The Friends of Temagami have helped prevent construction of a bridge across the last roadless portion of the Sturgeon River - for the third time.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry have rejected Vermillion Forest Management's (VFM) proposal to amend the Temagami Integrated Plan (TIP) to build the bridge, thanks to opposition from FOT.
The bridge, proposed by VFM, would have granted the logging company easier and cheaper access to the crown land surrounding the Solace Wildlands and the Sturgeon River Provincial Park, where clear-cutting is already taking place. Friends of Temagami, Earthroots and Northwatch have been opposing the construction of the bridge since first proposed by VFM in 2007. Logging roads already exist in the area to transport lumber from the cut blocks to the Gervais Access Road, but VFM insisted that a bridge over the Sturgeon River was necessary, rejecting their own alternate route proposals initially submitted to the TIP.
While on a winter snowshoeing trek with Lure of the North last year, past-president Bob Olajos spoke to the CBC via satellite phone about the bridge proposal and the reasons it should be rejected. The radio interview can be found here.
Friends of Temagami would like to thank its members for their support during this process.