For more than six weeks now, an Alberta group has been protesting the planned harvesting by a forestry company of a large swath of trees in the Crowsnest Pass.
Defenders of the Eastern Slopes members are against the accelerated harvesting by West Fraser of about 460 hectares of forest in the Allison Creek area, in southwest Alberta close to the Alberta-British Columbia border.
While the group says Crowsnest Pass residents deserve meaningful protection from wildfire, members question whether the proposed harvest is the right treatment, in the right place and at the right scale.
Defenders of the Eastern Slopes community organizer Colin Smith said community support has grown since the group members have been on-site — some have been camping there — and raising awareness about the planned harvest.
Defenders of the Eastern Slopes members sit around a fire on Tuesday. (Avery Woods/CBC)
“We’re really building momentum on this message that we need a new vision for managing the forests of the Eastern Slopes,” Smith told CBC News.
Defenders of the Eastern Slopes wants the Alberta government to enact legislation to protect the Eastern Slopes through special protections and management practices.
“Long-term, intergenerational thinking that thinks about the water as the top priority like a 100 years into the future,” said Smith.
Group says it’s practising peaceful civil disobedience
Defenders of the Eastern Slopes members are attempting to slow down West Fraser’s progress, but in a peaceful, non-violent way, said Smith.
They blocked a bridge, which was in a meadow, from being moved three times, he said.
West Fraser then got a temporary injunction, and, with a police presence, moved the bridge, which the company is placing across Allison Creek to access a logging area.
“We weren’t doing anything violent, we were peaceful, but we were just impeding the progress of that bridge,” said Smith.
The court injunction allows West Fraser to do its work, and Smith says the group has no intention of impeding the company.
Sgt. Mark Amatto, the Crowsnest Pass RCMP commander, said the RCMP and conservation officers have been making routine patrols to ensure the Defenders of the Eastern Slopes and West Fraser are “behaving themselves.”
But it’s been peaceful at the site, he said.
West Fraser responds
In a statement to CBC News, West Fraser said its planned harvesting by Allison Creek follows the direction of the Alberta government’s Community Hazardous Fuels Reduction (CHFR) program.
That program was established to help protect communities from the risk of wildfire by directing forest companies to prioritize fuel reduction activities near identified high-risk communities.
The Defenders of the Eastern Slopes have been protesting for six weeks the planned harvesting of roughly 460 hectares of forest in the Crowsnest Pass. (Avery Woods/CBC)
The company says Alberta has a “robust” regulatory framework, which includes requirements for forestry companies while harvesting, including provisions covering environmentally sensitive areas and water sources.
“West Fraser is committed to undertaking the work in Allison Creek to the highest environmental standards and in accordance with all regulatory requirements. Our planning involves monitoring conditions before and after harvest to help inform responsible stewardship,” it said.
West Fraser says it also commissioned a voluntary independent review to evaluate the hydrological impacts of the planned CHFR harvest.
“The review found the planned harvest would have minimal impact on the Allison Creek area, which would be further minimized as the forest regrows,” the company said.
“Of note, given the importance of protecting aquatic habitat in Allison Creek, the hydrological assessment forecasts relatively small changes in streamflow.”
‘Timely wildfire risk reduction’
In a statement to CBC News, Alberta Forestry and Parks said the Community Hazardous Fuels Reduction Program was developed following wildfire-risk analysis of more than 200 communities in Alberta’s forest protection area.
“Communities in the Allison Creek region have been identified as priority communities, and the work taking place will provide timely wildfire risk reduction for the community of Tecumseh and the municipality of Crowsnest Pass,” said the department.
In an interview with CBC News Wednesday, Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said West Fraser will mostly be cutting down spruce and pine, the two most volatile type of trees, to help protect the community from wildfire.
Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen says cutting down trees in the Crowsnest Pass will help protect the community from wildfire. (Jamie McCannel/CBC)
“That fire won’t be able to move as fast or as high without that fuel on the landscape,” said Loewen at the legislature Wednesday. “It’s similar to what we’ve done to multiple other communities across the province.”
Similar work has been done in Whitecourt, Hinton and Canmore, with more to come, said Loewen.
Defenders of the Eastern Slopes member Mike Judd. (Avery Woods/CBC)
Old-growth forest needed, says DOES member
But Defenders of the Eastern Slopes member Mike Judd says old-growth forest needs to be preserved.
“The old-growth forest is what preserves the water, it regulates how fast the water comes down, and it prevents flooding and it slows down the drying out of the landscape,” said Judd.
