Save The Tawatinaw River
The town of Athabasca is located in the beautiful Athabasca River Valley, right on the Big Bend, in the province of Alberta, Canada. The town has two Athabasca River tributaries running through it, the Tawaitinaw River and the Muskeg Creek. The Muskeg Creek was straightened some 30 years ago, and now the Alberta Department of Transportation would like to straighten the Tawaitinaw River for the purposes of replacing the bridge, and developing an interchange. The existing bridge does not affect the flow of the river, alternative plans that do not include realignment are possible. The floodplain is rich in a diversity of native plants and wildlife including rare and keystone species. The proposed development will destroy a relatively unaltered river in the heart of our town.
To see more pictures and information go to
http://sites.google.com/site/tawatinawstewards/
or
www.slideshare.net/tawatinaw
Dear Colleen Powell (Mayor), David Yurdiga (Reeve) and members of the Athabasca Town and County councils, we the undersigned are deeply troubled by the purposed straightening of the Tawaitinaw River. The town stands to lose a central urban zone of wild and natural beauty in the heart of our town, an active fish spawning ground, a critical wildlife corridor, and potential for an educational and interpretative area of a natural floodplain biosystem. The destruction this river straightening will have on the environment and our community%u2019s way of life cannot be measured in terms of dollars and cents. We are concerned by the lack of representation of the directly impacted peoples. We are asking you to request the Department of Transportation to look at other options that do not include realigning the Tawatinaw River. Thank you for your time and consideration of these concerns.
