Pincher Creek Town Council provides letter of support to Canadian Mountain Network

Toni Lucas - On December 11, Council for the Town of Pincher Creek received as information the November 27 presentation from Matthew Berry, Director of Partnership Development for the Canadian Mountain Network  (CMN). He attended the meeting to provide further information to Council regarding the Canadian Mountain Network (CMN) and the Canadian Mountain Municipalities Consortium. CMN is seeking 2.5 million per year for five years from the Networks of Centre of Excellence (NCE) Funding Program. University of Alberta is the host institution through which research will be directed. The CMN would in turn provide a grant of $200,000 to support the Consortium selected projects.

Top issues of mountain communities center around tourism, recreation opportunities, hazards and emergencies, tourism infrastructure pressures, human-wildlife coexistence, protecting headwaters and drinking water quality, affordable housing etc. Research and training in these areas could assist mountain communities. Member municipalities would have input to select the projects.

To date, there are several B.C. and Alberta communities that have joined the Network, with more considering participation. There is no financial commitment at this stage of application, however, should they be invited to the full application stage, they would be looking for the participating municipalities for support funding. The cost would be based on fundraising and the number of municipalities that are participating. They will find out in February if invited and will have until July to accept.

Council approved a letter of support for the CMN’s application to the NCE. This letter has been provided to CMN.