Rangeland expansion plan concerns watershed council
CONSULTATIONS ON TWIN RIVER HERITAGE RANGELAND EXPANSION END FRIDAY
Amajor ecological player in the Twin River Heritage Rangeland Natural Area is coming out against the proposed expansion of the heritage rangelands under the present terms.
Tim Romanow, executive director of the Milk River Watershed Council (MRWC), says his members are concerned about the haste with which public consultations have been done on this matter by the provincial government, and are not convinced the current lands under consideration for expansion and enhanced protection meet the criteria of ecological sensitivity or historical significance needed to justify their inclusion in the heritage rangeland.
On the hastiness of the consultation process, Romanow says there is likely some political motivation to push forward on this issue with an election looming in the province next year.
“They (the Alberta government) want consultations done by Aug. 31, and this is a busy time of year for most of our producers,” says Romanow. “They are either harvesting or separating out livestock and picking replacements and worrying about hay for the winter, and this isn’t even on a lot of their radar right now. This shouldn’t be rushed through.”
Romanow says these lands have come up for discussion before prior to the NDP taking power, and his members still feel the same way now as they did then when asked about the possibilities of extending the rangelands.
“From the work that was done two years ago, we did not feel comfortable there was a real ecological or historical justification,” he says. “Whether that was showing how this would connect habitat or providing any other type of protection for biodiversity or critically important native grassland— it was hard to justify.
“What we are concerned about is what kind of precedent does it set? If there is another landowner who wants to do the same because they don’t want oil or gas accessing on their properties? If there is going to be a precedent set, it has to be ecology and historically justified.”
Romanow says from the perspective of the Milk River Watershed Council the lands under question are not “significantly more important than any other area adjacent to the entire heritage rangeland.”
Audrey Taylor is one of the grazing leaseholders who wants the Twin River Heritage Rangeland Natural Area to expand to include the lands she currently farms. She disagrees with Romanow’s assessment, and says there is a larger principle at stake in these discussions.
“I was the big push behind this reclassification,” she admits. “We are trying to keep the oil wells out, and we would like to see (our leaseland) kept exactly how it is for 100 years from now so people can come and enjoy it. Other than the fences and the dugouts, it is exactly how it was when the first (Europeans) settled here.”
Cliff Wallis, director of the Alberta Wilderness Association, concurs with Taylor.
“There are current applications for well site and pipelines in that area, which has never had industrial activity,” he says. “And we definitely don’t want to see an area that is slated to become a protected area allowed to have industrial activity in it. Those activities don’t currently occur on the Crown aspect of the landscape. It is pretty much strictly for cattle eating grass.”
Despite these feelings expressed by supporters like Wallis and Taylor, Romanow says there has to be an objective standard applied in the Twin River Heritage Rangeland Natural Area which is fair to all stakeholders.
“As far as we know, this is one of the first potential expansions of a heritage rangeland of this type,” states Romanow. “If this is going to be done, there has to be an even playing field for every expansion like this and justification for it ... All our work (at MRWA) is built on sound science and decision-making. We also have to take into account the economic impact of our actions as well.”
Public consultations on the Twin River Heritage Rangeland Natural Area expansion conclude on Aug. 31.