to the PA?

Before getting to the site, how was your trip? 

Trip Duration (Q41)(required)

↑ How Long did you spend in or around the PA?

Why Did you Go? u003cemu003e(Q42)u003c/emu003e(required)

↑ What were you hoping to see/do when you were in the site? Check all that apply, add an activity in the comments section below.

↑ If you want, tell us more about your visit. How much of the site were you able to visit? What was the approximate area visited (e.g. southwest corner), how was the visit (e.g. distance travelled, travelling method), did you partake in an activity not listed above. If you have track of your route, send us a screen shot as a photo or the GPS file (e.g. a GPX, KML, KMX, etc.) in the file submission notes below. Describing disturbances, etc. are in the following section.

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What is in the Site (that should be there)?

What plants, animals, geological, signage or facility features did you see? Comments can be provided via question 52.

Ease to Visit (Q51)(required)

↑ How easy was the PA to find? Was it accommodating once you got there (e.g. toilets).

↑ Describe any significant biological observations (plants, animals, insects, etc.) you want to share? Significant observations should be noted through a site such as iNaturalist.org.

Submissions to iNaturalist Q53

↑ Will you be submitting any postings to iNaturalist.org. SAPAA prefers to use this online resource. If you use another tool, please provide details in the final comment box.

↑ Land slumping, cave ins, newly exposed geological features.

Designation as a Protected Area (Q55)(required)

↑ How do you know it is a natural area?

↑ Final comments on what should be in the site that you have not already noted?

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What are the human activities/disturbances affecting the Site?

What human activities are in the site? Note, some of these activities may be permitted (e.g. grazing) and others may be illegal (e.g. tree cutting, gravel extraction). You need only report what you saw, SAPAA will try to determine whether the activity is permitted or not. 

Agricultural Activities (Q61)(required)

↑ Is the PA used by a local farmer/rancher? Many sites have grazing leases.

Resource extraction (Q62)(required)

↑ (Non) renewable resource extraction. Some sites have existing leases to allow this.

Motorized disturbances (ATV or vehicle activity) (Q63)(required)

↑ Some sites permit motorized access.

Animal or self propelled activities (Q64)(required)

↑ Walking/hiking trails, skiers, snowshoeing, mountain biking, horses, other animals, canoeing. Please exclude activities you, or your party, went to the site to engage in (and asked in a prior section). This questions is based on what you observed directly (e.g. bird watchers) or indirectly (e.g. snowshoe tracks).

Gathering and Dumping Activities (Q65)(required)

↑ These are human disturbances ‘left behind’.

Infrastructure encroachment (Q66)(required)

↑ Washrooms or picnic shelters should be noted in the previous section. Include both recent or long-established infrastructure.

↑ Any comments or explanations for questions 61 to 66?

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What Needs to be (Has Been) Done?

What, if anything, does the site need to improve/protect it?

Remediation/Protection Activities Needed (Q74)(required)

↑ Select any remediation activities needed for this site (check all that apply); provide details in the comments section below.

What Have you Done Recently to Help the site? (Q72)(required)

↑ This question is mostly for Designated Government Stewards who have permission to make changes to sites. Nevertheless, by completing this site report, you have helped!

↑ Are there nearby residents (full or part time) who might become Citizens Stewards? If so, include any contact details you observe (rural address, name, contact information as available).

↑ Any comments or explanations on the above? For example, suggested remediation activities, neighbours, other observations?

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Thank You and Do You Have Pictures?

↑ SAPAA loves pictures. If you have digital files (pictures, videos, audio files, geo-location data – gpx, kml, screenshot of the location), here is how to get them to us:

  1. 1) SAPAA Member: Request access to our GDrive by contacting webmaster@sapaastewards.com.

2) Citizen Steward: If you plan to provide more submissions, request access to a public GDrive folder by contacting webmaster@sapaastewards.com (or better yet, become a SAPAA Member!).

3) Infrequent Steward: Send us your photos by email. Before sending, please try to use these standards to identify your images:

Filename: [WHERE]_[WHEN]_[WHO]_[IDENTIFIER],
— Good: BilbyNA_2098-12-31_JSmith_Pineforest
— Not so good: IMG_1234

File size: e.g. resize an image down to be no more than 1,000 pixels on the largest dimension (Height or Width).

Cropping: Extraneous information from the image should be removed; ‘fill the picture with the subject’ is the mantra.

↑ Have we missed anything? Do you have other comments, ideas, or thoughts about this site?

Thank You! 

Thank you for taking the time to help Alberta’s Protected Areas. If you are not a SAPAA Member, please considering joining or at least look us up on Facebook to learn more about what we do.  (801)

By completing and submitting this form, you agree that your have read, understand, and agree with the terms of this form as outlined above.