CONSERVATION

How to Provide
Feedback on Logging Plans

Get Involved

ENGAGING with
annual operating plans

Each spring, typically in May, Annual Operating Plans are released by logging companies. These plans outline proposed logging activities and are posted on the company’s website, and presented at Annual Open Houses. Community feedback is not only welcomed, it’s essential! By reviewing and responding to these plans, you can help safeguard local forests, native trout habitat, and the health of our watersheds.

The plans are available as PDF maps, along with an information document that provides a high-level overview of the company’s proposed logging areas and operations. In addition to viewing these maps, we recommend using our Logging Plan Viewer. This interactive tool is updated regularly with both planned and past logging data, allowing you to explore the plans in the context of other landscape values.

By engaging with annual operating plans and submitting your feedback, you'll play a direct role in ensuring that logging plans respect the values of resilient forests, species-at-risk recovery, and healthy watersheds.

We recommend inspecting the Annual Operating Plans that are most relevant to your interests or local area. Perhaps planned logging will impact local recreational trails, the habitat of threatened species, or other ecosystem values.

Take a look at our Key Issues page for more information on important issues in forest management in southern Alberta – watersheds, threatened native trout, wetlands, and wildfire. These provide background information and key questions relating to these topics.

There are a few options for providing feedback directly to the company:

Email COS-Info@westfraser.com
Provide feedback directly at an Open House

We highly recommend asking for:

(a) acknowledgement of receipt of your feedback,
(b) an explanation of the process that the company will use to incorporate changes to their plans based on feedback, and
(c) a timeline for when you can expect a response.

Make sure to follow up if you don’t receive timely responses.

You can also carbon copy (cc) emails to relevant government staff at Alberta Forestry and Parks.

Need help? Contact us and we’ll see what we can do: infoSAB@cpaws.org

RESOURCE

Logging
Plan Viewer

Want to become an advocate for Alberta’s forests? Check out our interactive logging plan viewer. It provides an interactive mapping tool for viewing plans in the context of other landscape values, and it is updated regularly with past, present, and future logging plans.

VIEW THE MAP

key ISSUES

How to Assess
Forest Management Plans

The consequences of logging extend well beyond the forest floor. Without proper planning and management, logging erases critical habitat for species already under pressure and undermines the natural systems that regulate water, leaving communities more vulnerable to floods and drought.

Learn more about the key issues surrounding logging in Southern Alberta.

Learn More

Native Trout

Wetlands

Watersheds

Wildfire

Helpful Terms

A metric used as an indicator of hydrologic change. It is calculated as the proportion of a watershed that is acting hydrologically as a clearcut. Forest re-growth after logging is accounted for in this metric. During the planning process that determines the amount and location of logging, Alberta Forestry and Parks set ECA thresholds to assess hydrologic risk. ECA as originally developed was intended to be only one of many tools used by hydrologists for such risk assessment, but it is currently the default, and often only, assessment of hydrological risk from planned logging.

A detailed plan developed by the FMA holder (the forestry company) with a 20-year scope but one is completed every 10 years. It outlines the forest management objectives and strategies. They must be developed in accordance with the Alberta Forest Management Planning Standard.

For example, West Fraser Cochrane has two different forest management units, each of which has its own forest management plan. The B12 unit includes the Highwood, Elbow, and Ghost regions. The most recent FMP for this unit was completed in 2021. The C5 (Crowsnest) unit includes the Livingstone, Oldman, and Crowsnest regions. The FMP for this region is currently under development and available in draft.

The Species at Risk Act is a federal act that was adopted in 2002. Its purpose is to prevent wildlife species from becoming extinct in Canada. Species that are in decline can be listed under SARA as at risk (e.g. threatened, endangered) based on an assessment by an independent committee of wildlife experts (COSEWIC). Listing leads to the development of recovery strategies and legally enforceable habitat protection, which aim to ensure the survival and recovery of the species.

Useful Links

West Fraser Cochrane Forest Management Plan for unit B12

Draft West Fraser Cochrane Forest Management Plan for unit C5 (Crowsnest)

Draft West Fraser Cochrane Spatial Harvest Sequence for the C5 (Crowsnest) plan

West Fraser Cochrane Annual Operating Plans

Alberta Operating Ground Rules (2025)

Note that individual FMAs/companies may have additional locally-specific operating ground rule addendums

Reforestation Standard of Alberta