Otter Lakes Airport

The closure was for economic and operational reasons. Otter Lakes Airport was a remote, unpaved airstrip likely built and maintained to support specific industrial or governmental activities. Its closure is attributed to it becoming obsolete or no longer cost-effective. This was likely due to a shift in forest fire management strategies (e.g., greater reliance on helicopters or larger regional airports), the completion of local resource exploration or logging projects, or the development of more reliable ground access to the area.

The site is currently abandoned and is being reclaimed by nature. High-resolution satellite imagery shows the clear outline of the former runway, but it is heavily overgrown with grass, shrubs, and encroaching trees. The airstrip is completely unmaintained and unusable for any type of fixed-wing aircraft. There is no visible infrastructure such as buildings, hangars, or fuel tanks remaining on the site.

Otter Lakes Airport served as a remote wilderness aerodrome in Northern Alberta, Canada. Its primary role was likely as a support base for the Alberta Forest Service (now Alberta Wildfire), used for staging aircraft during forest fire seasons. Operations would have involved small, rugged aircraft capable of using short, unprepared strips, such as the de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver and DHC-3 Otter, for transporting firefighters, equipment, and for aerial observation. It may have also supported seasonal resource industries like oil and gas exploration or logging in an area with limited road access.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Otter Lakes Airport. The likelihood of it being reactivated is extremely low. Re-establishing the airport would require significant investment to clear and restore the runway, and there is no apparent economic or strategic need for an airstrip at this specific remote location. It is considered permanently closed.