Wildlife Protection

In 2011, just thirteen male greater sage-grouse were counted in Alberta. Without emergency action to protect sage-grouse habitat, the species will die out in Alberta, and the finger of blame will be pointed squarely at provincial and federal governments which have failed to act.

The decline in sage-grouse has been steep and steady in Alberta since1996, when the bird was first listed on Alberta’s blue list as a species that may be at risk. And yet both provincial and federal governments have utterly failed to take action to protect sage-grouse habitat and halt the slide. Read More

CALGARY — Jennifer Grant, director of the Pembina Institute's oilsands program, made the following statement in response to the release today of a revised draft of the Government of Alberta's Lower Athabasca Regional Plan: Read More

EDMONTON — The federal government’s draft woodland caribou recovery strategy — released today, four years overdue — is illegal and fails on multiple fronts to comply with requirements under the Species at Risk Act, Ecojustice said today.

“This is not a recovery plan. This is barely a survival plan,” said Melissa Gorrie, Ecojustice staff lawyer. “SARA requires that recovery plans be based in science, but this plan clearly prioritizes political and industrial interests over that of the animals it is supposed to protect.” Read More

With a long overdue federal recovery strategy for Alberta’s critically threatened woodland caribou anticipated to be only weeks away, the Government of Alberta has quietly signed a new 20 year Forest Management Agreement (FMA) with Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries (Al-Pac) that closes the door on protecting caribou habitat in northeastern Alberta. The agreement seems to ignore the protection scientists say is critical for woodland caribou and other wildlife affected by forestry and oil sands industries in the FMA’s 58,000 km² swath of north central and northeastern Alberta. Read More