Kananaskis clearcuts: outdated laws, new threats

Under a Forest Management Agreement set up all the way back in 2001 by Alberta's provincial government of the day, a logging company called Spray Lake Sawmills acquired the rights to chop down the equivalent of 2,000 football fields of Kananaskis Country’s Upper Highwood area forests, including a stretch right beside the Highwood River. Since 2001, K-Country has become a beloved natural recreation destination and tourist attraction for cycling, hiking and just connecting with our natural world. Of course we've all become aware of climate change since 2001, making the concept of logging old growth forests that do some of nature's best work at sequestering climate-worsening CO2 as well as storing water to mitigate against both floods and droughts feels like a really wrong-headed and dangerous anachronism. A number of activist organizations, some of which you'll be hearing from today, sprung into action and triggered a logging slowdown which also saw logging company 'Spray Lake Sawmills' change their name to 'West Fraser Cochrane', as well as some 'listening campaigns', the results of which are debatable to say the least. With us for this months show is my co-host Jenny Jeremy, who is amongst a great many other things the co-lead of the Calgary Climate Hub's Kananskis Logging Slowdown Campaign as well as Conservation Science and Program Manager Joshua Killeen of the Southern Alberta chapter of CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society).

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Sources used in this episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LG4YznFiiEnNgGOD3Pio_RjViwr-Ep193kePrwyrkRw/

Transcript of the episode: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kaRHD6jTyZFmpG-qc6XkJ1BQSG_FxF9Onj9yGkYdpAI/

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CALLS TO ACTION!

All-Electric Hub and Spokes: https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/all_electric_hub_and_spokes

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Jenny Yeremiy: https://x.com/JennyYeremiy

Joshua Killeen: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/joshkilleen

CPAWS - Southern Alberta chapter: https://cpaws-southernalberta.org/ / https://www.instagram.com/cpawssab/

Understanding the clearcuts: https://cpaws-southernalberta.org/conservation/sustainable-forestry/defend-alberta-forests/upper-highwood/

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