Castle Logging Opponents Encouraged to Keep Trying

In the ongoing saga of Castle logging, today’s anticipated day in court ended with participants feeling little more closure than before it had started.

The plaintiffs in the case were logging opponents involved in last winter’s Castle protest, arguing on behalf of conservationists across Alberta, and those served this January with a draconian ban on entering all public land – almost two thirds of the province. At specific issue was the logging opponents’ contention that the Notice of Development posted by Alberta Sustainable Resource Development (SRD) on January 19, 2012 was improper and should have been disallowed.

The presiding judge, Justice Parks, ruled that as the notice of development had a 90-day window, which has now expired, the case has become moot. Furthermore, any ruling that could be made on the specific notice of January 19 would only be speculative with regards to its applicability to any potential future notice. As such he used his discretion and chose not to allow the case to proceed.

Justice Parks did, however, explicitly leave the door open to raising the issue again should any further notice of development be posted. As Alberta Environment and SRD has recently confirmed that logging would be permitted in the Castle this winter, specifically including those cut blocks originally intended for harvest in the winter of 2011, AWA anticipates along with the plaintiffs that such a notice is likely forthcoming.