Returning visitors to Ness Creek, known for its camping and festival grounds near Big River, SK, will be met with a jarring sight come summer.
Clear-cutting activities are underway across the road from the festival grounds. This development has raised concerns among local residents, as they say parts of the historically and culturally significant forest are being removed.
The recent clear-cutting activities have ignited a wave of anxiety among Ness Creek and Big River locals. Advocates have been vocal about their concerns, with Cathy Sproule, a dedicated forest advocate in the Nesslin Lake area, expressing her apprehension.
“We have been trying to keep it away for 30 some years since Weyerhaeuser got the license in the 1980s, but now it has finally come.”
For over 35 years, these advocates have pleaded with the government to exclude Ness Creek from the Forest Management Agreement, but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. They believe that the forest should be managed using more selective and sustainable approaches, rather than the process of clear-cutting.
Saskatchewan ministry of environment says the harvesting plans are designed to be sustainable by emulating large, frequent natural disturbances, such as wildfire, wind, insects and diseases, to which plant and animal species are well adapted.
“Each year, forest companies harvest about 20,000 hectares of Saskatchewan forest, or less than half of one per cent of all productive forest land in the commercial forest zone. Historically, the timber harvest in Saskatchewan has remained well below what the forest can sustainably support. As of the 2020-21 fiscal year, the harvest in Saskatchewan’s commercial forest was 41 per cent of the sustainable volume.”
The impact of clear-cutting on the local tourism industry is also a concern. Pamela Nozhdelova, the manager of Nesslin Lake Campground, emphasizes the profound connection that people in the area have with the untouched forest. The forest serves as a sanctuary for activities like meditation, foraging for medicinal plants, and walking, providing a unique connection to nature.
Tourists flock to Nesslin Lake to find solace and rejuvenation in this unspoiled environment. Nozhdelova suspects these endeavours may not align with commercial interests, making it challenging for the government to prioritize the conservation of the area.
Despite their concerns, the residents of Ness Creek are not opposed to responsible logging but question why their relatively small 11,000-hectare area must be included in the vast 5 million-hectare commercial forest zone.
“We asked the government many times to just take this area out of the forest management agreement, which even the loggers say would stop the cutting. We think the government can assign the loggers a different piece of land to make up for that. Saskatchewan is full of trees and I do not understand why they have to come so close to communities to cut.”
Gordon Olson, Ness Creek’s site manager, emphasizes the importance of finding a balance between the various uses of the forest and highlighted the cultural significance of Ness Creek within the province.
“I meet with the loggers regularly and they are doing their job. They do try to listen to our concerns, but the changes they have made are not huge. They seem genuine in their concern for trying to appease people’s concerns, but they are limited to what they can agree to.”
Sakâw Askiy Management Inc., the company responsible for the Forest Management Agreement for the Prince Albert Timber Supply Area, stated that only 40% of the land would be available for timber harvesting after considering parks, protected areas, caribou habitat, water bodies, wetlands, and more. The company argues that their operations need to be distributed over the entire forest area, targeting specific forest types to ensure sustainability. They claim to have deferred the Ness Creek area but now harvesting is occurring in the area to balance harvest levels elsewhere.
“The community, the RM, even people that work in the forestry industry want a more balanced approach to it. That is the dilemma, trying to find a balance between the industry and preserving this important forest,” Olson said.