Feds investigate after town slashes trees
A municipality in southwestern Quebec may be in trouble with Ottawa after it cut down trees on protected federal land.
The property, which belongs to the Canadian Wildlife Service, is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, near Cornwall, close to the U.S. border.
| Lac Saint-Fran¿ois National Wildlife Area |
| Property of the Canadian Wildlife Service, it is located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, 50 kilometres from Valleyfield, Que., close to the U.S. border. It is a unique ecosystem of extensive marshes and groves where thrive birds and plants, some of them rare, in a relatively mild climate. Visitors can discover wetlands spreading over 1,350 hectares, dotted with ponds, marshs, swamps and streams. More than 270 bird and 600 plant species have been recorded in the Wildlife Area, as well as some 40 kinds of animals, including beavers, muskrats, deer and minks. |
The municipality of Haut-Saint-Laurent cut down nearly 500 trees without federal approval in February.
Officials there say they wanted to clear a path for an access road so they could dismantle a couple of beaver dams that were preventing water from getting to nearby farmers' fields.
Federal researchers were on the property doing work when they heard heavy equipment operating. They called authorities and the cutting project was halted midway.
Conservationist Serge Bourdon said cutting the trees has caused serious damage.
"[It] changed the temperature of the water, changed the kind of animal that would come here. It changed everything," he said.
Sheldon Jordan, a spokesman for Environment Canada's enforcement department, said it's unusual that the trees would be so brazenly cut down in a protected area.
"Very, very, very rare. Something of this magnitude has never been seen before anywhere to my knowledge," he said.
He said enforcement officers are investigating, noting that municipal officials could face millions of dollars in fines and possibly even jail time.
Municipal officials were unavailable for comment.
In a similar case, the University of B.C. recently accepted responsibility for illegally cutting down dozens of trees in the nearby Pacific Spirit Park. Crews said it was a result of a boundary misunderstanding, and vowed to make amends.- FROM APRIL 25, 2006: UBC accepts blame for cutting down trees