[k_southman]

I’m not a political guy, but it seems worth raising awareness of this. To me the Wild West days of mine exploration are behind us. No new resource exploration should be premited in existing provincial parks. Email your MLAandlet them know you support wildlife over lithium.

https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/atrocio...exploration-work-in-provincial-park-1.3866065

 

[k_southman]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...3e931b5a26d_story.html?utm_term=.86ab43d5cb42

 

[snomad]

I don't think we can compare ourselves to China when it comes to the environment or democracy. Let's also not assume that due diligence wasn't done with the approvals by government on this. Mining was going on in that area before it was a park. The park has dedicated zones for different activity including mining. What about existing mines and the money already spent on exploration? Should we just tell them to get the h*ll out? Our economy has it's challenges already without further discouraging resource extraction.
Slowly but surely regulations are changing already about a lot of activities in parks. Are these parks supposed to be pristine places that we won't be allowed to visit? It irks me big time when an elitist person or group gets the attention of the media and a very one-sided picture develops and restrictions on other users and their activities are put in place. Just look at the picture presented in the article. Well a picture of a burned out forest looks bad too but it is part of the natural cycle and keeps a forest healthy and is a boon to wildlife while it grows back. So was it necessarily a bad thing that logging used to take place in parks? The development of parks like Nopiming took place because of roads put in place by mining and logging many years before. Clearcutting of blowdown areas in the Whiteshell just pre-empted the fires that were likely to happen and the resource was utilized. The same longer term effect was realized.
Our parks aren't just for hikers and canoeists, they are multi use.
If all logging or mining was only allowed on crown land outside of parks what happens to an operating mine on crown land when that crown land is designated a park?
This issue needs to be given some rational thought before alarmist opinions sway good decisions. The Wilderness Committee and other groups like them have a way of influencing all the sheep in society. (Just look at the gun registry for proof of that.) I am just saying to step back a minute and look at the facts.

 

[snomad]

Here is a response to this activity from Sustainable Development:

"Thanks for your email and sorry in the delay in getting back to you yesterday after the long weekend. I have included Tracy Webber from Booster on this email as well, as I see that you included her in your original email Friday.



Allowable activities in Provincial Parks are directed through Land Use Categories (LUC) as well as the park purpose statement. If you reference the draft management plan for Nopiming Provincial Park (http://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/parks/consult/pdf/nopiming_draft_management_plan.pdf) on pg 5 outlines the park purpose statements and the LUCs in Nopiming, these two things formed the basis for all the park discussions during the draft planning discussions and have been in place since the early 90s. The park purpose statements for Nopiming park are:

• preserve areas of habitat for the threatened woodland caribou

• provide nature-oriented recreational opportunities such as canoeing, hiking and mountain biking in a largely undisturbed environment

• provide high quality cottaging, camping, boating and fishing opportunities, and accommodate related facilities and services

• promote public appreciation and understanding of Nopiming’s natural and cultural heritage

• accommodate commercial resource uses such as mining where such activities do not compromise other park purposes.



Neither the park purpose statements or the park LUCs were proposed to be changed during the draft management planning process; in order to change LUCs a public consultation is required outline the details.



Nopiming Provincial Park has a long history of mineral exploration and continues to be active currently. Most of these activities occur in the Resource Management LUC (although mineral activities are also allowed in the Recreational Development LUC where they do not impact recreation directly). The draft plan has a map of the LUCs on pg. 6 for your reference.



The Cat Lake area has several claims that are being explored through different techniques. If any of the claims at this site (or any other site in the park) were to move to a next stage that included development of a mine then a full public consultation process would occur through the Environmental Act. The area north of 314/315 is also an area of claims, this winter exploratory work was conducted as geophysical surveys which requires narrow lines to be cut in order to run the equipment.



If an exploration project is going to directly impact a cottage community we ask the companies to engage with them to help mitigate any concerns, at Cat Lake there is no adjacent community and the Bird Lake project was conducted on the claim itself and did not have any increased traffic or other concerns. If you association is interested we can give a mining general update when we attend cottage meetings, we do this for other associations just to give them a general idea of activities throughout the park.



If you have any other questions please let me know and I am always happy to discuss in person or over the phone,







Morgan Hallett

Parks Specialist - Eastern Region

Department of Sustainable Development"

 

[propane_cooker]

It's great to see people engaged and concerned about issues regarding wildlife and our parks In my mind I don't see a big issue with the exploration. Some small clear cut areas aren't going to hurt the overall health of the forest and will create some good habitat for deer. There would have to be additional approvals that take place before any mining took place. If that came to be, a person would have to look at the proposed operation to see how it was going to impact the area and decide if they were going to oppose it.

I certainly don't want wildlife and parks impacted negatively. That being said I think a suitable balance can be found with some resource extraction. It takes money to fund parks and wildlife and if some of the revenue from such a project paid back to the park or sustainable development it could be helpful.