Bruce McPherson

FILE - RCMP use a camera mounted drone as they investigate at the scene of a single vehicle accident along the Queen Elizabeth II Highway, north of Panoka Alta., on Monday Sept. 22, 2014. A plan from the province to use drones to monitor campers has been scrapped after a public outcry. PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM /David Bloom/Edmonton Sun/QMI Age

The UCP government has grounded a proposal to use aerial drones to monitor campers and outdoor enthusiasts on public lands.

Four days after a request for proposals (RFP) was posted by Alberta Environment and Parks seeking private contractors’ bids to operate a program that would provide surveillance on holidays and long weekends in the summer and fall, Environment Minister Jason Nixon said the plan has been shot down.

“As soon as I became aware of the request for suppliers related to Long Range Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (drones) I instructed my department to suspend it,” Nixon said in a statement.

While he said the use of drones for obvious emergency and safety purposes could take place, they’re too intrusive when monitoring camping activities.

“I have been clear with my department that while drones are an effective and cost-effective tool for wildfire monitoring and search-and-rescue assistance, they must never be used to encroach on privacy,” said Nixon.

Later, in an interview, Nixon said he only noticed the RFP on Monday morning, adding the process of drawing them up will be changed.

“Lots of RFPs are going out all the time,” he said.

The now-scrapped RFP had stated the province was seeking “live electro-optical and infrared video to support safety, co-ordination and situational awareness for ground personnel.”

Activities would include detection of campfires and off-highway vehicles operating in restricted areas, along with search-and-rescue assistance and detection of environmental damage, and to detect “gatherings of 10 or more individuals and officer safety support.”

“Operators must possess the ability to provide aerial surveillance both day and night, using heat signature capturing imagery or similar technology,” states the 31-page RFP.

“Operators must have the ability to detect individuals, vehicles and infrastructure such as cabins or fishing huts in remote locations and provide real-time imagery and geographic positional data to an Incident Commander or Operations Officer.”

A public policy think-tank critical of the proposal said it had collected 3,000 signatures within three hours on Monday demanding it be cancelled.

It cited concerns over violation of privacy.

“We have no problems using these to combat wildfires but to spy on Alberta for a weekend of camping is beyond the pale,” said Peter McCaffrey, president of the Alberta Institute.

“My hope would be that this is the work of some rogue bureaucrat and as soon as more senior people become aware of it, it’s canned.”

Nixon said the province already uses drones for search-and-rescue and wildfire suppression purposes, and could use them to supplement helicopters in instances of law enforcement activities.

As spring takes hold and the first long weekend of the summer approaches, there have been a number of citizen reports of off-road vehicles and reckless camping behaviour damaging wilderness areas west of Calgary, such as McLean Creek and Waiparous.

And critics of the UCP government say the $90 annual and $15 daily fee for Kananaskis Country that’ll be required starting June 1 has overlooked areas such as McLean Creek.

The province has beefed up its on-the-ground enforcement with 20 new conservation officers, while all-terrain vehicle fees are on the way along with a random camping levy, said Nixon.

“We take that seriously — it’s primarily a small group of bad actors, and Albertans will see more enforcement on the landscape this season,” he said.