What SaskPower has done to this forest, WHEN THEY HAD A NON-FORESTED OPTION TWO MILES AWAY, making this destruction completely unnecessary! Photo by Branimir Gjetvaj
SaskPower's own Biologists identified the chosen route as the most environmentally damaging of ALL of the options available to SaskPower! Photo by Branimir Gjetvaj
The protest symbolized by the adopted trees spoke clearly and strongly about the strength of conviction of people who know that we cannot have a healthy body or a healthy economy unless we have a sound and healthy environment.
The ruthless insensitivity of SaskPower is only one example of the forces that pursue short term goals at the expense of the long-term and permanent destruction of the system that sustains our very life. The many adopted trees may not have stopped this SaskPower destruction, but it did cause the Environment Department Regulators to impose conditions that reduced the degree of impact of the project. Without the support we received, that would not have happened.
Because the support expressed by the "Forest of Protest" is really a universal sign of concern for the protection of the environment from the brutal disregard of industry and short-sighted government alike, the protest should continue.
In this particular arena of boreal forest, good and evil fought, and evil may have won, but it is vital to all of us that evil not win the war. To this end, the "Forest of Protest" at Friendly Forest will continue. Trees that survive will continue to stand as a sign of protest, and those who have adopted destroyed trees are invited to visit Friendly Forest to select a surviving tree that will continue to stand for them in this protest.
Three generations of protesters adopting a tree in Friendly Forest (Grandmother taking the photo). All of these concerns have been ignored by both government and SaskPower. Letters to government ministers and the Premier have gone unanswered and unacknowledged!