DORE AND SMOOTHSTONE LAKES

	- Dore Lake; Photo by J. Markewich

Dore and Smoothstone Lakes are located in Saskatchewan's southern boreal forest, northwest of Prince Albert National Park. The area is situated on the boreal plain eco-zone and is a lovely landscape rich in wildlife and peaceful waters. The region boasts one of the highest populations of breed songbirds in North America.

The Dore-Smoothstone area is located within the forest management area that was eventually licenced to the international forestry company, Weyerhaeuser. CPAWS attended meetings in local communities and met with government officials about the need for protection in the region. Part of our work entailed reviewing and submitting comments on Weyerhaeuser's Environmental Impact Assessment.

CPAWS worked to establish protected areas in the Dore and Smoothstone Lakes area throughout the 1990's and early 2000s. Three sites were eventually set aside from industrial developments.

NEW RAN SITES CREATED IN DORE-SMOOTHSTONE AREA

On Thursday November 28, 2002, at a brief ceremony in Saskatoon, Hon. Buckley Belanger formally announced the designation of two new protected areas north of Dore Lake; Budd Lake (17,924 ha) and Caribou Flats (9,638 ha). In the year previous, a third area on Smoothstone Lake was designated, Selenite Point (3,800 ha). This makes a total of 31,362 ha of important new protected lands to be added to the provincial Representative Areas Network (RAN).

These new protected areas would not exist if it had not been for the concerted effort of many people over a long time. Two who deserve special mention are Marv Hanson and Bruce Slusar, both former Chairs of the CPAWS Saskatchewan Board. CPAWS Saskatchewan Chapter was enlarged in 1997 by amalgamation with the Dore-Smoothstone Accessible Wilderness Protection Association. That group was formed in 1993 by Marv and Bruce as an amalgamation of Dore Lake cottagers and local people concerned about the rapid and destructive expansion of industrial forestry into the Dore and Smoothstone Lakes area by Weyerhaeuser Canada Limited. Thanks for your hard work Marv and Bruce!

The Dore-Smoothstone project was a prolonged ten year battle against one of the world's largest forestry companies, and a government that has pinned a great deal of its economic program in the north on forestry. In seeing these new protected areas created we have achieved the goal of seeing three new protected areas created in spite of significant opposition at every turn.

	- Environment Minister Buckley Belanger   with Alan Appleby

CPAWS Saskatchewan thanks its members and all those other people who attended meetings, wrote letters, and spread the word about Dore-Smoothstone. Your help and participation was critical to this victory. Thanks are also due to staff of Saskatchewan Environment who have worked for many years to ensure that some of the significant natural landscapes of the area were protected. We will continue to work with Minister Belanger and his staff to designate more protected wilderness areas in Saskatchewan in future years.

LEARN MORE :

Government Protected Area Programs Learn about the RAN, government commitments, and the state of protected areas in Saskatchewan.

CPAWS Work in the Forest An overview of CPAWS Saskatchewan's conservation work in the forest.