The Reeve of Northern Sunrise County is concerned about the future of Greene Valley Provincial Park.
Carolyn Kolebaba penned a letter to Environment and Parks Minister, Jason Nixon asking the government to reconsider its decision to revert the area from a park to general crown land.
Kolebaba says the implications for wildlife could be negative.
“We have a wildlife corridor through there and we would like it to stay that way,” says Kolebaba.
“With the government taking away the park designation, then that means that we are supposed be able to control to goes there and what they are doing but that isn’t the case, we won’t have any capability of doing so.”
The letter to Nixon also states that as crown land, hunters will be able access the land for game.
Kolebaba also mentioned to the Trending 55 Newsroom that the north is already limited in tourism and that closing a park will not be helpful.
“We have been doing maintenance on the 12 Foot Davis Site all along and several tourists visit the site every year,” points out Kolebaba.
Although not mentioned in the letter to the ministry, Kolebaba says councils has concerns with fire suppression.
“Who is going to do the fire suppression there?” asked Kolebaba. “Obviously we can’t. We don’t have helicopters or airplanes so it is a little disturbing that this is being down without consulting us.”
“It is a provincial park and should be left that way,” concludes Kolebaba.
Earlier this year, the government announced that 164 provincial parks would be handed over to third parties to manage, and then be reverted back to crown land if no partner could be found.
– Kenny Trenton, Trending 55 Newsroom
