History being made in Alberta: Picket-line prevents clear-cutting in Castle protected area for 16th day

Beaver Mines: Located on the way to Castle Mountain Resort in the Castle Special Management Area of southwest Alberta, locals, businesses and outdoor enthusiasts will be counter posting the site today with the Alberta Government's decision and map designating the area as a Special Place protected area. (Document attached or is on government webstite http://alberta.ca/home/NewsFrame.cfm?ReleaseID=/acn/199803/5992.html , except for the original map with the decision.) It's no Read more »

Posted January 27, 2012 by AEN

History being made in Alberta as for 14th day, picket-line & outfitting camp keep clear-cutting out of protected area

BEAVER MINES: A rotating picket-line maintained by outdoor enthusiasts and near-by residents, and an outfitting camp set up by a second generation outfitter are making history in Alberta as for the 14th day now, they continue to hold back Alberta's Sustainable Resource Development Department (SRD) and a sawmill located outside the region from starting clear-cuting in Castle Special Management Area; a popular protected area in southwest Alberta.  Determined by a government hearing panel in 1993 to be an integral part of the health of the international Crown of Read more »

Posted January 25, 2012 by AEN

Alberta Government kicks public out of protected area so Spray Lake Sawmills can begin clear-cutting

BEAVER MINES: This afternoon, Alberta Government’s Sustainable Resource Development Department (SRD) issued a notice closing part of the popular, year-round recreation core of the Castle Special Management Area to public use. That includes closing it to a legal camp of a second-generation outfitter and a picket-line by local residents - the presence of which was holding back Spray Lake Sawmills from starting up its equipment to bulldoze new roads and clear-cut the protected area. Read more »

Posted January 19, 2012 by AEN

Resident’s picket-line and outfitters camp continue to hold off clear-cutting a popular protected area in southwest Alberta

Beaver Mines: Situated on the way to Castle Mountain Resort, inside the Castle Special Management Area west of Pincher Creek, it’s now the sixth day and counting that a legal camp set up by a second-generation outfitter and a picket line by local residents, outdoor enthusiasts and conservation groups are holding off logging equipment from starting in the protected area.   It was an upbeat and determined atmosphere through the weekend at the site as long-time ranching families stop by with hot chocolate and more new volunteers stopped in to help.  Most driving to Cast Read more »

Posted January 17, 2012 by AEN

Southwest Alberta groups release new recommendations for sustainable forest management

Today sees the release of a new report, Sustainable Forests, Sustainable Communities: The Future of Alberta’s Southwestern Forests. Citizens and associations from communities throughout southwestern Alberta have joined together to document serious concerns with current industrial-scale logging practices, and present an alternative vision for the management of Alberta's southwestern forests. Read more »

Posted October 25, 2011 by AEN

Replace spin with conservation action in international Crown of Continent say conservation groups

Pincher Creek & Calgary: Sierra Club Canada and the Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition are maintaining that while it is important to have the Alberta Sustainable Resource Development’s Parliamentary Assistant, Evan Berger, representing the government today at the international Crown of the Continent Round Table in Polson, Montana, the province needs to replace its spin with actual conservation action, instead of the actions thwarting conservation in Alberta’s portion of the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem.  Read more »

Posted September 22, 2011 by AEN

International pressure mounting to protect Alberta’s Castle wilderness

CALGARY — The international conservation community warns that Alberta’s population of grizzly bears is in increasingly dire straits in the Castle wilderness just north of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. As a result, clear-cut logging slated for the Castle this summer is receiving international scrutiny. Read more »

Posted May 9, 2011 by AEN

Canada's "battle in the woods" flares up in Prairie headwaters

CALGARY - A market action against clear-cut logging in the southern headwaters of the Prairie Provinces has been launched by local and national conservation groups, with international ones adding their names to the grassroots action. It focuses on the Crowsnest Forest, which is located at the head of the water-stressed South Saskatchewan River system, between Kananaskis Country west of Calgary and the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. Read more »

Posted April 26, 2011 by AEN

Poll finds huge support for legislating Castle Special Place as Wildland Park & major opposition to logging it

(Lethbridge) Lethbridge and Coaldale residents overwhelmingly oppose logging and support establishment of a Wildland Park in the Castle Special Management Area west of Pincher Creek, according to a recent survey conducted by the Lethbridge College Citizen Society Research Lab.

More than 85 per cent of those surveyed February 12 and 13 oppose the logging plan approved by provincial Sustainable Resource Development last year. Spray Lakes Sawmills of Cochrane plans to clear-cut the area between the Beaver Mines Lake, Lynx Creek and Castle Falls Provincial Recreation Areas and campgrounds starting in June. The logging is technically called block-cut logging. Read more »

Posted March 14, 2011 by russ