Nine times the problems with development plan

March 25, 2011

Nine times the problems with development plan for South Saskatchewan basin

Alberta’s NDP environment critic Rachel Notley says trying to be everything to everyone won’t offer needed protection in the South Saskatchewan watershed following the release of a regional land use report.

“The Castle Special Management Area already established in the region has suffered severe ecological trauma – local tourism operators are complaining, Albertans throughout the region are facing water shortages.” says Notley. “Given the word ‘market’ appears 19 times in the report, I want to see the Tories commit to conservation before corporations.”

A report by the South Saskatchewan Regional Advisory Council recommends creating nine new but vaguely defined Conservation Management Areas in the region. But despite that level of protection, the Castle special area has been carved up by forestry and oil and gas development.

“It’s time for decisive conservation in the region. Yet this report – full of weak language – is just another document stacked on the pile while the Tories have sat on their hands,” says Notley. “The Tories need to get to work on protecting this area before our resources are frittered away.”