Company to host open house on contentious logging plans near Bragg Creek

The public will get a chance next week to review contentious plans to harvest trees in an area near Bragg Creek that's popular for its network of trails for cycling, hiking and cross-country skiing.

West Fraser Cochrane, a wood products company formerly known as Spray Lake Sawmills, is slated to harvest lumber from popular recreation areas, West Bragg Creek and Moose Mountain, in 2026.

As part of the engagement process, the company is hosting an open house on May 8 in Cochrane, where it will present its operating plans.

Information packages published on West Fraser's website include a closer look at West Bragg Creek, where plans show 362 hectares of logging, and Moose Mountain, a planned 376 hectares.

The materials include maps that show where harvesting and planned roads will cross popular trails. Those familiar with the area will recognize the names: Fullerton Loop, Strange Brew and Race of Spades.

West Fraser declined an interview request but provided a statement.

Outdoor enthusiasts and environmental groups are pushing back against logging plans in a bid to save popular hiking and cycling trails near Bragg Creek. (Submitted by Shaun Peter)

"Public input is important as it helps inform our plans with insights from local residents and stakeholder groups as to the values that are important to them," read the statement from Joyce Wagenaar, the company's director of communications.

She wrote the company is looking for "actionable feedback" on plans — specific suggestions the company should consider for trail users before it submits the final plan to the province in spring of 2026, before beginning the harvest later that year.

West Fraser has published its harvest plan, providing maps that show how logging activity would affect trails on Moose Mountain, in the Bragg Creek area. (West Fraser)This map published by West Fraser shows its harvest plan in the West Bragg Creek area, which is about 35 kilometres west of Calgary. (West Fraser)

For a closer look at each plan, load the PDF documents below:

Bragg Creek resident Jeff Woodgate says that when he heard about logging plans a year ago, he couldn't picture it, but the maps, recently published online, have made them real.

"That's what it was for me," Woodgate said.

"I'm angry about it.… It's upsetting, and I think that pretty much anybody that does utilize these trails … is going to look at these maps and be as upset as I am."

He's one of the people behind Guardians of Recreational Opportunities in Wilderness (GROW) Kananaskis, a group that formed to oppose this logging plan.

On the left, a photo of what Jeff Woodgate considers untouched forest. On the right, an example of an area in the Bragg Creek region that was logged in 2012. (Submitted by Alberta 66 MTB)

As the company has moved through its planning phases, a consultation document shows how changes have been made to lessen the impact on certain trails — like taking the harvesting impact on the Race of Spades trail from 48 per cent down to three per cent.

Woodgate believes that's all part of the company's negotiation process.

"They make some adjustments to appease, but the overall trail system is still hugely affected," he said.

Woodgate notes that park users pay for a Kananaskis conservation pass to access these trails, and some of the money flows back to groups who maintain and build up trails that are now affected by these logging plans.

"It's an insult and it's difficult to swallow."

In a statement, Pam Davidson, press secretary for Ministry of Forestry and Parks, writes the Kananaskis pass funds many initiatives throughout Kananaskis Country, not just trails.

"We understand and appreciate how much Albertans value their outdoor recreation areas, and Alberta's government works hard to balance economic activity with recreation and conservation outcomes," she wrote.

Woodgate says GROW Kananaskis plans to draw attention and convince Albertans to write to their MLAs. An online petition has received more than 15,000 signatures.

This is a critical time, Woodgate says, before the plan goes past a point of no return.

Bragg Creek Trails president Conrad Schiebel says West Fraser has the right to harvest in the area but he hopes it can work in partnership with the recreational users. (Helen Pike/CBC)

"No doubt it's going to be a change to the landscape," said Conrad Schiebel, president of the Bragg Creek Trails Association. "This is a much-loved area."

Schiebel says volunteers have worked tirelessly through the years to carve a network of trails used year-round by locals and Calgary day-trippers.

Faced with this impending logging project, he says the association has to be neutral, based on pre-existing agreements with the government and the nature of Alberta's multi-use landscapes.

'This isn't our first rodeo with logging'

This means working with West Fraser Cochrane. He says collaboration is his way to fight for the best interest of trail users and the forest.

"This isn't our first rodeo with logging," Schiebel said. "The first one was 10 years ago and fairly disruptive, and there was a lot of learning that came out of that process."

Since then, he says, another thing has changed: public opinion.

He says gaining popular consensus is going to be a bigger hurdle than it was a decade ago.

Schiebel says the Bragg Creek Trails logging committee will help figure out what mitigation is needed to save what's special: pockets of old-growth trees and areas with unique groupings of plants that, for the untrained eye, are easy to overlook.

"It's going to hurt for a little bit, but I think we can hopefully come up with a plan where some of the character is preserved."