EDMONTON – The Government of Alberta’s release of Alberta’s Caribou Action Plan is a step in the right direction to achieving self-sustaining caribou populations in Alberta. CPAWS welcomes the announcement of over 1.8 million hectares of permanent protection in four caribou ranges in northwestern Alberta.

“Alberta’s boreal caribou populations have been declining for decades and urgently need habitat protection and forest restoration to recover,” says Danielle Pendlebury, conservation planner with CPAWS Northern Alberta. “We applaud the Alberta Government for announcing permanent protection for the Chinchaga, Bistcho, Yates, and Caribou Mountain caribou ranges. This level of protection needs to be matched in all other caribou ranges, otherwise we face the real threat of losing caribou from Alberta in our lifetime.”

Permanent protected areas within caribou ranges are essential for creating refuges of undisturbed habitat for caribou and for ensuring that human footprint is kept to a minimum.

The Government of Alberta also released its draft range plan for the Little Smoky and A La Peche caribou herds. CPAWS Northern Alberta will review and provide comments on this draft plan within the 60 day review period. CPAWS will also hold several public information sessions on this plan and will use its recently-released report, Alberta’s Caribou: A Guide to Range Planning, to guide the public in providing feedback. 

CPAWS’ preliminary assessment of the draft plan sees some good habitat measures such as the restoration of all legacy seismic lines over the next five years, however the plan falls short of protecting the Little Smoky and A La Peche caribou ranges from ongoing disturbance from industrial activity. CPAWS expects any robust range plan to include a reduction in forest harvesting alongside a reduction in the disturbance caused by oil and gas extraction.

Alison Ronson, executive director of CPAWS Northern Alberta, states, “Alberta’s boreal forest is highly disturbed by human impacts from forestry and oil and gas exploration and extraction. CPAWS expects all range plans to include immediate forest restoration measures coupled with a reduction in future disturbance from industrial activity. We also call on the government to establish legislated protected areas and timelines that clearly set out how habitat targets set by the Species At Risk Act will be met.”

CPAWS feels that the timelines set out in the range plan do not contain enough detail to demonstrate that 65% of the caribou ranges will be restored to undisturbed habitat.

“Our analysis shows that if we want to bring our caribou populations back from the brink, we will need dedicated forest restoration efforts and the adoption of sound conservation principles across the landscape,” Ronson says.

It is estimated that if business continues as usual in Alberta, our caribou will be lost from our landscape in 50 years. The province of Alberta has until October of 2017 to craft range plans for all herds that bring each range up to 65% undisturbed habitat.