Call Made For Release Of Forest Fire Policy Review

Call Made For Release Of Forest Fire Policy Review

Friday, April 13, 2007 at 15:09

The Saskatchewan Party is calling on the NDP government to release the findings of an internal review over the so-called “let it burn” forest fire policy.

The SaskParty’s deputy environment critic, Glen Hart, says the NDP owe it to the residents of northern Saskatchewan to make the information public.

He says Environment Minister John Nilson needs to tell northerners what he knows about the department’s handling of forest fires last spring and summer.

Hart says the policy nearly failed the residents of Stony Rapids last summer, and he wonders if things are going to stay the same.

Hart doesn’t think the practice of allowing fires to burn unchecked in certain parts of the wilderness should be thrown out entirely.

However, he says the policy needs to be more flexible when it comes to flames that approach human settlements.