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Alberta has released a list of cuts it is making to the parks system, including 20 full or partial closures.

The public will be barred from 11 of those parks, while nine will be accessible but without any services. (See the full list below).

READ MORE: Alberta Parks camping reservations set to open up for bookings in March

Another 164 parks are to be handed over to third parties to manage. Environment Minister Jason Nixon said about six groups have contacted him about one of those sites.

The changes are throughout the province — from campsites at Dinosaur Provincial Park in the south to the complete closure of Kehiwin Provincial Park in the north.

The total amount of land involved is about 16,000 hectares.

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The government says that’s less than one per cent of the province’s parks system, but it isn’t clear if that includes the national parks.

“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,” Nixon said. “The retail side loses a tremendous amount of money.

“There’s Sulphur Lake, for example — 36 people were going to it at any given year and that’s not what we can focus on and we need to focus on the heavily utilized areas and that people want to camp at.”

Nixon said during a time of “fiscal restraint” in Alberta, those struggling to find jobs don’t “want the government focused on having a comfort campground for them.”

1:56 Alberta wants to hand off management of 164 provincial parks Alberta wants to hand off management of 164 provincial parks

The United Conservative government says the changes, which it calls optimizing Alberta’s parks, will save $5 million.

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The NDP said it wanted to see numbers to back up the government’s justification for the cuts.

“I would challenge the assertion by the minister that they are under-utilized. Show us the data,” environment critic Marlin Schmidt said. “Some parks on the list of closure are Dinosaur Provincial Park — that’s overbooked, Buffalo Jump is also busy, so show us data.”

LISTEN: Grace Wark with Alberta Wilderness Association joins Calgary Today to discuss plans to remove parks from the provincial system

Campers and park users that Global News spoke with on Tuesday said they were disappointed to see the parks affected, but understood why they ended up on the chopping block.

“It certainly will affect us, we are big parks users,” Daryll Harrison said. “I’m sorry this decision is made but on the other hand, the province is in a serious situation from a financial perspective and ultimately, tough decisions have to be made.”

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“I’m a user of those trails. I should be the one who is complaining but I understand the big picture… We can’t keep spending money when we don’t have it,” Anders Renborg said.

For Grace Wark with the Alberta Wilderness Association, the decision is “concerning.”

“Like a lot of places, they are well-known and well-loved by people [who] see them as having recreational value,” Wark said. “So places like Chain Lakes, that’s a place I go every summer… to see it taken out of the provincial parks system is really concerning.”

Full closures

Kehiwin Provincial Recreation Area near St. Paul

Running Lake Provincial Recreation Area north of Worsley

Stoney Lake Provincial Recreation Area north of Fairview

Little Fish Lake Provincial Recreation Area east of Drumheller

Crow Lake Provincial Recreation Area south of Fort McMurray

Bleriot Ferry Provincial Recreation Area north of Drumheller

Green Valley Provincial Park east of Peace River

Twin Lake Provincial Recreation Area north of Manning

Sheep Creek Provincial Recreation Area north of Grande Cache

Partial closures

Bow Valley Provincial Park west of Calgary

Gooseberry Provincial Recreation Area west of Bragg Creek

Gooseberry Lake Provincial Park north of Consort

Sulphur Lake Provincial Recreation Area north of Peace River

Engstrom Lake Provincial Recreation Area south of Fort McMurray

Chain Lakes Provincial Recreation Area north of Athabasca

Lawrence Lake Provincial Recreation Area north of Athabasca

Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park southeast of Red Deer

Notikewin Provincial Park north of Manning

Smoky River South Provincial Recreation Area west of Grande Cache

Dinosaur Provincial Park northeast of Brooks

— With files from Global News’ Jill Croteau

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