It's a little detail in a big announcement.

Alberta's UCP government won't be grooming the Peter Lougheed Trail in the Kananaskis region for cross country skiers anymore.

There are much bigger cuts to the province's park system in the announcement.  Ten small provincial parks are being flat out closed.  Various facilities and campgrounds are being shut at 10 other parks.

The province has also announced it is looking for partners and new arrangements for the management of a further 163 parks which are candidates to be "removed" from the provincial park system designation.

But there is something particularly poignant about the decision to downgrade servicing to a trail named after late Premier Peter Lougheed in the massive park and recreation area that premier created.

Lougheed's administration and most of his PC successors valued parks as points of pride for a province renowned for its natural beauty.  Plus they recognized their potential for enlivening local economies and providing affordable recreation for Albertans.

If there was any residual thought that the UCP was just a successor party to the Progressive Conservatives, their current course should be the final wake up call.

For 44 years the province was governed by the Progressive Conservative Party.  In a province known for its rollercoaster resource economy and resulting dips and dives in government revenues, sometimes the fiscal belt needed tightening during its regime.

But there were a few budget targets the PCs liked to stay away from.  They didn't like to rile up seniors, because they vote in droves and have plenty of time to build up grievances.  Jason Kenney's UCP is happily wading into those roiling waters with a plan to overlay a means test on the longtime pharmacare plan for seniors.  And the premier is floating a policy balloon about the potential to meddle with the CPP by bringing it under Alberta's jurisdiction.

The rural voter also had a special place in the Progressive Conservative heart.  The loyal base in the hinterland was off limits for major hits.  But rural municipalities are being particularly hard hit by UCP decisions to begin charging small towns and hamlets for their policing costs.

The PCs of yore did tinker with provincial parks, particularly during the Ralph Klein era, including a controversial privatization of campgrounds.

But the party recognized that backcountry could also be a magnet for tourists and a potential source of economic diversification in a province in dire need of alternatives to oil and gas.  Small parks in far flung corners of the province also spoke to rural constituents looking for lifestyle and income enhancements.

A couple of the facilities being closed in the UCP's latest slash and burn include visitors centres and services that are of particular interest to the tourism trade.  Two other cross country trails in Kananaskis will no longer be groomed.  A comfort camping facility at Dinosaur Provincial Park near Brooks is being closed.

The fate of the 163 parks which may be removed from the provincial parks system is up in the air.  Private operators and First Nations will likely be part of the "partner" mix the UCP is courting to take the public lands out of government hands.

"Opening up more facilities and areas for First Nations, non-profit and private sector operation is a great way to encourage private sector investment and create jobs across Alberta as we implement our 10-year tourism strategy," said Economic Development Minister Tanya Fir.

Reaction has been swift from provincial campers and conservationists on open line shows and social media.

"They are our public parks.  There has been no public consultation.  They have not asked, how do we value these areas?  Do we want them privatized?" said Katie Morrison of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society on an open line radio show.

The UCP's budget cuts have been swift and sometimes inexplicable.  The parks decision saves only $5 million but risks a fair bit of political capital.  Like many of these cuts, including some major alterations to doctors pay and education funding, they were sprung with little to no public consultation.

The UCP is counting on a libertarian streak in Albertans to smooth out the bumps.  It's all about priorities.

"My constituents and many Albertans across this province are struggling to be able to pay their mortgages and the luxury of comfort camping is not something that they want us to focus on," Environment Minister Jason Nixon told reporters.

Photo Credit: CBC News