July 22, 1987 A barricade, prohibiting people from accessing the rodeo grounds and Snake Hill for public protection, was placed by the local Fish and Wildlife department as well as the Town of Sundre.
July 22, 1987
A barricade, prohibiting people from accessing the rodeo grounds and Snake Hill for public protection, was placed by the local Fish and Wildlife department as well as the Town of Sundre. That Sunday evening, the RCMP detachment had received a report about the sighting of a black bear with three cubs on Snake Hill. Norm Backer, Fish and Wildlife officer, said he had searched the area for signs of the bear with no success. "I couldn't find any tracks" and as of yet "I can't confirm it." He nevertheless cautioned people to stay out of the area for their own safety, as a mother bear with cubs can be dangerous. He said Fish and Wildlife officials would with the help of the RCMP continue to monitor the area. The municipality had placed the temporary barricades to keep the public out.
July 23, 1997
Two administrative fines that had recently been levied against Sunpine Forest Products were reasonable and fair, said Ty Lund, the minister of environmental protection. "I don't believe that they are deliberately cutting where they are not supposed to but we cannot let these things go unaddressed," he said during an interview. "The fact is there was a violation of the regulations. I can't accept that someone shouldn't be fined." The Sundre-based forestry company had announced that it received two penalties for contraventions of the province's Timber Management Regulations. The fines totalled $10,000. The two penalties were for harvesting four hectares of trees in an area approved under the company's final harvest plan but not included in that year's annual operating plan, as well as the construction of a short road between two harvest blocks that also had not been recorded in the annual plan. In both instances — neither of which caused environmental damage — Sunpine reported the errors. Bruce Buchanan, the company's owner, said the fines were a case of punishing Sunpine for being honest, but Lund stood firm in his position that the government could not allow companies to escape fines simply by reporting errors.
