THE FORTRESS MOUNTAIN RESORT
Fortress Mountain Resort recently submitted the first full proposal under the new All‑Season Resorts Act (ASRA) which is open for public input until February 27th. The amusement‑park style vision has confirmed our worst fears about what ASRA would enable, slicing off hectares of Spray Lakes provincial park for private commercial development and overdeveloping an already stressed landscape.
The proposed resort is within the Kananaskis Valley, which means the development at Fortress will impact wildlife movement, water security, and community infrastructure, including local recreation and tourism businesses, across the region.
The Fortress All‑Season Resort Master Plan and the Environmental Assessment, make it clear that this proposal not only disregards the guiding principles outlined in the Kananaskis Recreation Plan, but stands in in stark contrast to what Albertans have consistently said they want for our parks and wild places: More of them, and better protections for them.
The sweeping proposal includes a year‑round resort with hotels, gondolas, retail areas, private real estate, and an exhaustive list of summer and winter activities. They anticipate nearly 10,000 visitors per day.
There are responsible, sustainable ways to support recreation and tourism in Alberta, but this isn’t one of them.
ouR concerns
The Integrity of Kananaskis Country.
Kananaskis Country already sees more than 5 million visitors every year. Adding a development of this scale, and the surge in visitation that would inevitably follow, threatens the ecological integrity of these wild public lands. More traffic, more pressure on trails and facilities, and more human presence in key wildlife habitat will all compound to further strain a landscape already struggling to keep pace with demand.
And Fortress wouldn't be expanding in isolation. The Nakiska ski area, which recently received its own All-Season Resort land designation, is just 13 km away. Layering major resort expansions in such close proximity threatens destroying the very attributes that make Kananaskis Country so important to Albertans in the first place.
Impacts to Water and Wildlife.
Photo by Howard Trofanenko
This area is an extremely important feeding and resting area for grizzly bears, which are designated as a Threatened species in Alberta. Dramatically increasing recreation pressures in the summertime would heighten the risk of human-bear conflict in the short term, and, in the long term, risk removing this key habitat from their range completely.
Other at‑risk species would face similar pressures. Wolverine, already sensitive to disturbance and listed as a species of special concern under the Species at Risk Act (SARA), would see more fragmentation of the high‑quality habitat they depend on. Bull trout, which are protected federally under SARA and provincially under the Wildlife Act, would also be affected, with 17% of the Fortress leasehold overlapping with Critical Habitat for bull trout.
Alarmingly, Fortress has not assessed its water needs or the environmental impacts of water withdrawal for the proposed development. Their existing water license cannot meet the demands of the project, and for the past 20 years, the South Saskatchewan River Basin has had a moratorium on new water licenses. Without a clear, legal source of water, it’s unclear where this water would come from.
The proponent’s Environmental Assessment (EA) fails to adequately address any of these concerns, nor does it consider how climate change will affect the project’s environmental imprint.
Equally as concerning, the EA completely ignores cumulative effects. The Kananaskis Valley is already home to many existing and proposed developments, and Alberta’s All‑Season Resorts Act encourages areas such as Nakiska Ski Area to similarly increase its activities. This valley is ecologically significant and widely loved. It also sees some of the highest recreational use in the province, which makes the remaining quieter areas that much more important. Since the Fortress ski resort closed in 2005, the reduced activity in this area has provided a rare refuge for several at-risk species. Increasing use here, especially this dramatically, would erode its function as a wildlife sanctuary and further exacerbate cumulative pressures already affecting the broader Kananaskis region. A regional cumulative effects assessment is needed to understand how all developments and activities interact, and to support informed planning for the entire region.
Contradicting provincial policies.
This proposal runs counter to the guiding policies in the Kananaskis Country Recreation Policy, which was developed with extensive public input, and much of the area proposed for development is designated as a Prime Protection Zone under the Eastern Slopes Policy. Both the Land‑Use Framework and the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan emphasize the need for cumulative‑effects management.
More recently, the government’s All‑Season Resorts Policy identifies environmental excellence as a “foundational expectation.”
The Minister of Tourism stated in December 2025 that a key purpose of the policy is to reduce pressure on areas experiencing over‑use. Kananaskis Country receives more than 5 million visitors annually (more than Banff!) and this proposal would intensify that pressure, not relieve it.
Last year, the provincial government removed 131 hectares (324 acres) from Spray Lakes Provincial Park without public consultation. Those mountain slopes are now zoned as an All‑Season Resort Area, which is what’s enabling Fortress to expand its lease area.
It is wholly unacceptable that the province is chipping away parts of our public parks to make room for private resorts. Albertans have repeatedly said they want Kananaskis managed for conservation and low‑impact recreation, not sold off piece by piece for commercial projects that threaten the very values that define it.
GET INVOLVED
Proponent-Led
Public Information Sessions
Upcoming Fortress public Listening Sessions:
Tuesday, February 17, 2026 (Canmore): Canmore Miner’s Union Hall, 728 7 St, Canmore, Alberta.
2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Friday, February 20, 2026 (Calgary): Mount Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Room EC2010, Calgary, Alberta.
2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Monday, February 23, 2026 (Edmonton): Stanley A. Milner Library, 7 Sir Winston Churchill Sq NW, Civic Employee Fund Room 1, Edmonton, Alberta.
2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
TAKE ACTION
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
The provincial government provides opportunity to hear from you by February 27, 2026, through its one-question feedback form. However, we feel this form is constraining — they ask you to ‘Include information regarding how you are affected by the proposed application.’
You can also fill out the proponent-led survey, but note that the questions are worded largely in favour of the proposal.
We recommend that, by February 27th, you write an email expressing your thoughts, and send it to the following recipients:
All-season Resort Branch: allseasonresorts@gov.ab.ca
Fortress Mountain Resort: info@fortressmountainresort.com
Alberta Minister of Tourism & Sport, Hon. Andrew Boitchenko: ts.minister@gov.ab.ca
KEY ISSUES TO CONSIDER INCLUDING
- Flora and Fauna: The project threatens key habitat for grizzly bears, wolverine, and bull trout, as well as whitebark pine.
- Water: Fortress has not assessed the impact of water use for the proposed development, and the basin is under a moratorium on new water licenses.
- Climate Change: The proposal does not assess the impact of climate change on wildlife habitat refugia, water availability, or the feasibility of sustainable winter use.
- Loss of park land: 131 hectares of Spray Lakes Provincial Park were removed without public consultation to enable this proposal. Park boundaries should not be altered on a whim to facilitate private development.
- Cumulative effects: The proposal ignores cumulative effects, including existing activities and use and nearby resorts like Nakiska.
- Not aligned with policy or public values: The proposal contradicts regional plans and the way Albertans have repeatedly said they want Kananaskis managed to prioritize conservation and low impact recreation.
Photo Credit: Jordan Ubell
Learn More
ALL-SEASON RESORTS ACT
In December, 2024, the Government of Alberta passed Bill 35, turning the All-Season Resorts Act (ASRA) into legislation and exposing our parks to delisting and our public land to privatization. This was profoundly undemocratic and unethical, and we did not agree to it.