Castle Special Place Court Case to continue on Feb. 24

C. Davis photo

Castle Crown Wilderness Coalition and the Sierra Club news release

On Friday February 3, 2012, area residents and concerned citizens were on hand for the first day of court proceedings addressing a decision by the Alberta government to close an area of public land to allow Spray Lake Sawmills to log within the Castle Special Place.

“I have a court room full of people; there is a significant issue going on here,” said Court of Queen’s Bench’s Justice, Rosemary Nation, concluding that there should be court time scheduled to expeditiously hear all the arguments regarding the closure of the Castle Special Management Area to public use in order to allow clear-cut logging to proceed. The area closed is where residents and business owners protested against the logging for the past three weeks. “This is a highly contentious matter,” the Justice said.


Lawyers for four of the five residents named in the court order, and for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) agreed to having the case heard on Friday, February 24th for the Court of Queen’s Bench. Until the Court can hear the case, the Court Order enforcing SRD’s closure of the logging site to public access remains in effect and the public cannot block SRD and Spray Lake Sawmills of Cochrane from clear-cutting in the popular recreation area.  Construction of the logging road started Wednesday morning after four of the 35 people present were arrested for refusing to leave the site.

The logging is taking place in an area protected by Alberta in 1998 as one of 80 Special Places throughout the province. Legislation permanently protecting the Castle has never been passed. Protesters have asked that Alberta’s Premier Alison Redford use her authority under the Public Lands Act to direct logging away from the ecologically significant and economically important Castle region.

Governor General Award winning author Sid Marty, second generation outfitter Mike Judd and three other area residents, Gordon Petersen, Tim Grier and Diana Calder were served with a Court Order on January 30, indicating that they and all members of the public had to obey SRD’s closure of the forest to public use.

While the court action proceeds business owners, residents, and concerned citizens will hold simultaneous rallies in Edmonton and Calgary on Wednesday, February 8 in advance of the provincial budget and the start of what is expected to be a spring election campaign. In Edmonton the rally will occur on the steps of the Legislature while in Calgary citizens will voice their support for the Castle Special Place at the McDougall Centre. Both rallies will happen at noon on the 8th.