Change of Date: Save Our Forests Rallies moved to February 14

The Issue 

Southern Alberta’s forests need your help! Clearcut logging in the Castle is beginning right now, and a similar program is scheduled to begin near Bragg Creek in the summer. Now more than ever Albertans can help keep the momentum going for changes in how our forests are managed.

Below, we outline three opportunities which are coming up in the following week; opportunities for you to lend your support.

Act Now!

1.  Castle logging protest goes to court

Opponents to the clearcut logging in the Castle near Beaver Mines were served with a legal notice to leave the site. This notice is being challenged in court in Calgary on Friday January 3, 2012. Sympathizers of the Castle protesters are welcome to attend the court hearing to lend their support.

2.  Call your MLA!

The premier has received thousands of letters and emails from Albertans calling for a halt to the clearcut logging in the Castle and Bragg Creek, and a shake-up in the way our forests are managed. But MLAs have so far got off lightly! It is important that MLAs also hear from their constituents who want to see change. Tuesday February 7, people across Alberta will be calling their MLAs to ask for change. Please consider making a call to your MLA!

Click here to find contact information for your MLA.

3.  Join Us at the Save our Forests Rally

On Wednesday February 14, 2012 rallies will be held in Calgary and Edmonton to show support of the Castle and Kananaskis Country, and to call for an alternative to industrial-scale clearcut logging in forests in southwest Alberta. Please come and join us to show your support: bring your own banner!

Background

The government’s plans for clearcut logging programs in the Castle and Kananaskis Country have recently raised considerable opposition throughout southern Alberta.

• In the Castle, despite thousands of letters and calls to the premier’s office, and opinion polls which show impressive public support for a halt to industrial logging, Spray Lake Sawmills is now beginning the clearcutting of 120 hectares of “matchstick forest.” A dedicated band of local residents have been manning a protest camp near the site, despite temperatures which have fallen below -40 degrees.
• In Bragg Creek, nearly 500 people recently attended a meeting hosted by the Sustain Kananaskis group. The meeting was in response to plans by Spray Lake Sawmills to clearcut 70 hectares of forest in west Bragg Creek. Hiking and cross-country ski trails would be severely impacted, as would wildlife habitat and a significant water catchment zone.

The Castle and Bragg Creek are not alone! Communities in the Ghost, Crowsnest Pass and the Livingstone have recently opposed clearcut logging in their local forests. It is becoming increasingly clear that these are not individual issues: they are symptoms of the same problem. Most groups are not against logging. But they believe that the values of forests for wildlife, recreation and clean water by far outweigh their value to supply timber. It is time for a quantum shift in the way our public forests are managed.

Click here to see the new document, Sustainable Forests, Sustainable Communities. The Future of Alberta’s Southwestern Forests. The report was written by citizens and associations from communities throughout southwestern Alberta to document serious concerns with current industrial‐scale logging practices and present an alternative vision for the management of Alberta's southwestern forests.

Thank You for your Support!

Posted February 7, 2012 by AEN