Right now, it is not allowed in the Kananaskis and Bow valley parks. I might assume this might include all Parks in the Calgary region. As I mentioned earlier, they have asked us to make a submission with some suggestions. I think that this will be a process that take several months.
In the mean time as a Society we apply for picking permits and have those issued or an equivalent letter of Authority, as we did for the July Bow Valley foray. This permission comes with a bunch of restrictions and guidelines i.e. We are required to provide a 2,000,000. liability insurance and sign waivers that we will not hold the Parks responsible for our clumsiness. Also all the specimens collect belong to the Crown and are returned to them after we are finished looking at them andé or they are deposited in a herbarium. Again we did this by displaying them at parks day as requested and basically turned the mushrooms over to them at that time.
So going the offical route will not get you anywhere. In the mean time,I suggest, armed with your brochure, ask someone at the information booth and if you get permission , write their name down and pick respectfully till someone tells you to stop.