A huge crowd turned out for Tuesday night's meeting in the Crowsnest Pass on proposed changes to the Castle wilderness area.

The area's MLA Pat Stier says, despite terrible weather, recreational users came from near and far to have their feeling known.

"A snowmobile group had driven all the ay down during that bad weather time from St. Paul Alberta because they're so concerned that this area will be closed to their use," he says. "They wanted everybody there to know how much they appreciated the area and all the businesses that they support were happy to see them."

The province is ending random camping and are limiting off highway vehicle use to just designated trails.

Stier says the government has allowed user groups to use and maintain the trails over the years and it doesn't seem fair to pull the plug on them now.

"It's certainly true that there has been a number of different kinds or recreation conducted down in the castle and when something is converted to a park one can expect some change, but these radical changes where even random camping is now going to be banned, are way over the top we believe and we thing there should be a natural balance between environmental needs and access for enjoyment and recreation in the area," Stier says.

He says increasing enforcement would be a good place to start.

He says the government's put out a 60 day consultation period along with the announcement on January 20. Stier would like it extended to 120 days and for the government to hold town hall meetings with the general public to get meaningful feedback on the proposed changes.