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CYPRESS HILLS UPDATE
Good News from the Cypress Hills
by Ann Coxworth
Program Coordinator, Saskatchewan Environmental Society
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- Photo by Branimir Gjetvaj |
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We are very happy to report that the efforts of environmentalists and local residents, to protect the Cypress Hills Uplands from petroleum development, have born fruit (click on image to enlarge and see description).
In October, the Rural Municipality (RM) of Maple Creek finally passed a zoning bylaw which will result in a significantly higher level of control over petroleum development in the Hills. Our Maple Creek contacts report to us that all lands where the slope is 6% or greater will be closed to oil and gas development. A very useful map prepared by Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM) and Saskatchewan Energy Mines (SEM) shows that approximately 90% of the area for which we had sought protection, falls into this category. This is indeed great news.
We thank the ranching families with whom we worked, the SERM and SEM staff people who did a huge amount of work to provide the needed landscape documentation, the RM Council who by a 5 to 4 vote made the right decision, and the other environmental groups who joined with Saskatchewan Environmental Society in the campaign to prevent the despoilment of this uniquely beautiful area. Congratulations to all of us!
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