It’s not easy wearing the black hat or, in Ed Kulcsar’s case, the red hard hat.
But he wore it well as about 50 protest-sign-toting Ghost Valley residents, Stoney Nakoda Nation members and assorted news media traipsed through his office on Friday (Dec. 4).
His office, currently, is in a stand of 100-year-old lodgepole pine and white spruce trees slated for harvest in the Ghost watershed – cut block 2766 just off Red Fox Road approximately 30 kilometres west of Cochrane, where trees will ultimately be processed into everything from pre-fabricated home segments to lumber, mulch and top spray at Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS).
As SLS woodlands manager, it’s his job to ensure, among other things, the worksite is secure.
He and his crew of about half a dozen foresters helped usher anti-clear-cut rally participants safely in and out of his active work site. He was also on hand to provide any tours of the logging operation currently underway.
“All we can do is follow what’s been approved by the Government of Alberta,” he said. “This area was sequenced for harvest and approved back in 2007.”
The area is part of a much larger, 900-hectare plot slated for harvest in the Ghost.
“We have our approvals and it’s part of our schedule. The wood is needed to meet the needs of the mill,” he said. “We’ll carry on. It’s normal operation. It’s not an accelerated harvest. It’s all part of the normal sequencing. At this point, we’ll carry on.”
He’s confident logging will continue in the area because he insists SLS has done years of due diligence, including numerous consultations with all stakeholders.
“We have conducted many, many consultations with people in this area, with stakeholders. We keep a database of consultations,” he said as anti-clear-cut protesters hike across the logging road recently constructed for the harvest.
“There are over 80 recorded consultations with people in this area. We’ve tried to engage, we’ve tried to accommodate. In terms of the First Nations component, we do, as part of our process, and it’s also part of the Alberta government’s process, carry on annual First Nation consultations with all of the treaty bands in this area.”
To find out more about SLS consultations, visit: spraylakesawmills.com/woodlands/public-involvement-process/
