Forests
New forest certification standard promises better protection for woodland caribou
Today, the Forest Stewardship Council of Canada (FSC Canada) released a new FSC Standard that will guide Canada’s forestry sector. FSC Canada aims to incorporate sustainability into responsible forest management. Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) congratulates FSC for developing a progressive national standard that incorporates conservation measures for species at risk, including a habitat indicator for endangered woodland caribou. Read More
Caribou Habitat Protection Crucial for Cease Fire in War on Wildlife
Caribou scientists published findings today indicating that an intense war on wildlife can increase endangered Alberta and BC woodland caribou populations. Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is concerned that these findings could be misused by industry and government decision makers to prolong unsustainable forest exploitation while endlessly harming wildlife species. Read More
Fire Storm: How Wildfire will Shape our Future
Please join us at 7pm on Tuesday November 20 at the University of Alberta to hear the acclaimed writer Ed Struzik talk about his latest book “Firestorm: How Wildfire will Shape our Future.” Ed, who also is a Fellow of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queen’s University and a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Arctic Resources Committee, will outline why he believes a radically different approach to managing wildfire is needed in this era of global warming. Read More
Location
Annual Martha Kostuch Wilderness and Wildlife Trust Fund Lecture: The Will of the Willmore
The Will of the Willmore – Wild and free, the legacy is ours to defend
A Wilderness Defenders Award will be presented to Ray Rasmussen
Location
Castle Forests in Peril; Restoration Required
Global Forest Watch Canada’s (GFWC) newly released study indicates that the remaining intact forests in the proposed Castle Provincial Park have been significantly reduced. Between 2000 and 2015, 76% of the forests became disturbed landscapes and are no longer secure habitat and watersheds. Read More
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Workshop: Wet Areas Mapping Initiative Year Ten
Towards the Goal of Environmental Excellence: Alberta’s Wet Areas Mapping Initiative at Year Ten
Alberta’s wet areas mapping initiative was initiated in 2005 and has made positive contributions to land and forest management. During this ten year time period, the wet areas mapping model has undergone a significant transformation to address complex challenges of mapping lands within the boreal forest. New spin-off modelling tools have also become an operational reality. A new understanding of moisture distributions on the forested landscape at high resolutions has spurred new scientific studies in the field of ecology, growth and yield and reclamation. This scientific symposium will report on a decade of innovation. Read More
Location
Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Workshop: Biodiversity and Forestry
Alberta’s forest management system identifies the maintenance of forest biodiversity as a key outcome. This workshop will explore how the implementation of ecosystem management principles and the application of strategies such as variable retention contribute to this outcome. Highlights include:
- Application of ecosystem management principles in BC, Quebec, and Alberta and what we can learn from these different experiences. This will include several specific case studies in Alberta connecting ecological science to forest management.
- An examination of the results from Alberta’s very own EMEND experiment. The Ecosystem Management Emulating Natural Disturbance (EMEND) Project is a large-scale variable retention harvest experiment designed to test effects of residual forest structure on ecosystem integrity and forest regeneration at the forest stand-level.
Location
Logging Threatens Caribou and Other Sensitive Species in Iconic Wilderness Park, Highlights Need for Willmore Management Plan
Approved and proposed logging operations immediately outside the boundary of the Willmore Wilderness Provincial Park will place unacceptable pressure on endangered and sensitive wildlife within the park. Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) calls on the Alberta government to halt logging in endangered west central caribou ranges and implement a long overdue comprehensive management plan for Willmore. Read More
New Roads, Cutblocks and Wells Undermine Little Smoky Caribou Critical Habitat
Significant new disturbance within caribou ranges in west central Alberta is destroying federally protected critical habitat and undermines chances for naturally sustaining caribou populations committed to by Alberta and federal governments. Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) echoes residents’ concerns about these disturbances even as it looks for solutions within Alberta’s Little Smoky - A La Peche caribou range planning process. Read More
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