Environment

Coming Soon! The Rape of Kananaskis

by ppeggy | July 12, 2007 at 03:49 pm

1364 views | 19 Recommendations | 7 comments

The little community of Bragg Creek and its surrounding area has only about 3,000 residents but their efforts to stop the planned clear-cutting on the eastern slopes of Kananaskis have been monumental. They've given away more than 4,000 "Save Kananaskis" tags. They've researched the effects of clear-cutting on pine beetles, forest fires, watersheds, wildlife habitat, the economy of the area and recreational use, supported by distinguished experts in each area. They've held meetings, published pamphlets, purchased billboards (community benefactor Dwane Zaba) , maintained a web site www.tagatree.ca (Doug Sephton) and sent thousands of letters to Ted Morton, the Alberta Minister of Sustainable Development, pleading for the life of the forests.

Although the region is widely-used by Calgary and surrounding area residents throughout the year for outdoor activities including hiking, cross-country skiing, mountain-biking and horseback riding, it has been an uphill battle to get them involved in the fight. And although the residents of Cochrane, a thriving town about 50 kilometers north of Bragg Creek, are also very fond of Kananaskis, they have been lulled into passivity by the contracted rapist, Spray Lakes Sawmills, a large corporate resident with its plant in the middle of town, that has very wisely donated a large, well-equipped recreation centre to the people of Cochrane.

The rape of the eastern Kananaskis was scheduled to begin by the end of June this year. As far as we know, it has not yet begun. Whether or not this is encouraging news is hard to say. We have not been allowed to see the contract between Ted Morton and the Spray Lakes Sawmills. We only know it grants permission to Spray Lakes to clear-cut 1500 hectares (that's 800,000 acres) of forests on the slopes of the eastern Kananaskis over the next three years. We don't know where the destruction will begin or when, but we're watching closely because we plan to take photographs of newly clear-cut areas for a 2008 Ted Morton calendar.

In the meantime we'll keep fighting to save the Kananaskis because we know it's worth it.

Photos by Lyle Beaudoin

5 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | Digg | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend Add a comment

Kaitlin

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 16:07 on July 12th, 2007

Thank you for posting this, ppeggy. I wish you and the other Kananaskis activists all the best in your fight; I grew up in Fernie and know what it looks like when the clearcutters win. Keep fighting!

syedali1214

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 17:19 on July 12th, 2007

ppeggy, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Atleast we can make world aware of the problem.

toloko

at 18:40 on July 12th, 2007

It's hard to believe - well unless you live in Alberta, but two separate studies; one by the government and one by the Forest Products Association, both found that 84% of residents want Kananaskis protected from industrial development. In a province where the government has been in power for 37 years, they don't need to respect the wishes of the electorate, as they feel quite confident that they can do whatever they want and still get elected.