Local Logging Plans and their implications – the view from BCEC
As many of our readers will already know, there’s going to be logging taking place in the West Bragg Creek area in 2024 – 2026 by West Fraser Timber, the new owners of Spray Lakes Sawmills. The areas to be targeted for logging are around Fullerton Loop and Ranger Creek, as well as Moose Mountain and areas close to the Jumpingpound Creek headwaters.
Landscape ecologists and environmental organisations have pointed out that this logging will cause disruption not only to our local wildlife and trail users alike, but it will also have far-reaching effects on the resilience of the landscape itself in the face of drought, fire, climate change and flood. The forests of Kananaskis not only provide habitat for local wildlife and wildlife passing through, but also important soil, water and carbon fixing that helps our area in the face of these environmental challenges. We are concerned that this logging will degrade our ecosystems by changing the diversity, age and composition of vegetation, insects, and wildlife, as CPAWS outlines in their research. As the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) reports, the science shows clearcut logging does not mimic the wildfire disturbances our forests have adapted to over millions of years. CPAWS has a very accessible set of materials that go into how this occurs*.
As the climate grows warmer and we deal with a lengthening fire season as well as drought concerns, it’s important for us all to be aware how the competing interests active in Kananaskis are affecting our landscape’s resilience. These are public lands servicing the public good. The Bragg Creek Environmental Coalition is not opposed to forest harvesting (forestry) but we are concerned about the health of our forests (forest ecology) and watershed. We are also concerned about wildfire and the increased risk of wildfire that conifer planting following a clearcut brings with it.
Our MLA, Sarah Elmeligi, is among those who have already made the point that the multi-use designation of Kananaskis itself is problematic. This is because it has led, particularly in latter years, to people and organisations wanting to do “everything all at once” in this relatively small area of land.
Within the areas of concern in the upcoming logging campaign, there is a particularly sensitive location that acts as a reservoir for regeneration of ecosystems across the area. This relatively pristine area represents an important habitat for a number of increasingly threatened fauna, as well as being a genetic reservoir for flora and plant life in general. This location would be critically threatened by proposed logging along its northwestern periphery.
Bragg Creek Environmental Coalition will work to limit the 2024-2026 clearcut logging campaigns in both the greater Bragg Creek and the East Kananaskis areas. Our intention is to identify and mitigate this degradation and additional stress on our ecosystems. We’re joining forces with other environmental and academic groups to gather information that will specify harmful outcomes, and communicate these to the people of Calgary and Alberta. We must mobilize protection for our beautiful and vital Foothills landscapes for generations to come.
Stayed tuned: Look out for our forestry, logging and wildfire FAQs next month!
Check us out at braggcreekenvironmentalcoalition.ca
Contact us at info@braggcreekenvironmentalcoalition.ca
*cpaws-southernalberta.org/conservation/sustainable-forestry/forest-stewards/
