Alberta Wilderness Association
October 12, 2006
A good part of the meeting focused on the failure to enforce the strongest piece of Canadian environmental legislation, the federal Fisheries Act. Representatives of groups from across Canada expressed dismay at the continuing deterioration of fisheries and the associated regulatory regime. Read More
News Release: August 8, 2006
Edmonton, AB - A coalition of environmental groups today served Federal Environment Minister Rona Ambrose with a petition giving her 60 days to step in to protect two endangered plants in Alberta or face a lawsuit. Alberta Wilderness Association, Federation of Alberta Naturalists, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Sierra Club of Canada and Nature Canada, represented by Sierra Legal Defence Fund, are threatening the suit to test the federal government's intention to protect Canada's endangered wildlife. Read More
Alberta Foothills Network: A collaboration of international voices that are committed to the protection, restoration and the establishment of Protected Areas, and socially and ecologically sustainable development in the Endangered Foothills Natural Region of Alberta.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, August 3, 2006
Local and international environmental groups are joining the migration of over 900 of the most extreme runners in North America to Grande Cache for the community’s largest event – the annual Canadian Death Race. Considered the toughest race in Canada, the 125 km race consists of three mountain summits and over 17,000 ft of elevation change through the scenic mountains and foothills around Grande Cache. Read More
Alberta Wilderness Association
News Release: July 20, 2006
Thanks to the Supreme Court of Canada the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex, a boreal treasure and potential candidate for World Heritage Site status, is one step closer to destruction. Today the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal of the Federal Court of Appeal's ruling in Prairie Acid Rain Coalition et al v. Canada (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans).
"Not only does this decision rubberstamp the destruction of much of McClelland fen and the McClelland Lake Wetland Complex but also it pulls virtually all of the teeth out of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act," says Dr. Ian Urquhart, a University of Alberta political scientist who works on boreal forest conservation issues for AWA. Read More
Alberta Wilderness Association
June 26, 2006
Neil McCrank
Chairman
Alberta Energy and Utilities Board
Dear Mr. McCrank:
We, the undersigned, are extremely dismayed by the lack of responsibility that the Energy and Utility Board (EUB) displayed with Decision 2006-052. After hearing the concerns of 150 ranchers and landowners in Chain Lakes, you did what we hoped you wouldn't, and ignored the concerns of Albertans thus permitting another well in one of the province's most historic landscapes. You simply disregarded Board policies that call for public debate and environmental planning. And in so doing, you have gone against your own mandate and defied the expressed interests of all Albertans. In short, it was business as usual with the Board. Read More
Alberta Wilderness Association
News Release: June 9, 2006
The Alberta Energy Utilities Board's (EUB) decision to deny standing to concerned citizens and to allow Compton Petroleum to continue its development in the Livingstone region disregards its own guidelines and fails to protect the public interest. Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) is joining local residents in calling for a "time-out" on development until the non-petroleum values of this important Eastern Slopes region can be fully evaluated. Read More
Alberta Wilderness Association
News Release: May 19, 2006
The recently released Ghost Waiparous Access Management Plan (GAMP) does not go far enough to protect watersheds and wildlife in our Eastern Slopes. Nor is it a suitable template for access management planning throughout Alberta. AWA believes that management plans must have watershed and wildlife habitat protection as a priority, be based on scientific principles, and have high standards for implementation and measured outcomes. Read More
Alberta Wilderness Association
News Release: May 9, 2006
In a recent survey of forest use in Alberta, Albertans made it clear that managing our forests should be about more than timber and fibre production. Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA) supports responsible ecosystem-based forest management that does not compromise wildlife and wilderness values, and this survey shows that Albertans share these values.
"The survey highlights a disconnect between how Albertans want to see our forests managed, and how the government is managing them," says Nigel Douglas, AWA Conservation Specialist. "Current forest management focuses almost exclusively on clearcutting the forest. Everything else - wildlife, recreation, clean water - comes a distant second in their management." Read More
