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| David McIntyre photo |
Dear Premier Redford,
Five years and untold millions have been invested in the Government of Alberta's (GoA's) draft SSRP. I've read it from cover to cover, spent hundreds of hours in reviews.
A synopsis of my document-defining feedback: The GoA appears to believe that its failings of the past provide an ideal framework for the future.
The emerging picture of tomorrow's Alberta looks like today's Alberta: ravaged landscapes, mud and mayhem.
I'd like to believe the GoA can extricate itself from the ruts of ongoing land-use abuse, turn itself around and save Alberta's headwaters.
Today is the public's last kick at the flawed cat, but you still have time to lift the failing feline from the operating room floor and give it hands-on resuscitation.
(Editor's note: The deadline for public feedback has since been extended, click here for details)
Albertans deserve a future that's anchored in heritage values, represented by this province's world-class landscapes.
The attached image delivers quick-glance recognition of what the government's South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP) purports to protect: everything above timberline, and everything the plan doesn't protect: everything below timberline.
The government's plan comes with a "fatal flaw." It misses the target. It's a multimillion-dollar wasted-shot, fired into the mountain tops.
It fails to protect the headwaters forest.
The pictured forest on the flanks of the Livingstone Range lies below the proposed protection afforded by the SSRP. The current plan exposes this headwaters forest to every single abuse that, today, threatens its existence, and its iconic integrity.
Please don't let Alberta's intrinsic integrity slip through your fingers.
The emerging picture of tomorrow's Alberta looks like today's Alberta: ravaged landscapes, mud and mayhem.
I'd like to believe the GoA can extricate itself from the ruts of ongoing land-use abuse, turn itself around and save Alberta's headwaters.
Today is the public's last kick at the flawed cat, but you still have time to lift the failing feline from the operating room floor and give it hands-on resuscitation.
(Editor's note: The deadline for public feedback has since been extended, click here for details)
Albertans deserve a future that's anchored in heritage values, represented by this province's world-class landscapes.
The attached image delivers quick-glance recognition of what the government's South Saskatchewan Regional Plan (SSRP) purports to protect: everything above timberline, and everything the plan doesn't protect: everything below timberline.
The government's plan comes with a "fatal flaw." It misses the target. It's a multimillion-dollar wasted-shot, fired into the mountain tops.
It fails to protect the headwaters forest.
The pictured forest on the flanks of the Livingstone Range lies below the proposed protection afforded by the SSRP. The current plan exposes this headwaters forest to every single abuse that, today, threatens its existence, and its iconic integrity.
Please don't let Alberta's intrinsic integrity slip through your fingers.
Thanks (again) David - for another informative article. This destructive attitude will continue until Alberta wakes up. No time soon, I suspect . . .
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