Grass River Provincial Park has, until recent times, seen little disturbance from development. The park covers a transition from the Manitoba Lowlands to the Precambrian Shield, with forested areas and bogs interspersed throughout the region. The primary purpose of the park is stated as being to protect the river and the woodland caribou herds in the area. The river itself is protected as High Quality Surface Water, so designated by the Clean Environment Commission.

Grass River is classified as a Natural park by the Manitoba government. As with Duck Mountain Provincial Park, another stated purpose of Grass River is to “accommodate commercial resource uses such as forestry and mining, where such activities do not compromise the other park purposes.” An unbelievable figure of 75% of this park is designated for logging and mining, although roughly two-thirds of this area is off-limits to logging to preserve caribou habitat.

Grass River was set aside as a park in 1963, which predates the forest management license that overlays Grass River as well as Tolko’s processing plant in The Pas.

In March 2008, Tolko submitted a license application to the Manitoba Government to put a bridge over the Grass River, bisecting the park with an all-weather logging access road. This area of Grass River is supposed to be closed to logging activity because it is habitat for woodland caribou herds. To even think this license would be approved is a disappointing indication of the free reign that government offers industry in Manitoba. Instead of this park being operated as a preserve for the natural flora and fauna and waterway, it is a wood lot for a large private corporation.

In August 2009, the Manitoba government issued a license to build the logging access road across the park. Click here to go to the Grass River Park Logging Road information page.