New flood mitigation projects announced for Alberta
Posted Mar 19, 2015 3:22 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Standing in front of a packed room of municipal and environmental leaders, Environment Minister Kyle Fawcett anounced $15 million for various new flood mitigation projects Thursday.
Twelve new projects will get underway, 11 of which will share the funds.
It’ll go to restore or enhance more than 500 hectares of wetlands and about 36 kilometres of riparian areas.
Approved grants will also fund studies to inform riparian management best practcies, changes to dam operations to support riparian vegetation regeneration and new concepts to encourage wetland conservation and restoration.
The program was first announced last August.
When asked if it was viable to be investing so much in “studies” during this uncertain economic climate, Fawcett replied it’s a file that they can’t afford not to move on.
“There’s a financial risk in not doing so and this is one of the programs that we’ve put in place, I see this as a very positive announcement,” he said.
Fawcett was also asked for his reaction into the recent protests around the McLean Creek project and the Springbank Reservoir project.
“As the former Minister of Recovery and Reconstruction in Southwest Alberta after the floods, we endeavoured at looking at mitigation work as a result of the floods. It became very apparent to me that this was going to be a difficult process of which there was going to have to be trade-offs made, when making decisions on which projects move forward and which ones don’t. What we’re going to do is make sure that those that are impacted, are treated fairly and respectfully and that’s what we’re undertaking now.”
