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Update: Our Follow Up Letter to Todd Loewen, Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks

Grow Team on January 29, 2025

GROW Update:

On behalf of the team at GROW Kananaskis, we hope you’re all having an incredible start to 2025.

Apologies for the radio silence on our part with updates, but we have been working hard in the background!

On December 4th, 2024, we met with the Honourable Todd Loewen – Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks to introduce the GROW team, our platform, the signatures we represent and our goals.

We are currently in the process of booking a second meeting and wanted to share the letter we have prepared and detail what GROW is currently working towards to get you all up to speed.

Please read our letter below and feel free to reach out by clicking the “Contact” link at the top of your page with any questions or comments.

GROW's Follow-Up Letter:

G.R.O.W.
Guardians of Recreational Opportunities in Wilderness
Bragg Creek, Alberta T0L 0K0

January 29, 2025

Honourable Todd Loewen
Minister of Forestry and Parks
Members of Executive Council
Executive Branch
323 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB T5K 2B6

Dear Minister Loewen,

On behalf of GROW (Guardians of Recreational Opportunities in Wilderness), I would like to express our sincere gratitude for meeting with us on December 4th to discuss the critical issues surrounding the harvest plan and wildfire management in West Bragg Creek. This letter serves as a follow-up to request updates on the actions we discussed during that meeting.

We would appreciate your consideration of the following actions:

  1. Host an open house in Bragg Creek to discuss the harvest plan.
  2. Organize a Wildfire Workshop, involving wildfire experts and community stakeholders, to assess the potential impacts of the proposed harvest.
  3. Launch an inquiry to determine why an emergency egress road has yet to be provided for the residents and visitors of West Bragg Creek.
  4. Engage with flood and drought experts, along with community stakeholders, to ensure that the extensive harvesting in the Elbow Valley Headwaters will not pose unreasonable risks to Bragg Creek and other downstream communities.
  5. Confirm that proper consultation regarding the proposed harvest has taken place with Tsuut’ina and Stoney Nakoda Nations, and that they are satisfied with the process.
  6. Conduct a study to determine the potential economic impacts of forest harvesting in the Elbow Valley area on the Outdoor Recreation Economy.
  7. Explore alternative, unallocated areas for West Fraser Timber Company (WFTC) to harvest, as a potential exchange for the West Bragg Creek / Moose Mountain area.

As we witness unprecedented wildfires across North America, combined with minimal snowfall and increasingly dry conditions, the likelihood of a severe wildfire season remains high. It is crucial that we take proactive measures, informed by unbiased scientific evidence, to protect our communities and natural landscapes. As discussed in our meeting, standard harvest practices do not always reduce wildfire risk—in fact, they may increase it both in the short and long term. According to the Effects of 2023 Wildfires in Alberta report by ABMI, during the worst wildfire season in Alberta’s history, the youngest, most recently harvested forests burned at a significantly higher rate than older forests.

During our meeting, you suggested we work with West Fraser Timber Company (WFTC) to find solutions to our concerns. However, WFTC is obliged to conduct harvesting under Alberta Forestry’s guidelines, which do not align with FireSmart harvesting practices. These guidelines include, but are not limited to:
• Not protecting stands of Aspen and other broadleaf, fire-resistant vegetation.
• Requiring thick monoculture regrowth of highly flammable coniferous pine trees, which are vulnerable to both fire and disease.
• Utilizing scarification or glyphosate spraying to inhibit or eliminate broadleaf, fire-resistant regrowth.
• Scattering fine fuels (branches, needles, etc.) across the surface of clearcuts, which serves as a fuel source for wildfires.

West Fraser Timber has expressed that, without your direction, they are obligated to follow the standard forestry practices and cannot address these concerns. The science is clear: the proposed harvest plan will not reduce wildfire hazard and, in fact, will likely increase it over the long term.

We would also like to remind you that the harvest conducted in 2012 was a FireSmart harvest initiated by the Government of Alberta. At that time, Minister of Forestry Diana McQueen visited Bragg Creek to discuss the harvest, and a wildfire assessment was carried out. A workshop was organized to foster collaboration between local stakeholders, wildfire experts, and forestry representatives. This was a crucial step in addressing wildfire risks. Following those meetings, the forest was harvested under FireSmart principles, including removing fine fuel, encouraging broadleaf regrowth, limiting coniferous regrowth, and employing other methods focused on wildfire hazard reduction. Given the evolving wildfire landscape, it is imperative to revisit and expand upon these efforts. Once this harvest is complete, there will be no opportunity to conduct a FireSmart harvest on the same landscape until the replanted trees reach maturity—potentially 100 years or more. The increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires demand updated evaluations and strategies to mitigate potential risks effectively.

