Alberta Wilderness Association • Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
Alberta's Minister of Sustainable Resource Development has refused to put a moratorium on new industrial developments within any of the ranges of this threatened species. Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) are demanding that Alberta adopt key recommendations of the Alberta Woodland Caribou Recovery Team that would temporarily protect caribou from new industrial development within ranges of the most at risk caribou herds.
They are also calling for clear regulation of the forest and energy industry to ensure best practices are followed in key caribou ranges and to prevent new developments in critical portions of the ranges.
"The Alberta government's past and continuing actions clearly show they are uninterested and unconcerned about the future of caribou and other wildlife," says Cliff Wallis, AWA Past-President. "Deferrals of development are essential to allow planning to proceed and caribou to recover. Alberta continues to fiddle while our caribou perish."
Appointed last year by the government to plan woodland caribou recovery, the Alberta Woodland Caribou Recovery Team recommended that new industrial activity in the ranges of the most at risk woodland caribou herds be deferred while planning was proceeding.
Richard Schneider, Conservation Director for CPAWS, Edmonton, says the structure and mandate of the newly forming Alberta Caribou Committee must demonstrate serious intent to achieve caribou recovery to secure the participation of conservation groups. "Deferrals in key caribou ranges are essential, and the forest and energy industry, together with the government, need to support them. To do anything less would be a betrayal of our responsibility towards caribou conservation in Alberta."
The Minister of Sustainable Resource Development, the Hon. David Coutts, is only committing to "promote" best practices, something the government has been doing for the last 15 years, with disastrous outcomes for Alberta caribou. While Minister Coutts said in a June 23 news release that he wants to ensure caribou remain in Alberta for many years to come, his actions demonstrate the opposite.
"The minister is promoting a balance on the landscape but he has not put forward any actions or strategies that will protect caribou today," says Wallis. "In reality, there is no balance, only a blind commitment to allow industrial development at any cost."
Despite the lack of commitment from government, AWA and CPAWS are committed to working with the energy and forest industries, First Nations groups and other stakeholders to ramp up protection for caribou through the Alberta Caribou Committee. "We feel this is our last shot at this from the inside," says Schneider. "If we can't reach agreement with the other players and get a commitment from government for some essential planning tools like deferrals, we will have failed caribou and our responsibility to Albertans who want to see caribou restored in abundance to their former ranges."
Woodland caribou are listed as threatened under Alberta's Wildlife Act. Current population estimates range between 2,500 and 4,200 animals remaining in northern and central Alberta. Caribou are threatened by continuing fragmentation and loss of the forests, especially older growth types, by clear cuts, roads, pipelines, seismic lines. The most at risk herds include those near Slave Lake and in the Little Smoky area east of Grande Cache.
For more information:
AWA: Cliff Wallis (403) 271-1408
CPAWS Edmonton: Rick Schneider (780) 662-4233 or Helene Walsh (780) 922-0908