Lake Louise resort may face millions of dollars in fines

Trees were cut down illegally, prosecutor tells court during sentencing hearing

Lake Louise ski resort staff illegally cut down about 150 trees, including many on an endangered species list, a prosecutor told a Calgary court Monday.

Erin Eacott said the sentencing hearing, which the resort is facing, will focus on the exact number of trees felled as well as the fact Lake Louise would not have been given permission to cut down the trees even if it had sought a permit.

Lake Louise Ski Area Ltd. pleaded guilty in December to charges under the Canada National Parks Act and the Species at Risk Act, for cutting down endangered whitebark pines.

The resort admitted staff cut down a swath of trees as part of its summer of 2013 annual maintenance.

“I anticipate the Crown’s evidence in the sentencing hearing is going to show these main things,” Eacott told Calgary provincial court Judge Heather Lamoureux. “First, the number and types of trees that were cut.

“Second, that Lake Louise Ski Area would not have gotten permits for the work as it was done. The third thing I anticipate we will hear about is the impact of the cutting,” Eacott said. “The number one impact being that approximately 150 trees were killed.”

Eacott said she expects the evidence will also establish Lake Louise management was “aware before the offence that whitebark pine was a species of concern and

an endangered species that could not be harmed.”

But she said the prosecution will not argue the removal of the endangered trees had an impact on the whitebark pine population in Canada.

Under the Species at Risk Act, the resort is facing a maximum $300,000 fine for each tree removed.

The violation under the Canada National Parks Act, which covers every single tree felled, has a maximum fine of $250,000 for each tree.

In evidence, Park Warden Paul Friesen testified he investigated the site twice in 2014, a year after the cutting.

Friesen said he and his supervisor went up to the area on Ptarmigan Ridge on Sept. 21, 2014, and found tree stumps and scattered felled trees.

“The total number of trees that we identified as being cut down was 132,” Friesen said.

About three weeks later, he went up with a vegetation expert who determined 38 of the stumps were from whitebark pine trees.

In December, defence lawyer Alain Hepner said the main issue from his perspective will be the exact number of trees the Crown can prove were removed.

The hearing is set for six days.