Finally, we request an update on the progress of establishing a secondary egress road for West Bragg Creek, as well as a revision to the harvest plan for Moose Mountain to include more selective logging. The need for an additional exit route was highlighted more than a decade ago, following the 2013 floods. It is vital for ensuring the safety and timely evacuation of residents and visitors in the event of a wildfire. Additionally, the Moose Mountain Bike Trail Society has raised concerns with West Fraser regarding the request for more selective logging in the plans, but it has not yet been addressed.

We appreciate your timely attention to these urgent matters and look forward to your response. Together, we can ensure the safety, sustainability, and recreational opportunities in West Bragg Creek.

Sincerely,
G.R.O.W. (Guardians of Recreational Opportunities in Wilderness)

GROW’s Take: West Fraser’s “What We Heard” Document

Grow Team on November 10, 2024

Is this thing on?

To kick this off, we’d like to apologize for the radio silence. 

We wanted to provide ongoing updates about GROW and our advocacy for the proposed harvest of Moose Mountain and West Bragg Creek over the summer and fall months…

But as many of you know, logging consultations are a lengthy process.

We met with West Fraser Timber Company several times.

We created action items for them on what we wanted to see happen.

After a ruthless amount of follow-up emails, texting, meetings and more…

We got to see a preview of West Fraser Cochrane’s Response to the logging open house back in May in late October.

Here we are, two weeks into November, and we have something to present.

West Fraser Timber Company has released their “What We Heard” document to the public and we’ve had a chance to formulate our hot take on what is going on and where we ate going from here.

GROW's Summary of West Fraser's Response:

West Fraser Timber Company (WFTC) directly manages approximately 8.2 million hectares of public forestland in Western Canada. The proposed harvest, presented at the open house, was 738 hectares.

West Fraser Timber Company received approximately 350 written submissions and had approximately 700 people attend Open Houses on May 8 and 9. Thank you again for showing up!

West Bragg Creek and Moose Mountain’s final harvest plan is still scheduled for Spring 2026, with the harvest commencing in October 2026 and continuing through early 2027.

As a result of the feedback that you provided, along with several other organizations (including Bragg Creek Trails Association and Moose Mountain Bike Trail Society), West Fraser Timber Company has made the following key alterations:

  • Reduced the total harvest size from 738ha to 556ha (268ha in West Bragg Creek and 288ha in Moose Mountain area).
  • Reduced the amount of trail located within cut blocks to 1% and within 50m of cut blocks to 17%
  • A small portion of the proposed clearcuts will be harvested using selective harvesting procedures rather than only clear-cutting.
  • Tree buffers of various widths are being utilized where appropriate to separate trails from clear-cuts
  • WFTC is asking the government for alternative, unallocated harvest areas to make up for lost volume

West Fraser's "What We Heard" Document:

If you’d like to see West Fraser Cochrane’s response to the May Open House about the proposed harvest of West Bragg Creek and Moose Mountain, please click on the button below:

Read: West Fraser Timber Company's "What We Heard" Document

GROW's Reflection on West Fraser's Response:

First, we would like to THANK YOU for the support!

Hundreds of citizens dropped everything and drove to Cochrane for the open house and Moose Mountain Protest, and nearly 20,000 individuals have signed the petition.

We are absolutely humbled and truly thankful to be a part of such a supportive community.

Had you not protested, this harvest would have moved forward without any mitigation or consideration of the devastating effect it would have had on West Bragg and Moose Mountain Recreation Areas.

Keep up the pressure!

The mitigation that West Fraser Timber Company has proposed is significant and there appears to be a sincere desire to make their public relations better than they were under Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS). We want to acknowledge that and thank them for improving the process. 

Despite significant improvements, GROW still has considerable concerns:

  • There is no long-term protection for the area.
  • This plan does not address Wildfire concerns.
  • It doesn’t go far enough.
  • Our trails and outdoor experience are still at risk.

The Effect of Current and Future Harvests on Outdoor Recreation

This Recreation area continues to be threatened by repeated harvesting, and its future remains uncertain.

