When ratepayers Betty Ettinger and Marilyn and Ron Potter spoke at the regular Agricultural Services Board (ASB) meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 24, they wanted an explanation from the county as to why nothing had been done in response to their concerns on environmentral degradation.
On March 18, 2015, Betty Ettinger of Gadsby had attended the county information meeting at Linda Hall and had made a presentation questioning why the county was not intervening when too many evergreen belts were being bulldozed without any intervention from the county.
Addressing the same issue, Ron Potter had written a letter in May 2015 to the county expressing concerns about a property west of Gadsby that was having an approximately 30-year old shelterbelt set back from the county road removed.
When the landowner was asked to leave trees around a slough at the edge of the field, his reply was, "The birds never made us any money, it's our land, we can do with it what we want, Amen!"
But neither Ettinger nor Potter had received any communication from the county, which was disconcerting for them and led their appearance at the Feb. 24 meeting.
Ettinger was annoyed that not one of the county councillors had followed up with her concern since the Linda Hall meeting.
"Many rows of beautiful mature shelter belts have been bulldozed in the County of Stettler along with massive amounts of deforestation," said Ettinger. "I trust the county will be proactive in this regard, as most restrooms have the following little plaques on electric hand dryers that read, 'Thanks for helping us save trees', so my question is, shouldn't the county play a leading role, by ensuring that these trees are not bulldozed?"
According to Beaumont, the province has no jurisdiction to say how many trees one can take off their land.
"We were made aware that trees from a certain area in the county had been brushed out completely," said Beaumont. "But although we have a weed act in place, we cannot control how many trees a landowner can take down, it's totally up to them."
Councillor James Nibourg tabled a motion that communities need to be educated further on the demerits of deforestation and ASB should look into initiating and conducting such programs, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Another concern raised at the meeting by residents was wetland draining.
Marilyn and Ron Potter, who live a few miles north of town spoke at the meeting, wondering why the county has not yet responded to two of their letters, one written in May 2015 and the second one in Jan. 22, 2016.
The letters requested the county council take steps to educate its members about the importance of preserving the diverse ecosystems present in the county.
"The fact that Alberta Environment and Parks has legislation to preserve wetlands and their shores, but no level of government wants to be responsible for enforcement unless they are notified of an infraction by an informed county ratepayer, is a very real concern," said Marilyn Potter. "We feel some in the county council missed the message as they referred to the trees they have planted in their own backyards instead of realizing the destruction of habitat and the changing environment in the entire county."
"We received a call from the ratepayer saying that work was being done, but by the time we arrived work was complete," said Beaumont. "This can lead to major issues in spring and can cause flooding on Range Road 19-3," he admitted.