Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Environmentalists pan new road through Grass River provincial park
WINNIPEG - Local environmentalists and politicians say the Doer government has back-pedalled on new legislation that bans logging in provincial parks by approving a new road in Grass River Provincial Park for logging trucks.
Eric Reder of the Wilderness Committee and Gail Whelan Enns of Manitoba Wildlands say the road, recently approved by the province, will cut through the park to allow Tolko Industries in The Pas access to timber north of the park.
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They said the road defeats the purpose of the Forest Amendment Act than bans logging in 79 of Manitoba’s 80 provincial parks. The act went into effect June 11.
The two environmentalists, as well as provincial Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard and Manitoba Green Party leader James Beddome, said the decision to approve the road would also impact the migration route of the park’s woodland caribou, who gained protected status under the province’s Endangered Species Act in 2006.
They said Tolko could easily build a longer road to the west of the park which would give loggers the same access and at same time improve the road system for northerners.
In a radio interview today, Premier Gary Doer said the government’s decision was based on stabilizing jobs in the forest industry, which has been hit hard by the recession in the United States.
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4 Comments
Posted by:
August 19, 2009 at 2:47 PM
I agree with the previous two comments; putting a logging road thru the park is almost as bad as allowing the logging too; use your head Premier Doer. Parks are off limits to logging and the logging roads too.
Posted by: downtown_gal
August 19, 2009 at 2:32 PM
Between this and the long winding route he has chosen for bipole 3, it is clear that doer has disdain for trees. one might say he is anti-tree, in fact.
Posted by: AllieH
August 19, 2009 at 1:47 PM
Honestly, Gary, is a quick and dirty shortcut really going to "stabilize jobs in the forestry industry"? I think there are larger market conditions that causing the lay-offs in the lumber industry.
Posted by: formerwpg
August 19, 2009 at 1:44 PM
Manitoba has to be the only Province in Canada that allows logging in Provincial parks. What is the point of a Provincial park if it doesn't preserve the area? How is it different than a non-park? When I moved to Winnipeg 30 years ago, I was appalled that MB allowed logging in the Whiteshell and other parks. I cannot understand it at all. There are huge tracks of land in MB where logging could occur without destroying parks. It's beyond me.