We have been advised through conversations with WFTC that the harvest area removed from the initial sequence will be permanently removed from any future logging plans.

We asked for this to be stated in writing as similar promises were made and broken in the past. However, WFTC declined.

There are no assurances that the remaining mature forest won’t be sequenced to be harvested in the upcoming years.

The government continues to promise this area for both recreation and clearcut logging, even after introducing a Conservation Fee (in the form of the Kananaskis Conservation Pass) that promised to preserve and protect this area for generations to come.

So far, it looks like they aren’t conserving the area the way it was promised to the public…

Wildfire Threat to The Community of Bragg Creek

Wildfire is a real threat to the Bragg Creek community.

The planned harvest is a standard logging plan that will NOT mitigate wildfire risks.

All the fine fuels that typically burn in a forest fire will be left scattered across the clearcut. Only the large cordwood (trunk), which typically doesn’t burn in a forest fire, will be removed.

The clear-cut areas will open the forest canopy, resulting in a drier, windier, more fire-prone landscape. Compounding this concern, this harvest will use techniques to ensure a thick regrowth of highly flammable coniferous trees. 

They will also use glyphosate spray or scarification to stop the regrowth of broad-leaf fire-resistant vegetation (Aspen, etc.).

The result will likely be an increased fire hazard for future generations. 

Unlike in 2012, fire experts were not consulted for the current harvest plan...

2023 was the worst fire year in Alberta’s history. More forest burned that year than ever before. According to the 2023 ABMI report, the younger (recently harvested) forests burned at a significantly greater rate than the old mature forests.   

*Effects of 2023 Wildfires in Alberta: Huggard, D., B. Allen & D.R. Roberts, ABMI

While the Jasper fire was absolutely devastating (33,048ha – 800 homes destroyed), the focus on the lack of logging as being the main cause is not justified. 

There have been far larger and more destructive fires that burned through managed forests:

  • 2011 - Ft. McMurray - 579,767ha burned, 2,400 homes destroyed, another 18,745ha burned again in 2024
  • 2011 - The Slave Lake Fire also ran through significantly clearcut forests before ravaging the community
  • 1950 - The Chinchaga River Fire - Started in a logging slash and burned 1.4 million hectares (largest in North America)

Simply logging using standard harvesting procedures will not protect the community of Bragg Creek and could, in fact, increase the fire hazard over the long term.

We need a proper wildfire assessment conducted by an independent expert with community involvement (Citizen groups, Bragg Creek FireSmart committee, Redwood Meadows Emergency Services).

We need the results of that assessment to be integrated into a proper FireSmart Harvest plan similar to 2012-2014.

Enviromental and Aesthetic Concerns

Since the early 1900s, Kananaskis has been recognized as a key watershed area.

This fragile mountain ecosystem holds very thin topsoil and extreme mountain weather.

Unlike other areas, regrowth within Kananaskis takes roughly 100 years for the forest to be mature enough to harvest again.

In fact, the sawmill has yet to harvest replanted trees within this region. Despite the unique nature of this area, the logging practices used within Kananaskis will be the same as the high-growth boreal forests located elsewhere in the province.

In the past, Alberta required a “green-up” period, which prohibited harvesting adjacent to previous cut blocks for 20 years. Changes in forestry management have allowed this harvest to take place adjacent to the 2012-2014 cut blocks.

In other high-profile areas, harvest companies increased stand retention (trees left standing inside cut blocks) to 10% of the clearcut. We were advised that stand retention will remain at 3% within this harvest area.

The vast majority of this harvest will be clear-cut to ensure maximum regrowth of coniferous trees. In an area where thick regrowth of highly flammable coniferous trees is not desirable, and where recreation plays such a vital role to the local and provincial economy, selective logging should be conducted throughout the entire proposed harvest.

GOALS: Where We're Going From Here

Now that we’ve established what’s going on and the nitty-gritty of WFTC’s “What We Heard” document, here is where we are going from here and how we’re actioning our next moves:

Consulting MLAs

We met with the Banff/Kananaskis MLA, Sarah Elmeligi, to get her thoughts on the situation, the response, and to prep us for what is to come in the process.

Meeting With Ministers

We have a meeting with Todd Loewen, the Alberta Forestry Minister scheduled for November 26th. 

