Fortress Mountain Resort Master Plan Threatens Wildlife and Public Lands
The Government of Alberta is currently deciding on approval of the Fortress Mountain’s All-Season Resort Master Plan, which proposes to drastically expand commercial development in Kananaskis Country.
In 2025, the Government of Alberta quietly removed 6% of Spray Lakes Provincial Park and added it to the Fortress lease area to enable the resort’s proposed development setting a dangerous precedent that public lands, and parks, are expendable when it comes to private interests.
Public Values and Park Protection Are at Stake
The Fortress proposal contradicts public priorities for parks and public lands. It runs counter to the Kananaskis Country Recreation Policy, which, shaped through extensive public consultation, prioritizes conservation and sustainable public access and prohibits summer villages, new large facilities such as golf courses, ski hills, and large fixed-roof accommodation, and permanent or non-essential residency.
Public polling and the Government of Alberta’s Plan for Parks survey results demonstrate strong support for enhanced biodiversity protections in provincial parks and clear concern about large scale commercial development in natural areas. In the Alberta All-Season Resort Survey, respondents did not support prioritizing tourism development over natural resource conservation.
Approving development that violates these values would risk further undermining public trust in how Alberta's parks and public lands are managed.
Expansion into Important Wildlife Habitat
The Fortress area supports important wildlife habitat including grizzly bears, bull trout, and wolverine. With the anticipated 10,000 visitors per day — over 3.6 million per year — Fortress Mountain Resort’s proposal would bring unsustainable levels of year-round human presence and activity into the area, greatly impacting wildlife habitat security and human-wildlife coexistence.
The proposed development area also contains Critical Habitat for Alberta’s at-risk official fish, the bull trout, which would be impacted by development activities.
Water and Climate Risks Cannot Be Ignored
The development plan indicates that additional water licensing may be required but does not address that restriction on any new water licenses within the Bow River sub-basin. Snowmaking and year-round recreation operations are highly water-intensive, but water allocations in the Bow River sub-basin are already fully committed. Climate change is reducing snowpack and streamflow across the region. A proposal for major infrastructure without should not be approved without an understanding of the full extent of water use and impact on ecosystems, water resources, and the resort’s own viability.
The scale and scope of the Fortress Mountain Master Plan put wildlife, ecosystems, and public lands at unacceptable risk. CPAWS Southern Alberta urges the Government of Alberta to:
1. Reject the commercial development proposal,
2. Require that any revised proposal respects the character and objectives of Kananaskis Country and minimizes commercial infrastructure, and
3. Ensure that wildlife and public lands are properly protected.
