Alberta Approves Fortress Resort Plan In Kananaskis With Conditions

Alberta has approved the plan for the proposed Fortress Mountain Resort in Kananaskis Country, advancing the project toward development while leaving questions around water supply, wildlife impacts and Highway 40 capacity unresolved.

The province announced June 11 that the proposal had been approved with conditions under Alberta's All-Season Resorts Act. The approval does not authorize construction or grant the developer additional land rights.

"This is not the final step in the process, but it is a check saying that they're on the right path," said Rob Simieritsch, Alberta's executive director for All-Season Resorts.

The proposal would transform the former Fortress ski area into a year-round mountain resort featuring lifts and gondolas, sightseeing attractions, mountain biking, hiking, accommodations, employee housing and other amenities. According to the province, the resort would be built in five phases over at least 15 years and could eventually accommodate approximately 8,300 visitors per day.

The decision follows a public consultation period that generated 910 submissions, many of them focused on issues including wildlife, water, traffic, housing and the overall scale of development proposed for Kananaskis Country.

Water supply remains unresolved

Water supply remains one of the project's most significant unresolved issues. Banff-Kananaskis MLA Sarah Elmeligi said many constituents questioned how the resort would secure enough water for snowmaking, accommodations and other facilities in the South Saskatchewan River Basin, where new surface-water licences are generally unavailable.

"There are no new water licences available for the South Saskatchewan Basin. The development that Fortress has proposed exceeds their existing water licence by a lot, almost double," she said. 

While the province concluded the project can move forward conceptually, Simieritsch acknowledged Fortress does not yet have sufficient water secured for the later phases of development.

"Right now Fortress has an existing water licence. That water licence is good for phase one and probably most of phase two," he said. "For the later phases of development, they need to secure more water."

Simieritsch said Fortress is exploring groundwater opportunities and discussions with other licence holders in the region, but additional approvals will be required before future phases can proceed.

"They will not be able to proceed to the later phases until they secure the water for that," he said.

Wildlife concerns continue

Wildlife impacts were another dominant theme during public consultation, with respondents identifying the Kananaskis Valley as an important wildlife corridor and raising concerns about potential impacts to grizzly bears, wolverines, lynx, mountain goats, bighorn sheep and other species.

"There were quite a few people who were opposed to building that scale and scope of development in Kananaskis Country and prime grizzly bear habitat," said Elmeligi.

Simieritsch said the province has required additional wildlife-related work before the project can advance, including a human-wildlife coexistence plan and revisions to portions of the proposal that conflict with grizzly bear habitat.

"Some of the trails they put on their map are in high grizzly bear use areas because of berry patches," he said. "They either have to close them during a certain time of year or move those trails."

Additional studies have also been requested for bat habitat and bighorn sheep use of the area.

Highway 40 and emergency planning still under review

Concerns about traffic, evacuation capacity and emergency response along Highway 40 also featured prominently during consultation, with many respondents questioning whether the single-access corridor could safely accommodate additional visitors during wildfires or other emergencies.

Simieritsch said the province is working with Fortress and the Kananaskis Improvement District on an emergency-management strategy and expects increased traffic along Highway 40 as Fortress and Nakiska expand.

"With Nakiska and Fortress, we do anticipate more traffic on Highway 40," he said. "The province is going to be taking a look at Highway 40 and start doing some assessment of traffic and, with that, have a better understanding and model out some of the future demands."

Questions about cumulative development

Beyond concerns tied specifically to Fortress, some residents have questioned whether Alberta is concentrating too many large tourism projects in the Bow Valley and Kananaskis region.

The Fortress proposal is moving through Alberta's all-season resort process alongside other major tourism developments, including the proposed Silvertip Resort gondola near Canmore and Nakiska's approved summer expansion.

"I do find the Fortress and Nakiska and Silvertip, all of these happening very close together in time and in space," Elmeligi said. "Three out of the four all-season resorts are focused in a landscape that is already quite busy with tourists and recreationists."

She said some residents expected Alberta's all-season resort strategy would encourage tourism development in other parts of the province.

"'It really feels like the businesses are driving where these all-season resorts are going to go and what they will be like, versus the province,'" she said, quoting a constituent.

Simieritsch rejected suggestions Alberta is concentrating future resort development in the Bow Valley, saying officials are also examining potential all-season resort opportunities elsewhere in the province, including the Nordegg, Hinton and Grand Cache areas.

"We are looking to go abroad and further than just the Bow Valley," he said.

He added that Fortress benefits from being an existing recreation site rather than requiring a new development footprint.

"What we're really trying to do is instead of creating new footprints and new areas, we're really trying to use the existing land better and try to use it year-round to grow the tourism economy," said Simieritsch

What’s Next

Before the project can advance, Fortress must satisfy several provincial conditions, including additional wildlife studies, environmental management plans, servicing plans, emergency-response planning and Indigenous consultation.

Only then can Alberta consider granting the legal authority needed for development to proceed.

"They still have some more homework to do," said Simieritsch.