The chances of putting a complete stop to clearcut logging in West Bragg Creek and Moose Mountain seem to be fading as more information comes out through the public consultation meetings the BC forest products company is holding before the scheduled 2026 cut.
Opponents of the plan to clearcut in the heavily used recreation area have been writing letters, picketing, and otherwise engaging in dialogue with West Fraser Timber and the relevant Alberta government departments, asking for a variety of things that all amount to pumping the brakes on logging the area.
Some, including Shaun Peter of Bragg Creek & Kananaskis Outdoor Recreation, (BCKOR), who attended West Fraser’s open house in Cochrane May 8, have been lobbying hard for a complete stop to the West Bragg clearcutting plan.
The way the system works, if the province were to step in at the 11th hour (anytime between now and 2026) and reverse their decision to allow West Fraser to go ahead, the timber company (formerly Spray Lake Sawmill in Cochrane) would be entitled to financial compensation for all the planning work that’s been done.
They have invested in planning for many years, but, as Vice-President of Canadian Woodlands D’Arcy Henderson explained to The Eagle Wednesday, in the forest products field, it’s not that simple.
Anyone running a lumber mill has a significant and ongoing investment in people and equipment that requires a guaranteed, continuous flow of raw materials. They can’t just turn the tap on and off when it comes to planning for how and when the logs will roll in.
Henderson made it clear there are no such discussions about that scenario going on at present, but went along with exploring the hypothetical question.
“And it’s not just the planning process for the timber resource and the movement of logs, but it’s the amount of investment that’s actually gone into the facility, both here in Cochrane or in Sundre or Rocky Mountain House, or any one of our facilities,” he said.
He said that’s the largest investment, in that community structure, the manufacturing facility that produces the solid wood product.
“So all of a sudden you’ve got a mill that that may not have the fibre,” he said.
Henderson did not elaborate on what the financial implications of a situation like that might be.
But in Shaun Peter’s view, the company and the province should be able to figure out the dollars and do the sensible thing – stop the clearcut.
In his view, the province should take the revenues they’ve been collecting from the $90 fee for recreating in areas like West Bragg and Kananaskis, and use that to compensate West Fraser for their loss of lumber supply.
Nearly 900 hectares of forest in the popular hiking, biking and skiing trails in West Bragg Creek and Moose Mountain are scheduled for the loggers’ axes starting in 2026.
Peter questioned whether the province has sufficiently considered how much the recreational area has grown since they granted West Fraser permission to log the area 20 years ago.
He said $6.5 million has been invested in the trails, and it would be financially worthwhile for West Fraser to alter their clearcutting plans.
He came away from the event unimpressed.
“It’s a new company, so we’re open to see what the response is. But the skeptic in me worries that this is a lot more PR than honest request for input and feedback,” Peter said after a lengthy session grilling some of the West Fraser forestry staff on specific logging practices.
His group, BCKOR, along with other environmental and recreation groups who have weighed in on the West Bragg area, want the popular area preserved as is for future generations.
Peter said the area under debate – the area they want West Fraser to stay away from in West Bragg and Moose Mountain, represents 0.16 per cent of the company’s Forest Management Agreement allotment with the province.
He said if West Fraser is unwilling to consider abandoning their clearcutting plans for the area, the province should step in.
“It’s the most used recreation area, outside of parks, in all of Alberta,” he said. “It’s 1,000 users a day. If you look at the income generated, it would be really easy to say, from an economic standpoint, we need to protect this industry,” Peter said.
He said West Fraser would make up the 0.16 per cent shortfall by logging a bit more in other areas, and the millions of dollars in revenue created through the $90 conservation fee would be a good place for the province to draw from to compensate the company.
“If this isn’t for the conservation task, I don’t know what is.”
Henderson and other West Fraser staff were planning on touring the West Bragg trail area Thursday before moving on to another open house in Blairmore.
GROW Kananaskis is holding a protest hike/bike at the Moose Mountain Road Thursday at 6:30 pm.
