Groups Seek Emergency Order to Stop Caribou Extirpation in Alberta Oilsands and Foothills

Alberta conservation groups are seeking an emergency order from Jim Prentice, Federal Environment Minister to enforce habitat protection for the endangered Foothills and Oil Sands woodland caribou herds. “Minister Prentice has recently acknowledged that there is a need for industry and the Alberta government to work with Ottawa to improve Canada’s environmental reputation. Alberta’s caribou desperately need Federal help, and this is Prentice’s chance to take meaningful action,” says Rocky Notnes with the Athabasca Bioregional Society. Read more »

Posted February 8, 2010 by Anonymous

Woodland Caribou herds declining toward extinction in Alberta

Rural and provincial conservation groups today distributed copies of a new provincial government recovery plan for Alberta’s endangered woodland caribou. The ‘Action Plan for West-Central Alberta Caribou Recovery’ authorizes ongoing logging and oil and gas development in the caribou home ranges north of Hinton and Grande Cache. The groups also displayed more than two dozen Alberta government and science reports, consultations and recovery plans for caribou released since the late 1970’s, showing industrial impacts on forests and wildlife as the root cause of caribou decline.

The groups highlighted the fact that the government did not act on the previous plans written since the 1970’s, while at the same time Alberta’s caribou population has declined by almost two-thirds, from a high of an estimated population of 7,000 - 9,000 in the 1960’s to an estimated 3,000 today. Last year, a Canada-wide scientific review found that Alberta’s herds of woodland caribou were the most in danger of extinction among all provinces. Logging and oil and gas allocations increased rapidly during the 1980’s and 1990’s and now blanket Alberta forests. Read more »

Posted November 26, 2009 by Anonymous

Coalition Launches Green Ribbon Campaign

The Coalition for a Nuclear Free Alberta (CNFA), comprised of a number of Alberta grassroots organizations, launched its province-wide Green Ribbon campaign today to try and convince the provincial government that investing in green renewable energy sources is the right choice for meeting our future electricity needs rather than the the costly and risky nuclear option being considered.

"The government has stated it will set policy on nuclear before the end of the fall sitting of the Legislature," says Adele Boucher Rymhs, President of the Coalition.

Posted September 22, 2009 by Anonymous