Foremost Fish and Wildlife office closure in the works for two years

Commentator/Courier Photos by Justin Seward The Foremost Fish and Wildlife office is permanently closed.

By Justin Seward

Commentator/Courier

The Foremost Fish and Wildlife office closed its doors on Oct. 1, a move that had been in the works since the local officer retired in 2016, says the provincial fish and wildlife association official.
Since then the workload has fallen onto the Lethbridge and Medicine Hat officers.
“Our branch manager will continue to ensure we have officers available to respond to calls for service in the area that was previously covered by the Foremost officer,” said Brendan Cox, spokesperson for the provincial fish and wildlife association.
“After that officer retired, we did a research analysis of the workload in that office. We thought that area was not as busy as neighbouring areas.
“We found that for the best use of our resources that the branch does have and to get the most out of the taxpayers dollars that go towards the fish and wildlife budget, then it would be more strategic to transfer the positions from the Foremost office to two other districts that have greater operational needs.”
Cox confirmed that a possible re-opening of the office in the future is not on their radar right now and this closure was not a part of a province wide string of offices that closed up.
Office front purchases such as licenses can be bought online as well through private companies.