Act Now For Alberta’s Caribou

A dangerous precedent is being set for Alberta's caribou. The province’s remaining caribou populations are in peril from persistent and accelerating habitat loss from logging and oil and gas development in their critical habitat.

Caribou need intact, undisturbed and mature forests to survive. The path to caribou recovery in Alberta is still possible through careful land use planning, habitat restoration, and halting the destruction of their remaining habitat.

Unfortunately, the Government of Alberta has abandoned caribou by proceeding with sub-regional plans across Northern Alberta that will destroy remaining caribou critical habitat and prevent their recovery.

The Upper Smoky Sub-regional Plan has been completed and the South Athabasca Sub-regional Plan is currently being finalized. Both plans, if adopted, will sentence caribou populations within their respective regions to extirpation. Eight more plans will follow suit.

Sub-regional land use plans were initiated in response to the Agreement for the Conservation of the Woodland Caribou in Alberta (2020). This agreement was made between Canada and Alberta to conserve and recover Alberta’s boreal and southern mountain woodland caribou. Instead of planning to protect caribou and other wildlife, the implementation of sub-regional planning makes almost no reference to recovering caribou and instead commits to logging caribou critical habitat and doubling oil and gas production.

Caribou recovery is not even mentioned in the plans

Caribou and all of Alberta's wildlife deserve to be a priority in the future of Alberta's land use. You can be a voice at this critical turning point for Alberta’s caribou. Help make a difference today and let your elected representative know that now is the time to act for caribou before it’s too late.

See the Letter Below

Your letter will be sent to your MLA, the Alberta Environment and Protected Area Minister, Forestry and Parks Minister, Energy and Minerals Minister. You are welcome to customize the contents of the letter. By filling out your contact details, the letter will be sent using your name and email.

Dear {contact_data~salutation}, Minister Hunter, Minister Loewen, and Minister Jean,

Alberta's caribou deserve habitat protection and recovery. It is unacceptable to condemn Alberta's caribou populations to extirpation, which is what will inevitably happen if the current policy and regulatory direction set out in the Upper Smoky and South Athabasca Sub-regional Plans are replicated across the rest of Alberta’s caribou ranges.

I do not agree with allowing short-term industrial pressures to override the long-term survival of caribou and the health of the boreal and foothills forest ecosystems they depend on. Caribou are an iconic Canadian species, and the Government of Alberta has provided no evidence that the current direction set out in the sub-regional plans gives any chance for conservation and recovery of caribou populations. Instead, it permits unmitigated development at grave environmental costs. The loss of caribou in Alberta, a species at risk, would reflect poorly on Alberta’s wildlife and landscape management. The loss of caribou could ultimately harm the industries working within caribou ranges, through negative public and media commentary, litigation, challenges to certifications, and reduced access to capital markets. The ministerially appointed Government of Alberta multistakeholder task forces presented opportunities to maintain socio-economic outcomes within each sub-region while protecting and restoring the critical habitat needed for woodland caribou populations to survive and recover—but these opportunities were ignored.

It is unacceptable to ignore the multistakeholder advice, Alberta's own A Woodland Caribou Policy for Alberta (2011), and obligations under the Species at Risk Act.

I urge you to include caribou survival and recovery as a policy objective, offering real protection, restoration, and a credible path to caribou recovery in all sub-regional plans. This includes revising the Upper Smoky and South Athabasca Sub-regional Plans to provide sufficient critical habitat for caribou recovery.

Albertans deserve to have a future that includes caribou.

Thank you for your consideration,

Kind regards,
{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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