Update: Logging Review – Spring 2026 Site Visit

Racehorse Creek Area Cutblocks – upstream of Vicary Creek. Photo Credit: Cameron Hunter

Ongoing Concerns

On May 31, 2026, AWA’s Cameron Hunter joined consultant Matt Coombs in revisiting multiple sites that were assessed in our recent logging report, A Review of Timber Harvest in the Oldman Headwaters, with Observations on Species at Risk Trout Habitat. We revisited these sites during a moderate rain event (48mm by 6 p.m. of May 31) and noted ongoing issues of erosion and sedimentation, sediment reaching mapped and unmapped critical habitat for native Bull Trout and Westslope Cutthroat Trout, and areas of logging overflowing channels.

Due to the nature of the findings on May 31, we sent an email to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program and Alberta Forestry and Parks, due to there being multiple sites with deposition of deleterious substances into a fish-bearing stream, which is illegal without explicit federal authorization. Additionally, we noted that there was a newly constructed bridge, and though it does have permits, it seems likely it was constructed within the Restricted Activity Period (RAP), and so we requested more information on the construction of this crossing and details on if the Species at Risk Act (SARA) permit authorized construction outside the RAP.

Detailed notes and requests from our visit are outlined below in the email we sent to Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Alberta Forestry and Parks:

On May 31, 2026, during the early stages of the recent rainfall event, I visited some select sites in the Vicary and Daisy creek watersheds with Matt Coombs from Fintegrate Fisheries & Watershed Consulting. These sites were part of his 2025 field review conducted under contract for Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) in fall 2025 and documented in our recent Logging Review report. AWA has asked Matt to revisit select priority sites in 2026 to document active erosion and sedimentation during rainfall events.

We visited a selection of sites (Site Visit Table and All Photos) – please see images excel detailing sites in the folder linked) during a moderate rainfall event (48mm by 6pm Sunday, May 31, at Vicary EPA 05AA808). At these sites, we recorded recent and ongoing erosion and sedimentation, sediment reaching mapped and unmapped critical habitat for native Bull Trout and Westslope Cutthroat Trout, and clearcut logging without any buffer over flowing channels not mapped as critical habitat, but in some cases mapped on the Lidar-based Wet Area Mapping layer.

We took turbidity measurements at some sites. At one site on Grease Creek there was a large culvert on the Coseka Road with no erosion or sediment control in place, and grading of the road over the winter had piled sediment in and around the inlet and outlet of the culvert. There was a plume of sediment draining into the creek from the ditch line directly into a SARA-designated critical habitat stream, where fish have been observed upstream of the culvert, and are recorded as present on the Fish and Wildlife Internet Mapping Tool (see excel attached, at AWA 2025 wptid 499 in the attached excel). Here, we saw a rise in turbidity from 4.77 to 23.67 (upstream versus downstream of the road), a 496% increase in turbidity (see photos here).

At another site on a tributary to Grease Creek, in the Daisy drainage, at a recently constructed bridge (AWA 2025 wptid 280 in attached excel), we noted overwhelmed sediment cross-drains releasing sediment into the tributary via a sub-surface flow, where turbidity readings upstream were 7.70, and downstream of the crossing were 37.28, a 484% increase in turbidity. Last fall, Matt Coombs observed Westslope Cutthroat Trout in this tributary approximately 750 m downstream from this crossing, and there are also records of capture on the Fish and Wildlife Internet Mapping Tool (see photos here).

Additionally, we noted that a bridge has been constructed recently over the Daisy Creek mainstem. AWA is requesting information on when the bridge was constructed, as it had not been built when the site was visited by Matt Coombs on September 23-24, 2025. AWA would also like to know, whether the SARA permit authorized fording the creek during the restricted activity period during construction. If so, was there a Qualified Aquatics Environmental Specialist on site to perform the necessary oversight and conduct a Bull Trout redd survey before moving construction equipment through the creek to construct the crossing (see photos here)?

AWA plans to continue monitoring the area and would greatly appreciate your feedback on our concerns around the findings noted above and in the attached spreadsheet. We would also appreciate any information you can provide on the crossing over Daisy Creek, as well as roadbuilding and road maintenance activities during the winter and spring leading up our visit to the area.

Thank you for your time, looking forward to hearing back!