Alberta government bans logging, mining, and oil and gas expansion in Castle area

CROWSNEST PASS — The province is protecting the entire Castle area in southern Alberta as two parks, banning forestry and mining and turning its focus to recreation and tourism in the area.

Shannon Phillips, Alberta’s minister of environment and parks, made the announcement Friday at Stone’s Throw, a local coffee shop in Blairmore, as dozens of residents, conservationists and business owners cheered her on.

“The Castle is one of Alberta’s most ecologically diverse areas,” she said. “It includes mountains, forests, foothills, grasslands, rivers and lakes. It’s prized for it’s headwaters, biodiversity and functions as a key wildlife corridor.

“The Castle is also culturally significant to First Nations and makes up a significant part of the Crown of the Continent. It is, in short, an area worthy of protection.”

As first reported by the Herald, the province will create two parks by expanding the existing wildland provincial park and adding a new provincial park in the area. They will cover 1,040 square kilometres — including Lynx Creek, Castle Falls, Castle River Bridge, Syncline and Beaver Mines provincial recreation areas.

A map of the proposed changes to the Castle.

Designating the area as a park will allow the province to protect the environment and boost the local economy by promoting the area to locals and tourists alike. It will, however, impact forestry, mining and oil and gas development in the area. Existing oil and gas leases will remain, but the province will not approve any new ones.

“Effective today, there will be no commercial logging in the area covered by the two parks,” said Phillips, garnering applause from the crowd.

No one from Spray Lakes Sawmills, which holds the forestry lease in the area, could be reached for comment Friday, but the decision has angered the forestry industry.

“It feels to us a bit like we’re being vilified,” Brock Mulligan of the Alberta Forest Products Association told The Canadian Press on Friday.

Local businesses, conservationists and First Nations, however, applauded the plan to protect the area, which some have been fighting for since the late 1960s.

“This is a very good day,” said Gordon Peterson, a Beaver Mines resident who’s a member of the Castle-Crown Wilderness Association. “Whether we look at the local, provincial, national or international levels, there are many reasons why the Castle is deserving of protection.

“At the local southern Alberta level, this is our backyard.”

Peterson said it’s also important for businesses, who rely on tourism; the First Nations people, who believe in its cultural and spiritual significance; and, other Albertans, who get their water from its headwaters.

Similarly, many noted it has national and international significance as both a watershed and wildlife corridor, located next to the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.

“This is a wonderful day for nature, in not only Alberta but in the entire Yellowstone to Yukon region,” said Harvey Locke, one of the founders of Y2Y Conservation Initiative. “This is a critical link in the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor.”

Local resident Abby Morning Bull, who grew up in Brocket and on the Piikani Nation, added that some of her best childhood memories come from the wilderness area.

“Growing up, my dad would take us out and get us to pick medicine out in the Castle range or go and pick stones for ceremonies,” she said. “It was an integral part of my childhood growing up.”

The province will now consult with the public to determine which services, including campgrounds and off-road vehicle use, will be available in both parks. It started Friday and will last until Oct. 5.

The park planning process is expected to take place in 2016.

cderworiz@calgaryherald.com

Twitter: cderworiz