Province letting Tolko lumber in sensitive caribou area

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This article was published 01/03/2011 (5315 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An environmental group claims the Manitoba government and a forestry company have broken an agreement to protect the habitat of endangered woodland caribou in northwestern Manitoba.

The Wilderness Committee said it has learned that the province has granted Tolko Industries permission to log in areas that should be protected under an arrangement between government and industry last year.

“Canadians need to know that the war in the woods isn’t over,” said Eric Reder, campaign director for the Wilderness Committee. “This shows Tolko’s true colours. Despite all the hype surrounding the (Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement), this is logging business-as-usual, as woodland caribou habitat keeps getting razed and caribou keep disappearing.”

In April 2010, Tolko applied to the Manitoba government for permission to log in 12 forests in northwestern Manitoba, several of which are habitat of the endangered woodland caribou, the Wilderness Committee said.

In May, however, through the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement, Tolko said it was temporarily halting most of their logging area in order to preserve caribou.

“In January 2011, the government approved logging in one of the areas that is home for caribou, in spite of the fact that caribou are protected through both federal and provincial endangered species legislation,” the environmental group said in a press release.

Two weeks ago, Tolko’s application to log new areas, as well as the government’s approval, was posted to the official public registry, the group said.

“It’s shameful for Tolko to assert that they’re protecting caribou habitat at the exact same time that they’re applying to log it,” said Reder, “and it’s shameful for government to quietly approve more logging in caribou habitat in spite of endangered species legislation.”