EDMONTON—A battle is brewing over Bighorn Country and local residents are raising concerns with government officials about their own safety following allegations of bullying at public discussions of the park proposal.

In November, the NDP government announced a $40-million proposal for Bighorn Country that would see about 400,000 hectares of land between Banff and Jasper protected and developed for tourism, recreation and environmental conservation.

The province is currently holding public consultations on the plan, collecting feedback via an online survey, and also holding meetings in the western part of the province.

But residents in favour of the park say the debate has turned ugly, alleging in letters sent to the minister of environment and parks that park opponents have harassed them in person and online.

Nordegg residents Scott and Hollen Sheldrake told StarMetro on Thursday that they’ve started avoiding public events and say the debate’s nasty turn has shaken them enough to worry for their children’s safety.

“It’s getting to the point where that if you participate, there’s retaliation,” Hollen said. “Whether it is on Facebook, whether it is more passive aggressive ...”

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While lot of it is online bullying, Scott said people have been indirectly smearing his business, too, however he declined to go into further detail.

Two other residents in the area, who did not want to be named due to concerns over personal safety and the well-being of their property, told StarMetro that they had also experienced online and offline bullying from people over their support for the park.

Matt Dykstra, a spokesperson for Minister of Environment and Parks Shannon Phillips, confirmed that “Alberta Environment and Parks has received correspondence from Albertans about the inflamed rhetoric of the public discussion and consultation on the Bighorn Country proposal, some of which is concerning.”

“We encourage all Albertans to listen to different perspectives on the proposal and please be respectful of different opinions. No one should be intimidated or feel threatened into not voicing their opinion. That isn’t who we are as Albertans.”

The Sheldrakes sent StarMetro a copy of a letter outlining their concerns about the public debates that they sent to Phillips and to the United Conservative Party MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, Jason Nixon.

In it, the Sheldrakes outline their concerns about the debates, but also allege that Nixon has made it difficult for residents in favour of the park to speak up.

Specifically Scott points to a Facebook post from December where Nixon says that although the NDP had finally set up public meetings, “it is clear the NDP will continue their behaviour of not actually engaging in real public consultation.”

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Scott also asks Nixon to take down a video of a man standing on a chair at a town-hall meeting where the man asks a room full of people if they’re opposed to the park, to which he receives a loud and affirmative response. When another person asks if anyone is in favour of the park, there is no response from the room.

Scott said in the letter this video was an example of how people are bullied into keeping quiet because of the “fear of getting mobbed in the parking lot” and “getting bullied further for their views.”

When the UCP was contacted for Nixon’s comments on the letter, StarMetro was provided with an emailed statement from the MLA.

“I’ve repeatedly called for a fulsome, thorough and respectful consultation from all parties and individuals. Unfortunately, the NDP is doing the opposite by rushing such an important process in just 70 days,” it read.

Conservationists have long championed the area as needing protection — its headwaters provide drinking water for about a million Albertans. Yet those who have been using the area for mechanized recreation, like ATV riders, have been resistant to the park designation.

Alan Ernst, who runs Aurum Lodge just past Nordegg, told StarMetro that there are “very, very vocal” stakeholders who are opposed to the park protection.

“The silent majority are probably in favour of protection, but those are not the people who speak out,” he said.

The discussion about the land has been going on for some 30 years, said Ernst. In the early 2000s, Ernst said he also had an experience over his stance on protection barring mechanized recreation increases in the area.

He said his business sign was vandalized twice by folks who disagreed with him.

“We’ve seen it before,” he said.

Correction — Jan. 11, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version to remove sensitive information about a person interviewed for the story.

Correction — Jan. 4, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the population of Nordegg was around 3,000. In fact, it is around 90. As well, it mistakenly said Scott and Hollen Sheldrake were concerned about attending public consultations. In fact, they’re concerned about attending public events.

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