Tuesday night Dec 2, both SRD and Spray Lakes came to council to present their reasoning for logging on the Atlas Road.
We heard lots of interesting stuff on the pine beetle which I believe everybody recognizes is a problem. But I am far from convinced that taking out swaths of trees in some places no more than a few hundred metres wide are going to stop the pine beetle. Especially when you are talking about a creature no bigger than a grain of rice, that comes from BC on winds that can blow in excess of a hundred Km per hour.
I raised the question "will this area look similar to what the Kananaskis Road does today?" I was told no. "I asked what went wrong on the Kananaskis Road" I was told an investigation is taking place by SRD on that area due to the logging procedures not being followed.
I also asked "how do we ensure that it does not happen again?" I was assured once again that the logging plan will be followed on the Atlas Road. To which I asked "what happens if it isn't?"
To which I was told that the procedures would be enforced if they don't follow them, the unfortunate part is at that point the trees are gone.
Just a theory, and I may well be wrong but right now the lumber market is in the toilet, so mills are reducing their costs by logging the low cost area's, on flat ground, with a road going threw it close to Highway 3. If these Beetle infested trees were 30 km from the nearest road, on a 20 degree slope would we have been talking about them last night?.
By the way the Kananaskis Road was also logged by Spray Lakes Contractors!
1 comment:
As far as market conditions go, I know your background as a former sawmill owner, and therefore, I certainly respect your opinions and comments and am grateful we have you on council with your experience, to deal with this situation.
The one question you did not ask or at least did not mention in your post is: the logging on Atlas Road, is it inevitable, or can we get them to back off? Especially, in lieu of the fact, as you put it ... so mills are reducing their costs by logging the low cost area's... This suggests it is more economics than pine beetle???
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