GROW is preparing a presentation for Todd to help him understand the impact and the nuances of this situation as well as the impacts it will have for him and his fellow ministers in the months to come.

We’ll share the presentation with all of you after we’ve had the meeting and communicate the outcome of that meeting.

GROW's Goal:

Our goal, after working collaboratively with West Fraser, is to find an amicable solution for all parties:

  • We can’t expect them to just get up, go away, and stop logging. There’s too much economic impact for it to be possible.
  • We can work with WFTC, the ministers, and powers that be to find WFTC reciprocal volume somewhere else.

If we are able to pull this off, we can have our beloved trails removed from West Fraser’s FMA (logging rights) and leave them in an economically viable position.

This means, we reach our end goal. Our trails aren’t affected, the trees stay, and we retain the outdoor experience we all know and love.

West Fraser will have a new area they can harvest without a dedicated user group to keep their Cochrane operations alive and well. 

A recreation area “protected” and funded by Kananaskis Conservation Pass, paid for by your hard-earned money, can be unscathed by the proposed harvest. We’ll all be able to ride, hike, and enjoy the trails, views, and authentic outdoor experience we’ve come to love.

In Closing

While we are encouraged to see some changes to the initial plan, we feel that they don’t address the significant concerns we have about future harvests, outdoor recreation, wildfire threats, and environmental/aesthetic issues. 

There is one very positive point that we’d like to highlight. West Fraser is actively seeking alternative, unallocated harvest areas in exchange for harvesting this area. 

We feel that the West Bragg and Moose Mountain recreation areas are far more valuable with the trees left standing and this area should be preserved and protected as the Kananaskis Pass promised to provide. 

We are joining WFT in requesting that the government find alternative, unallocated harvest areas that can be used in exchange for permanently removing this area from WFT’s Forest Management Agreement. 

We will continue to engage with various authorities and ensure that your voices are heard.

In the meantime, please share this far and wide and continue to get your friends to sign our petition.

We’re going to need all of the support we can get.

On behalf of the GROW Kananaskis Team, we’d like to thank you for your ongoing support.

We couldn’t have gotten this far without you!

Sincerely,

GROW Kananaskis

West Fraser Timber Company Open House + Protest March

Grow Team on May 1, 2024

Stand up for the Trails with GROW

Join us at the West Fraser Timber Company Open House for public consultation at their location on May 8th 2024 from 3-8 PM to learn more about their plans and voice your concerns.
 
Note: You don’t have to be there the whole time to show your support. If you could spare even 15 minutes of your time that evening to come by and voice your concerns it would be greatly appreciated. 
 
Following this event, we will be organizing a protest hike/ride/march on May 9th. We will be meeting at the base of Moose Mountain Road for 6:30 PM to ride, walk, hike, and march up Moose Mountain Road to the 2KM parking lot.
 
Our goal is to show strength in numbers and illustrate how many people care about the trails by making a video of the event to send a message to the stakeholders that aren’t doing their part to cancel the proposed harvest in 2025/2026. 
 
Please RSVP to our Facebook Event and mark yourself as “Going” or “Interested” and share the event on your channels to help us gain as much support from people that love these trails as much as we do. 
 
Click on the Facebook event pictured below to RSVP to the event and get more information. 

If you have any questions about the event, what is happening with GROW or the proposed harvest, or how to get involved, please give our home page a read or contact us at: growkananaskis@gmail.com. 

Thanks to all of those that have reached out for their endorsements and continued support!

Introducing: G.R.O.W

Grow Team on October 4, 2023

Guardians of Recrational Opportunities in Wilderness

As avid trail users, stakeholders, and outdoor enthusiasts we strongly believe that trees and natural forests are an essential part of an authentic outdoor experience. 

We aren’t opposed to logging and have nothing against the industry, but we believe the proposed logging plans of West Fraser Timber Company (formerly Spray Lakes Sawmills or SLS for short) is a short sighted move.

There are a ton of incredible trails that have been build through countless hours of sweat equity from volunteers, fundraising, government collaboration and more. 

For these trails to be logged would significantly alter the experience we have enjoying them and they wouldn’t be the same during our lifetime. 

This is our first update of many, please stay tuned for more information. 

In the meantime, we welcome you to learn more about us here: About Us

Thank you, 

-G.R.O.W.

 

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Read: West Fraser Timber Company's "What We Heard" Document