Resident urges council to protect Pass landscapes

David McIntyre asked Crowsnest Pass council May 5 to take a broader view of the community’s future, saying its long term value lies in its landscape, water, history and quality of life.

McIntyre appeared as a delegation after submitting a request to the municipality on April 9. He told council he had recently been in the community and felt compelled to speak about what he described as both the things he loves and the things that concern him.

“I fell in love with Crowsnest Pass 50 years ago. It was love at first sight,” said McIntyre.

He said he chose the Crowsnest Pass over other Alberta communities because of its quality of life and location.

“I didn’t come here for the mine. I came for the quality of life,” said McIntyre.

McIntyre’s presentation touched on community identity, watershed protection, forestry, coal mining impacts, Highway 3 twinning and the visual impact of infrastructure on the landscape.

He said he would like to see the municipality more strongly embrace the name Crowsnest Pass rather than relying heavily on the names of individual communities within it.

“I would love to see Crowsnest Pass adopt the name Crowsnest Pass, period, and not try to call itself by every community that is within the bounds of the community,” said McIntyre.

A major portion of his presentation focused on water and the headwaters of the Oldman watershed.

McIntyre said the region has far less water than many people realize, adding that runoff patterns have shifted and precipitation has been limited through the early part of the year.

“30 years ago, we didn’t realize how little water there was in the Old Man Watershed,” said McIntyre.

He said the watershed is vulnerable to coal mining, clear cut logging and off-road impacts. He also raised concerns about selenium pollution connected to coal mining and said further waste rock mining should be avoided.

“The bottom line, I see an intense and burning need to protect our headwaters from the impacts of the current scale of clear-cut logging, off-roading uses, and further waste rock mining,” said McIntyre.

McIntyre also spoke against current forestry practices, saying logging in headwater areas damages the land’s ability to hold and slowly release water.

He said the community should be more active in protecting viewscapes from industrial scars, including clear cuts, power lines, transmission towers and other infrastructure.

McIntyre also criticized plans to twin Highway 3 between Lundbreck and the British Columbia border, calling the corridor a scenic asset that should be protected rather than turned into a high-speed route.

“I see Highway 3 from Lundreck to the BC border if it can be saved from its planned train as a priceless provincial treasure,” said McIntyre.

He said the corridor could instead be promoted as a scenic byway tied to the region’s heritage and recreational values.

McIntyre also argued the Frank Slide should remain protected as a historic and cultural feature, saying highway changes could diminish the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre and the area’s broader heritage value.

“I see a need to re-honour the protection of the Frank Slide as a revere your honoured and historic feature, a treasure,” said McIntyre.

McIntyre closed by saying the community has world class beauty and should not allow short term industrial thinking to overwhelm its long-term potential.

“I feel that Crowsnest Pass has world-class beauty, profound potential to offer society a quiet place to escape into the solitude of streamside retreats, hidden trails, and a wealth of scenic and historic attractions,” said McIntyre.

He left council with copies of an opinion piece he said he had recently written for the Calgary Herald.