Photo courtesy of Colton McKee

By Scott Roblin

CFB Suffield

Bindloss fire recommendations, elk hunt discussed at CFB Suffield meeting

Nov 18, 2019 | 5:56 PM

BINDLOSS, AB – Just over two years after fire devastated their community, Bindloss residents turned out in droves to speak with CFB Suffield representatives on Monday.

Land owners attended CFB Suffield’s ‘Friends and Neighbours Forum’ at the Bindloss Community Hall, discussing a number of topics including fire mitigation since the 2017 blaze.

For the most part, those in attendance expressed their appreciation to the base for trying to make things right after an unexploded military ordinance was set off sparking a massive 90,000 acre fire.

At Monday’s meeting, CFB Suffield base commander LCol. Troy Leifso announced roughly 70 percent of their recommendations following the September 11, 2017 blaze have been met.

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Those recommendations include installing a number of 17,000 gallon water tanks along the perimeter of the base, bringing in a new range fire fighting truck, implementing a new process for dealing with unexpoloded ordinances, and signing a contract for a new mass notification system with ERMS Advantage which will be up and running in the next few months.

CFB Suffield is also pushing to double their fire guard surrounding the entire base to 50 metres wide, however an environmental assessment still needs to be completed.

As for land owner compensation from the fire, it wasn’t brought up specifically in CFB Suffield’s presentation.

However, a handful of residents such as Alan Schlaht confirmed to CHAT News that they are still waiting on their claim with the Department of National Defence over two years later.

Newly elected Battle River-Crowfoot MP Damien Kurek was in attendance in Bindloss on Monday and said he’ll take these concerns back to Ottawa with him.

Fire mitigation wasn’t the only topic to generate some heated discussion though, as many people in attendance voiced their concerns about the ongoing elk hunt on the base.

Property owners in the Bindloss area have spoken out for years on the elk population leaving the base and destroying their farm and crop land, resulting in thousands of dollars lost due to the animals.

Over the last eight years CFB Suffield has conducted annual elk hunts to get the population numbers down, saying roughly 3,300 remain on the base this fall.

A number of land owners weren’t happy this year’s hunt window was shuttered from six weeks in November and January down to three weeks in 2020 and feeling the buck keeps getting passed from the provincial to the federal level.

Possible solutions proposed during the meeting included re-introducing a November hunting window at CFB Suffield and formally designating the elk as a nuisance species, however both of those decisions would be made by the province.

CFB Suffield will be holding a second forum for the public on Thursday afternoon at 1:30 pm at the Ralston Theatre.