Dear editor:
I’m tired of the Alberta Environmental and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) and Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) and all the babbling words and vested interests.
Call me a cynic – because I am one - but, for example, the last letter I received from ESRD in response to my earlier letter on this issue brings me to the conclusion that the people who cut and paste this template nonsense believe that we must be downright thick, dense and stupid. So, please forgive my total alienation from the political representational process – and we are having a provincial election soon, oh joy! Another pile of doublespeak.
According to the ESRD template letter of Jan. 28, everything regarding the logging underway in the Ghost River watershed area has and will be undertaken with, and I quote, “Rigorous checks and balances already in place to ensure” --- blah, blah --- “adhere[ence] to approved plans.”
What happened with the trumpeter swans issue? Yes, there are breeding trumpeter swans – who knew? Ask local residents, they knew. According to the official governmental data, however, there were none, but wait, oh, yes there were/are, so the ESRD/SLS were shamed publicly into holding a moratorium on logging until the swans’ presence is confirmed. The bottom line is that the presence of trumpeter swans would require a buffer of 200 to 500 meters from the high water mark of Kangenious Lake, which would affect five to six SLS cut blocks around the lake. Is that going to fly (do excuse the pun)? No, money will talk once again.
Higher and deeper we shovel. What happened to all the scientific data that goes against such rigorous and dramatic logging of an environmentally sensitive area? What happened to data regarding bear denning areas and the dangers to hibernating bears, or the runoff on denuded slopes, which could and does definitely contribute to flooding? Silence, but wait, yes, I hear it once again, the “blah, blah, blah.”
I appreciate the concerns of ethical loggers and their worries to keep jobs floating in our economy – but at what cost to others? The fact is, when we destroy our environment we cannibalize ourselves.
Anne White, Ph.D., Ghost Valley resident
