MAPLE CREEK — Breaking the rules put in place to protect Saskatchewan forests can have consequences, as a Saskatchewan company found out.
Landrider Trux Ltd., a Maple Creek firewood, logging and sawmilling operation, was fined just over $9,700 earlier this year after illegally importing pine logs from Alberta. Bringing pine logs with bark attached into Saskatchewan from jurisdictions with established mountain pine beetle populations is prohibited. The movement of wood with bark is one of the main ways that forest pests, including mountain pine beetle, are spread.
The investigation began when a caller to the Turn In Poachers and Polluters (TIPP) line reported that Landrider Trux Ltd. was bringing pine logs from Sundre, Alta., to their property near Maple Creek without authorization. In May 2023, a conservation officer visited the business, arriving just after a truck containing logs had been unloaded. The officer identified and seized two piles of logs on the property. Further investigation by the Ministry of Environment's Forest Service Branch confirmed the wood's origin. The wood was eventually sorted and the pine logs with bark were burned.
The mountain pine beetle has killed large swaths of forest in British Columbia and Alberta and is also established in the Cypress Hills area, putting all of Saskatchewan's pine forests at significant risk. To help contain the threat, a minister's order restricting the movement of pine logs with bark has been in place since 2008. The order prohibits the import of pine logs with bark into Saskatchewan from British Columbia, Alberta and the United States and their movement out of the Cypress Hills area into other areas of the province.
The Ministry of Environment's forest insect and disease program monitors for mountain pine beetle and other forest pests. To date, no mountain pine beetles have been detected in Saskatchewan's northern forests.
If you suspect wildlife, fisheries, forestry or environmental violations, please call Saskatchewan's toll-free Turn In Poachers and Polluters (TIPP) line at 1-800-667-7561 or report violations online at saskatchewan.ca/tipp. You may be eligible for cash rewards from the SaskTIP Reward Program and don't have to give your name.
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