It’s rare in the conservation movement to have a major win that calls for major celebration.
By halting all commercial logging, as well as putting a stop to any new oil and gas or mining activities in the Castle, the newly elected NDP government’s announcement of the Castle Wildland and Provincial Park in Southern Alberta in September 2015 comes temptingly close and should be applauded.
But we are not quite there yet. Covering nearly 104,000 hectares, the Castle area is an ecologically diverse expanse of mountains, foothills, forests, grasslands, rivers and lakes in southwestern Alberta. It is prized for its headwaters, biodiversity and functions as a key wildlife corridor. Full protection can only happen if the proposed new management plan gets it right.
“People have been working on this issue for the past 40 years. My colleagues and I feel this is could have a huge impact on conservation, not only in the Castle, but for the whole Crown of the Continent region, linking Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park to Alberta’s other protected areas in the Kananaskis and the Whaleback and west to the Flathead Valley of southeast, B.C.” said James Tweedie of the Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition.
Tweedie will speak about the Castle Crown and his 25 years of wilderness advocacy for the Castle at the final Bow Valley Naturalist speaker event for this season on Tuesday (April 26) at 7:30 p.m. at the Banff Seniors Centre above the library. Admission is free and all are welcome.
