The provincial government is not planning any changes to the grazing allotment system now in place west of Sundre as part of the Bighorn Country proposal, according to the Minister of Environment and Parks.
Speaking during a Jan. 15 telephone town hall and responding to a question from Sundre-area rancher Dennis Overguard, Minister Shannon Phillips said, “There will be no changes whatsoever to grazing allotments. There will be no change whatsoever to the system, the existing or the future.
“As many cattle ranchers know, the presence of cattle, especially if moved around in a responsible way that we know that folks are doing out there out there on the landscape, mimics what used to happen with bison. We know that is a sustainable way to raise our food. It is absolutely consistent with conservation objectives in provincial parks and in some cases in wildland parks.”
Overguard posed two questions to Phillips, one involving grazing and one regarding wild horses living along the Eastern Slopes.
“In our area we have lots of public lands that are used for grazing and are managed quite nicely by the people who are grazing in conjunction with our government representative,” said Overguard. “I would like clarification to know if there is going to be a total ban of cattle in those area.”
Grazing allotments are granted by the provincial government for the use of public land for livestock production.
Overguard also asked Phillips about what impact, if any, the Bighorn Country proposal would have on the area's wild horses.
“Would the government be trying to remove those wild horses?” he said.
Phillips replied that, “We have not undertaken a cull or anything like that. We have a couple studies out on the landscape right now in terms of the actual environmental affect of the wild horse population in the various areas. We will continue to work with landowners and made some science-based decisions on that. It’s a multi-year project.”
Phillips responded to a total of 13 questions, both on the telephone and online, during the 60-minute telephone town hall, held for Drayton Valley and Sundre-area residents.
The Bighorn Country proposal would create new, expanded and amended parks, including a new Ya Ha Tinda Provincial Park west of Sundre, as well as protected areas and public use zones.
The province has been gathering public input into the proposal through an online survey, meetings with some stakeholder groups, and telephone town halls.
Plans for in-person open houses were shelved last month, with the province saying it is “re-examining” the possibility of having future in-person open houses.
The UCP opposition has been calling for in-person open houses to be reinstated without delay.
During the telephone town hall, another Sundre area resident, who identified himself as Neil, asked Phillips, “What are your plans for the preservation of the Red Deer watershed?”
Phillips replied that, “We are working with the Red Deer Watershed Alliance and I believe strongly in the work that they do. As for forest management plans, they are continually updated and consistent with Eastern Slopes policies and other policies and we are continually working with the companies to make sure that we are harvesting responsibly.
“As for fishery recovery, every area is going to be different. We are going to have to work with the industrial operators in the particular areas and we are going to have to make sure that we have good recreational planning.
“This is about balancing, this is about enforcement, and this is about ensuring that we have good planning and science-based decision happening out on the landscape.”
Another caller from Sundre, who identified herself as Joan, asked Phillips about the possible economic impact of the proposal on key industries such as forestry and oil and gas in the Sundre area.
“There isn’t anybody around the Sundre area who doesn’t have family or good friends working in the sawmill or the trucking business that goes to the sawmill,” she said. “We really need the industry.”
Phillips replied, “Within all of these proposals, the existing forestry tenure, whether it’s a quota or forest management agreement, are not affected. Existing oil and gas in the parks portion remains and is not affected.
“In the public land use zone, nothing is affected, not current and not future. None of that existing activity is affected by this. That is a working landscape. We carefully designed the boundaries so that no forestry and no oil and gas in the wildland or the provincial parks was affected.”
Responding to another call, Phillips said no part of the $40 million allocated for the Bighorn Country plan will go towards building lodges or hotels.
Meanwhile, Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) has made an official request of the province for enhanced consultations regarding the Bighorn Country proposal.
The RMA represents 69 rural municipalities, including Mountain View, Clearwater and Red Deer counties.
Association president Al Kemmere said members want the province to clarify how the new parks and other areas in Bighorn Country would be managed going forward.
“We haven’t heard anything back from the minister directly,” said Kemmere, who is also a Mountain View County councillor. “We are asking for increased communication or stronger communication. We would like to know more about how this is going to be managed in the future as far as how they are going to look after the park or what they expect out of the parks from a management point of view.
“It is one thing to create the parks, but if you don’t know how it is going to be managed, here are potentially some negative things that could come out of it if it is not managed properly.”
Association members also want to ensure that changes won’t create forest fire risk, he said.
The public consultation portion of the Bighorn Country proposal continues with the online survey ending Feb. 15.
