Press Release
Sierra Club of Canada-Chinook Group Launches Action Center
calling for the Immediate Protection for the Castle Wilderness
May 7, 2003
CALGARY - The Sierra Club of Canada – Chinook
Group is announcing the launch of the Sierra Club Castle
Wilderness Action Center at http://www.sierraclubchinook.org/
Castle/ActionCentre/ActionCentre.php. The group is asking
that Shell Canada, currently operating over 50 gas wells in
the region, curtail its gas exploration within the
Castle Wilderness. As well the Sierra Club of Canada Chinook
Group is asking Shell to work with local conservation groups
to enable the Alberta Government to enact legislation to
protect this invaluable region.
“Shell has been progressive in its pro-Kyoto stand, but
the destruction of this unparalleled wilderness will be its
Canadian Nigeria,” said Elizabeth May, Executive Director of
Sierra Club of Canada, referring to Shell’s environmental black
eye for activities in the 1990s in the Niger Delta.
The Castle Wilderness is a narrow corridor in the South West
of Alberta, bordering the Waterton-Glacier International Peace
Park. The area is world renowned for its breathtaking landscapes
and unquestioned ecological significance. Over the last 50 years,
intensive industrial activity has significantly contributed to a
substantial loss of biodiversity in the region.
Locally, several Canadian and Albertan conservation groups,
including the Sierra Club of Canada-Chinook Group, have been working
towards legislative protection of the Castle Wilderness.
Joining forces with the local groups, international pressure
has been mounting as both the National Resource Defense Council
based in the U.S., and Robin Wood, based in Germany have made
the Castle Wilderness integral parts of their conservation
campaigns.
“Clearly, there is a growing groundswell of support for the
immediate legislative protection of the Castle Wilderness” said
Dave Keith of the Sierra Club of Canada-Chinook Group.
“Without protection for the Castle Wilderness biologists predict
further population decline or even regional extinction of the
area’s large carnivores. A protected Castle would also greatly
benefit the threatened Grizzly Bear population in the Waterton-Glacier
International Peace Park.”
With the launch of the Sierra Club Castle Wilderness Action Center,
Albertans and people around the world will have a forum to be able to
let both Shell Canada and the Albertan government know how passionately
they care to have the Castle Wilderness protected.
For further information please Contact:
Dave Keith
Sierra Club of Canada - Chinook Group
Ph: (403)266-3630
Cell: (403)617-2782
