On February 7, a Wilderness Committee expedition to set ski and snowshoe trails in Nopiming Provincial Park encountered the worst that Manitoba parks have to offer. What we found was an exact demonstration of the concerns we have been voicing about our wild areas.

The first sign of devastation came only five minutes into the park. Sitting in the ditch was a big metal box that we found out was a diesel water pump. A few hundred yards up the road we discovered a newly bulldozed road leading into the forest. Traveling up this road we passed several clearings that had been recently bulldozed and then came across a drill outfit doing mining exploration. Water from wetlands across the road was being pumped into the forest for the drill to use.

Still early in the day, we proceeded north in silence, as we contemplated what was happening in the park. Just before the Manigotagan River we came to another newly bulldozed road leading off to the west, with a sign reading "Private Road". This aroused our curiosity, as we were driving through a public provincial park. The road turned out to be 14 kilometres long, and led to a hydro line that crosses the provincial park at Long Lake. Thee road looks to have been built to bulldoze under the hydro line. If the road was built to access the hydro line, it would have been better to use the permanent road already in place on the north side of the Manigotagan that goes to Long Lake, rather than bulldozing for 14 kilometers through a provincial park.

On the way back along the road we documented evidence that supports one of our major concerns with development in provincial parks—road development. First, the wolves were using the bulldozed paths to hunt, disrupting the predator-prey relationship that should exist in a healthy, undisturbed wild area.

In one spot we also notice blood on the side of the bulldozer trail. Closer inspection showed it was from an animal dragged out of the bush. A short way down the drag path we found the site where a moose had been gutted. The road allowed access to a previously undisturbed section of forest that was being inhabited by moose, and provided an opportunity for this moose to be killed.

We continued our day by driving further up to Beresford Lake. Here we found the final attack on our parks. Logging operators for Tembec had been driving a tracked vehicle through the forest where we were starting our ski and snowshoe trail. While logging operations had been approved in this area, the tracked vehicle was driving through the buffer along the road that was supposed to be protected. The path of the vehicle appeared random, and left considerable damage.

What Manitobans want and need is land set aside for future generations. The industrial devastation heaped on our provincial parks, aptly demonstrated form our one-day experience in the park, is nothing short of disgusting.