Skip to content

West Bragg Creek harvest plan approved

Following a year of debate and controversy, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resources Development (AESRD) has given the green light to Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) to harvest in West Bragg Creek as part of the province’s FireSmart plan.
A file photo provided by SLS to provide an example of their harvesting activity.
A file photo provided by SLS to provide an example of their harvesting activity.

Following a year of debate and controversy, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resources Development (AESRD) has given the green light to Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) to harvest in West Bragg Creek as part of the province’s FireSmart plan.

The AESRD indicated that the plan to deforest the land, 700 hectares in total, had been developed over six years ago in consultation with community residents and recreational users, and that the action is necessary to assuage the risk of wildfire in the area.

“We believe the approved plan provides us with the opportunity to harvest in our Forest Management Agreement area,” said SLS woodlands manager Ed Kulcsar, “while meeting the government’s fire-protection objectives and addressing the multiple values in the area.”

Advocacy groups in West Bragg Creek, however, are not so thrilled with the recent decision.

Peter Tucker, a spokesperson with Sustain Kananaskis (Sustain K), said there is no community support for this harvesting plan, and that efforts to balance both fire mitigation and area protection were not adhered to.

“The options presented to the community by Minister (Diana) McQueen looked nothing like what we had developed,” said Tucker. “This was extremely frustrating and community members let her know, in no uncertain terms, that they were unhappy.”

Tucker said one of the main concerns he and Sustain K have with how this process has progressed is a lack of public consultation.

“While they held some consultation, largely with stakeholders, not the public, they chose to largely ignore what they heard,” said Tucker. “There are several more harvest blocks in the western section of the recreation area that need to go through the public consultation process and it appears as though the government intends to go back to the useless process they’ve always used…an open house held by SLS.”

Kulcsar indicated that SLS has made concessions to their initial plan for West Bragg Creek.

“Many compromises have been made to protect the trails and accommodate the trail users,” said Kulcsar. “For example, buffers will be established along the trails to address both the direct impacts to the trails and the indirect impacts, such as the visuals.”

Tucker, on the other hand, believes that SLS was not cooperative during the negotiations.

“SLS would not have given up a tree had they not been forced to by AESRD,” he said.

Gord Lehn, also a woodlands manager with SLS, in May indicated that the Cochrane-based logging company had done what it could to oblige area residents.

“We worked with the West Bragg Creek Land Users Group and made changes to the harvesting plan to accommodate as many of their requests as possible. There were, however, some changes which couldn’t be accommodated and still meet other resource management objectives.”

With regard to buffers, the Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association (GBCTA) highlighted in a press release that all trails would have a 50-metre buffer on each side where logging will not be permitted.

“This is a very good outcome for trails,” the release said, “as previous operating ground rules would have allowed all trails to be completely clear cut.”

Some wind-exposed, all-season trails will have a 30-metre modified buffer zone on the west side to minimize wind-throw across the trail.

Some trails will also have logging roads or skid trails crossing them; signage and closures will be used for safety of users.

“Buffers are narrower than we would have liked,” said Tucker, “but are better than no buffers at all, which was SLS’s original position.”

Kulcsar said that harvesting has started in the northern portion of the FireSmart plan and that it will continue to progress through the winter.

Tucker is urging people to contact their MLA and demand that logging be halted until the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP) – Alberta’s land-use framework – is complete.

Anyone wishing to provide input into the SSRP can visit landuse.alberta.ca.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks