I looked with some humour at the “Grinch” advertisement in the December 26th issue of the Pincher Creek Echo*. For a second I thought it was a picture of me out collecting a Christmas tree with my grandkids. I wasn’t too worried because I did have a tree permit. On second look I saw it was another bit of misinformation by the Stop Castle Logging Group. And I find that so unfortunate.
The fact continues to be that Spray Lake Sawmills, under approved licence issued by Sustainable Resource Development, is logging small sections of forest in the Castle watershed. If one was to take a walk in the area logged last winter you would see the damage caused by a June 2002 heavy snowfall. Spray Lakes is logging these difficult areas (even salvaging some firewood) and will within 2 years either seed or plant the cut areas which will begin the new forest. This new forest will provide bio-diversity and new vigour to the land. They are doing so with no harm to the watershed, wildlife, recreation or wilderness based businesses, as the ad falsely states.
I am a strong supporter of responsible forest management and I cannot believe the misinformation given by the opponents of this logging operation. And quite frankly I also cannot believe that Sustainable Resource Development has actually removed approval on some of this timber licence pending the results of the South Saskatchewan Regional Planning process. The Castle forest has been studied to death, since the 1984 Integrated Resource Plan. More, not less, of this forest should be managed for harvesting. The forest is getting old and should be utilized. Of all the resource extractions, oil and gas, mining, etc timber harvesting is fortunate enough to be renewable. In my 30 plus years in the industry I looked with great pride at the new forest growing on the harvest cut areas. To me this is the forest industries credibility, the new forest.
I am always concerned that the misinformation circulated by the Stop Castle Logging Group will cause the average person to be unduly concerned. I have asked Sustainable Resource Development and Spray Lake Sawmills to put some ads of their own in the paper explaining how regulated timber extraction actually is. To explain how all the factors in the forest are considered during the harvest planning.
In the meantime I always fall back on asking folks to look around the 30 year old logged areas around Beaver Mines Lake and up the Buckhorn Road, just to be comfortable that the new forest is vibrant and full of life. And to the Grinch I wish him a Happy New Year.
John MacGarva, Registered Forest Professional
*Editor's note: This same ad also ran here on the Pincher Creek Voice website.
It seems in every concern there is more than one side of the issue that needs to be addressed. That being said there is a side for development and clear cut logging and there is side against clear cut logging. The side that sometimes seems to be neglected and needs to be fully considered is the side where balance and harmony are fully achieved. Until that happens there will always be a perception of a grinch side to the Santa Side of life. It is great that Sustainable Resource Development has retracted approval towards some of this timber licence pending the results of the South Saskatchewan Regional Planning process. A processs that needs to be fully completed before moving forward (for or against clear cutting). That indicates the possibility of some issues that have not been fully addressed. Personally I thought the grinch ad in the Pincher Creek Voice looked pretty stunning dressed in forest green.
ReplyDeleteI wish I knew how balance and harmony could be defined to everyones satisfaction. Being involved in so many of these landuse studies, the C5 Management Plan Revision the most recent, I see, if anything erroring on the side of less timber harvesting. I believe without harvesting we have an "unmanaged" forest. But my specific concern is that of the misinformation presented. That is why I point folks to look around Beavermines Lake at the areas logged in the early 80's. That speaks for itself with no misinformation.
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