Lumber company in Maple Creek fined for illegally imported logs

By Medicine Hat News on August 29, 2024.

@MedicineHatNews

A Maple Creek lumber company has been fined almost $10,000 for bringing pine logs with bark attached into Saskatchewan, contrary to regulations to prevent the spread of mountain pine beetles.

Landrider Trux Ltd., which mills lumber and sells firewood, was fined $9,700 after a tip to the Saskatchewan Report-a-Poacher line directed conservation officers to the business in May 2023.

They determined that a load of logs from Sundre, Alta., was imported without authorization. The logs were seized, sorted and the bark burned.

The movement of wood with bark is one of the main factors in the spread of pests, including mountain pine beetles, which have killed large swaths of forest in B.C. and Alberta, and is also established in the Cypress Hills area.

A Minister’s Order in 2008 restricts the movement of pine logs with bark into Saskatchewan from B.C., Alberta and the U.S., as well as their movement out of the Cypress Hills area.

7
-6