Castle Wilderness

Logging

The single largest surface disturbances in the Castle Wilderness have been as a result of logging which started before the turn of the 20th century. Currently, an estimated 15 percent of the Castle’s forested area has been clear-cut.

Ecological effects of clear-cut logging include habitat fragmentation, increased road-related disturbance, soil degradation, weed invasion and spread, erosion, stream siltation and loss of fish habitat. Spiritual and recreational values are also negatively affected. Elk, grizzly bears, and other large mammals avoid large cut blocks because they require vegetation in which to hide.

Since large fires in the 1930s, an estimated 50 percent of old growth forest has been lost due to logging in the Castle. Today less than 10 percent of the forest cover in the Castle area is composed of old growth. Logging of this forest type is a priority under the current Alberta Forest Service policy and will therefore likely continue to take place in the Castle.

Advocates of sustainable forestry recommend that 25 percent of forests be in old growth at any one time. Since the Castle Wilderness is currently deficient in old growth forest, additional logging will simply make a bad situation worse.

Old growth forest is important to many species of animals, such as marten, lynx, and red-tailed chipmunks which live only or principally in such habitats. It also provides important cover to elk, moose and bears. Alberta’s Natural Resources Conservation Board acknowledged in 1993 that the remnant old growth forests in the Castle “are being logged, raising concerns over the survival of old growth forest for thermal cover for large animals as well as for habitat essential to the survival of smaller animals and plants.”

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