Caribou conservation agreements failing caribou

Edmonton | Amiskwaciwâskahikan, May 29 2024 — Voluntary conservation agreements between provinces and the federal government are failing to protect and recover threatened caribou populations, recent progress reports show. Specifically, reports from and show that recovery actions are insufficient to achieve recovery in the face of expanding industrial activity in caribou habitat.

Under Section 11 of the federal Species at Risk Act, voluntary conservation agreements are recommended to “benefit a species at risk or enhance its survival in the wild.” To date seven conservation agreements have been signed between the federal government and provinces. Alberta and Ontario are the first for which progress reports have been released.

Despite the existence of caribou conservation agreements, federal directives to implement a limit for habitat disturbance have not been met. All of Alberta’s 15 caribou ranges on provincial public lands have surpassed the maximum 35 per cent disturbed habitat threshold outlined in the federal recovery strategy and, shockingly, six ranges have less than 10 per cent undisturbed habitat remaining. Ontario has completely failed to incorporate the disturbance threshold into its forest management planning. While the province claims that its dated policy suite provides an “alternative approach,” an expert panel recently noted that it was unclear how the policies fit together and how they were being implemented.

The federal government notes that Ontario lacks a restoration approach. In Alberta, where very little undisturbed habitat remains, less than one per cent of the 209,000 kilometres of legacy seismic lines identified for restoration in the 2022-23 report has been restored. Alberta relies on the 2020 Liability Management Framework to address inactive and orphaned gas well restoration within caribou habitat, yet it’s unclear if the funding or incentive mechanisms are sufficient for closure and restoration to occur at a sufficient rate to facilitate caribou recovery.

Most tellingly, Alberta and Ontario continue to approve expanding industrial disturbance — in Alberta, even in ranges that have just a sliver of remaining undisturbed habitat, and in Ontario, into the remaining intact habitat on which caribou depend.

According to CPAWS Northern Alberta program director Tara Russell, “Lack of progress, long timelines, new industrial disturbance approvals and constant delays for land-use planning (a process promised under the conservation agreements) call into question Alberta’s commitment to caribou recovery. These reports highlight the dismal amount of progress made for caribou in the province.”

Alberta Wilderness Association conservation specialist Devon Earl notes, “The Little Smoky caribou herd has 0.7 per cent undisturbed habitat within its range, and Alberta is still approving more forest harvest and industrial developments there. That does not show a commitment to caribou recovery or a realistic balance between the environment and the economy.”

“It is clear that, despite the conservation agreements, the policy landscapes in Alberta and Ontario are aimed first and foremost at maintaining status quo industrial operations,” said David Suzuki Foundation boreal project manager Rachel Plotkin. “It’s appalling that Ontario has not yet incorporated disturbance limits into its forest management planning, and that Alberta continues to kill wolves while it expands the industrial footprint in ranges already ravaged by disturbance.”