Bands Block Cottage Development

Bands Block Cottage Development

Friday, March 18, 2005 at 15:57

Opposition by three First Nations to cottage development in Meadow Lake Provincial Park has a government manager reviewing his options.

Gil Happ of the Cottage Development Program says consultation meetings last year between Saskatchewan Environment and three bands in the area revealed a vast difference of opinion on how the area should be treated.

Happ’s department would like to set up as many as 200 lots on the north shore of the park’s Lac des Isles.

However, Happ admits that idea is not sitting well with the Waterhen Lake First Nation or the Big Island Lake Cree Nation.

Happ says some residents are concerned cottage expansion will infringe on traditional hunting and trapping activities, but he insists that won’t be the case.

Happ says senior managers at Saskatchewan Environment are now trying to determine whether to go ahead with a modified version of the plan or cancel it altogether.

He hopes to hear a decision within a couple of months.