Alberta’s wide open spaces are going to get a lot less open. Jason Kenney’s United Conservative government announced Tuesday that they would be closing or partially closing 20 provincial park spaces, and selling off 164 others to be managed by third-party private companies. The changes affect more than a third of the 473 provincial parks, wildland provincial parks, provincial recreation areas, ecological reserves, wilderness areas, natural areas and heritage ranchlands currently managed by the provincial government.

The closures will represent $5 million in savings for the government, according to the 2020 budget. “Alberta’s taxpayers pay over $86 million a year to be able to run our campgrounds of which we receive around $36 million in revenue,” Environment Minister Jason Nixon told reporters Tuesday. “The retail side loses a tremendous amount of money.”

Todd Korol via Getty Images The sun sets over Dinosaur Provincial Park near Drumheller, Alta.

Of the 20 full and partial closures, the public will be barred from accessing 11 of them, while nine will be accessible but no longer serviced by trial clearing or garbage collection. Camping service fees at existing sites are also expected to go up. Cross-country ski trails in several parks will no longer be groomed or maintained. The announcement struck a nerve with Albertans, who took to Twitter to share their dismay at the closures and sales of the parks.

The @Alberta_UCP is closing a bunch of provincial parks. Like, just closing them. No more public access. Done.



A bunch more are being farmed out to private managers.



Oh, and did you enjoy nordic skiing in Canmore/Kananaskis? Too bad. That's done too. https://t.co/XpSKC23hF3 — hangry_white_male (@HangryMale) March 3, 2020

Outraged but not stunned at the Alberta government’s plan for our pristine provincial parks. Closures, land sales and reduced operations. If you care about Alberta parks please write a letter to your MLA. Don’t just sit idly by and hope someone else does. #AbLeg@RachelNotley — Laura Farley (@Farley136) March 3, 2020

Many also shared fond memories from Alberta parks and worried that privatizing the parks would make them less accessible to families.

I know the xc-ski community is devastated about groomed ski trail services being slashed, but really, the devastating news here is the privatization of parks. Some of the most accessible outdoor activities in Alberta for families of variable incomes are its public parks. #ableg — Romy (@RomyYYC) March 3, 2020

Genuinely grateful that my grandfather didn't live to see this day in Alberta. He would be heartbroken. #ablegpic.twitter.com/zMajXuVKjw — Jeremy Klaszus (@klaszus) March 4, 2020

Beyond the frustrating disregard for the value of our parks, this unfairly targets families who cannot afford fancy or far vacations. I have the fondest memories of camping as a child, which really was all our family could afford at the time. What is happening in Alberta 😔😭 https://t.co/m4FnqhcB91 — Sarah Henschke (@sarahhenschke) March 4, 2020

While others questioned the finances of closing the parks to save just $5 million.

It's estimated closing these areas will save $5 million. I'd like to see some other numbers. How much money does having an active population save our healthcare system? How many people travel from around the world (+ spend their money in Alberta) because of our outdoor spaces? — Annalise Klingbeil (@AnnaliseAK) March 4, 2020

Idea: cuts to Alberta’s parks could be avoided by increasing the GST by 0.005%. (Alberta can do this if it wants.) As a bonus, a good chunk of revenue would be paid by visitors. https://t.co/03Fw2nGbdw — Trevor Tombe (@trevortombe) March 4, 2020

Others specifically called out the government for cutting the parks to save $5 million while maintaining the $30-million annual budget for the controversial Canadian Energy Centre, Kenney’s “energy war room.”

Shut down the war room, save whatever is left from the $30 million and save the parks. Tourism is an important industry that could help Alberta.

Sad to see this happening. — Derek Hughes (@DerekHughes123) March 4, 2020

Alberta is spending $30 million a year to combat negative perception of Alberta's energy production (oil/gas) and are calling it a "war room", but need to close/privatize parks to save money 🙃🙃 https://t.co/FUglScfY85 — D R | 2019 NBA Champions (@dvidrx) March 4, 2020