Manitoba Forest Companies

Court Says Logging Road In Park Not Logging

"As of right now, this morning, the bulldozers are rolling back into our provincial park to resume their destruction," said Manitoba Wilderness Campaign Director Eric Reder, after a Manitoba Queen's Bench Judge ruled that a road built exclusively for logging, was not prohibited by the Manitoba ban on logging in parks.

The Dickstone Road is a controversial logging road being built through Grass River Provincial Park. The road would intersect and disturb calving grounds of threatened woodland caribou in the park. The road will be used exclusively by Tolko to haul logs; public access is not allowed.

The Manitoba Government issued a license to Tolko to build a logging road across Grass River Provincial Park August 2009. Two-months earlier The Forest Amendment Act amended The Provincial Parks Act and The Forest Act to prohibit logging in provincial parks, including Grass River Park.

Manitoba Wildlands and the Wilderness Committee appealed the Environment Act license September 2009, but the appeals were dismissed. Next the Wilderness Committee applied to the Manitoba Queen's Bench for a rule review to interpret whether a logging road is prohibited by the 2009 amendments to The Provincial Parks Act and The Forest Act.

Justice Schulman concluded, "...construction of the Dickstone Road did not constitute the grant of a commercial timber cutting right that authorizes logging on land in a provincial park."

Reder said the decision shows the logging ban law was badly written, as it allows forestry roads to be built through parks. The Wilderness Committee has not yet decided whether it will appeal the decision.

Only about 700m of the 17km planned has bee built thus far. The environmental license requires construction to halt between March 31 and July 15, when road construction may resume.

• October 14, 2011 news item
• September 18, 2011 news item
• June 25, 2011 news item
• August 21, 2009 news item

Legality of Dickstone Road Sees Judicial Review

The Wilderness Committee requested a Manitoba Queen's Bench rule review concerning the legality of the South Dickson Road logging road being built by Tolko, because the road was authorized by the Government of Manitoba following amendments to the Manitoba Parks Act and Forest Act which banned logging in provincial parks.

"We're asking a judge to look at this legislation as it was written to determine if a logging road is considered logging," Eric Reder, a spokesman for The Wilderness Committee, said outside court.

Lawyers for the government told the court that Tolko's logging road project is lawful because the fallen trees for the road are not technically for commercial purposes.

"The only timber that's getting cut down is what's needed for the road - they are not for sale," said Manitoba Conservation Counsel Gord Hannon.

But the lawyer representing The Wilderness Committee disputed that argument.

"What could be more commercial than the building of a logging road for accessing a logging area ... to allow a logging company to increase its efficiency and profits?" David Newman asked in court.

Tolko is building the road exclusively for its own use to access cutting areas north of Grass River Provincial Park.

The judge reserved his decision about the correct interpretation of the scope of statutory provisions prohibiting logging in provincial parks. Manitoba Wildlands will post the decision when released.

Legal Review of Manitoba's "No Logging in Parks" Act

In June 2009 the Manitoba Government enacted Bill-3: The Forest Amendment Act, which amended The Provincial Parks Act and The Forest Act of Manitoba to prohibit logging in provincial parks. But in 2009, the government issued a license to Tolko to build a logging road across Grass River Provincial Park , which was finalized, after appeals, in February 2011.

Manitoba Wildlands and the Wilderness Committee appealed the Environment Act license September 2009, but the appeals were dismissed. The rule review is to obtain legal interpretation of the 2009 amendments to The Provincial Parks Act and The Forest Act.

"We are asking a judge to give us a legal definition: is a logging road considered logging or not?" said Eric Reder, campaign director, Manitoba Wilderness Committee.

Construction began in a remote section of Grass River Provincial Park March 2011 and stopped in April. The environmental license requires construction to halt between March 31 and July 15, when road construction may resume.

"Manitobans love their parks, and they want their government to do more to protect the parks we have and to expand our protected areas network in our boreal regions. This government needs to admit that these 'no logging' zones need restoration and are not protected!" said Manitoba Wildlands director Gaile Whelan-Enns.

Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie was contacted before the application was filed,with a suggestion to pursue the matter cooperatively. The Conservation Minister declined, and the Wilderness Committee filed the application. A court date has been set for July 7, 2011.