CRISIS ALERT! National Heritage Site along the Oldman River Threatened
by Valhalla Wilderness Society
 Rapid action by Canadian and First Nations people is needed to save a national ecological treasure and aboriginal culture site along the Oldman River. The area, near Fort MacLeod, has sandstone cliffs with caves and hoodoos -marvelous rock formations such as those that draw tens of thousands of visitors a year to Alberta's provincial parks.
The riparian habitats along the river support rare plant communities. Water and wind have carved the soft sandstone to create nesting sites for prairie falcons and garter snakes. All this supports an unusual biodiversity, including ferruginous hawks, yellow-bellied marmots, and threatened leopard frogs. Researchers at the University of Northern BC have been studying dramatic rings of rock lichens.
There is evidence of thousands of years of aboriginal use in the area, including buffalo jumps and teepee rings. Shockingly, as you read this, bulldozers are destroying this rare national and cultural heritage to mine the rock and sell it. That is Alberta's equivalent of cutting down thousand year-old trees in BC for fence posts.
The "Pacific Northwest Stone Company Ltd" has now submitted a proposal to the Municipal District of Willow Creek for a major quarry development that would essentially destroy this site forever.
To Save this Area We Must Act NOW!
Deadline: October 14
If you live in the area, you can attend the hearing: October 14, 1:30 pm at the Municipal Administration Building, Claresholm, Alberta.
Or you can write a letter before October 14 to:
Reeve - Henry Van Hierden
Municipal District of Willow Creek
Highway 520 West Claresholm, AB. T0L 0T0
Phone Number: 1-403-625-3351/1-888-337-3351
Fax Number: 1-403-625-3886
Email: md26@mdwillowcreek.com
For more information see the University of Northern BC website at:
http://wetbelt.unbc.ca/quarry/
For some key points see the Valhalla Wilderness Society letter below. Many letters written right away are needed to save the area. After reading the VWS letter, please take a few minutes to write your own.
October 9, 2008
Reeve - Henry Van Hierden
Municipal District of Willow Creek
Highway 520 West Claresholm, AB. T0L 0T0
Email: md26@mdwillowcreek.com
RE: Application of Pacific Northwest Stone Company for a rock quarry on the Oldman River at site #NW 30-10-24-W4th
Dear Mr. Van Hierden:
On behalf of our Canadian membership, the Valhalla Wilderness Society urges you to reject the application cited above. The area has outstanding values for biodiversity, species at risk, aboriginal culture, and geologic wonders including hoodoos and caves. It is a living scientific laboratory.
We are aware that this rare site has been rated as "Nationally Significant" for ecological values, and that it is one of only eight sites rated as "high" for paleontological sensitivity in the entire Municipal District. The government has gone to the trouble of studying and zoning these features, now what is it going to do to protect them?
With signs of old teepee rings and buffalo jumps, this area should be rated as high for aboriginal cultural values. Surely this is an even more important part of our Canadian archeological heritage than the dinosaur bones and tracks preserved so carefully at Drumheller.
Allowing a private business to destroy this area to sell the stone is like allowing barbarians to rip up a cathedral to sell the stone. The values may be very different, but it has taken nature millions of years to carve the rock formations. Life is very fragile along rivers in dry lands like this. These sensitive ecosystems are part of Canada's unique biodiversity, and they can be destroyed forever, along with signs of thousands of years of aboriginal use. This is a history we can't afford to lose.
The rock quarry operation is destroying things that are very rare to create a commodity that is very common. It must stop right away. Please turn down the application and seek the help of the federal government to designate the area a national or aboriginal heritage site. Please inform us of your board's decision once it has been made.
Sincerely,
Anne Sherrod
Chair
Valhalla Wilderness Society
Valhalla Wilderness Society
P.O. Box 324, New Denver, British Columbia, V0G 1S0
Phone: 250-358-2333; Fax: 358-7950; vws@vws.org, www.vws.org
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