Upper Smoky Sub-Regional Plan Sacrifices the Last Mountain Caribou

Amiskwaciwâskahikan/Edmonton | Moh’kinstsis/Calgary, AB – Last week, the Government of Alberta quietly released the Upper Smoky Sub-Regional Plan. CPAWS Northern Alberta, Alberta Wilderness Association, Nature Alberta, and The Alberta Chapter of the Wildlife Society have analyzed the Plan and it clearly lacks meaningful commitments to the conservation and recovery of Alberta’s highly threatened mountain caribou. The Upper Smoky Subregional Plan was specifically initiated to address the conservation and recovery of threatened mountain caribou, a requirement of Alberta’s provincial policy and Canada’s Species at Risk Act.

The Upper Smoky subregion is home to two of the last three mountain caribou populations that remain in Alberta. The distribution of these populations has catastrophically declined, and they are at high risk of extinction. Wolf culling is the only meaningful action being delivered to avoid the loss of caribou, while the habitat needed for caribou survival continues to be destroyed.

The Plan does not include caribou conservation or recovery as an objective, which undermines the lip service paid to the environment throughout the document. There are some pleasantries about how a healthy environment is important and some commitments to restore selected legacy disturbances. However, the Plan does not identify or commit to any measurable outcomes for caribou or other species of conservation or cultural concern. What it does commit to is continued resource extraction in ways that don’t consider wildlife or landscape values.

“The Plan outlines an intention to initiate forest regrowth on old seismic lines, which is a costly and meaningless activity for caribou if their critical habitat continues to be removed, particularly through timber cutting. Why restore seismic lines if there is no habitat to allow caribou to exist?” Says Pamela Narváez-Torres, Conservation Specialist with Alberta Wilderness Association.

The “business-as-usual” plan seeks to double oil and gas production without consequential measures to mitigate the impacts of that objective. Significantly, the Plan would enable timber harvesting by an American logging company to dramatically remove caribou habitat and perpetuate caribou decline. It is a missed opportunity to build a prosperous and sustainable future for the subregion and for Albertans.

“It is clear that the Subregional Plan will relentlessly grind down the habitat needed by caribou and other species” adds Narváez-Torres.

The Plan fails to report on what timber harvesting and other development will mean for caribou, other species, and traditional and cultural values.

CPAWS Northern Alberta completed an updated analysis of the extensive timber harvesting enabled by the Plan, demonstrating its dramatic implications for the mature and old forest habitat required by caribou.

The analysis shows that both undisturbed and old forest critical habitat will continue to decline due to forest harvest and will not recover to levels needed for caribou recovery for over 100 years. The Redrock-Prairie Creek caribou population will be reduced to only half of the old forest habitat they need to survive and the Narraway population with only 40%.

“On top of habitat destruction by timber harvesting, the Plan aims to double oil and gas production, and log additional areas (yet unspecified) in the name of fire mitigation. We were unable to include these impacts in our analysis because there are no spatial details in the Plan. We can only assume that the impact on caribou habitat is worse than we were able to project,” says Kirby Smith, Conservation Affairs Committee Member, Alberta Chapter of The Wildlife Society.

The Plan includes a commitment for Alberta Forestry and Parks to develop a vague and unclear wildfire “fuel management” strategy. This approach has a questionable technical basis to address the potential for wildfire, and it seems likely to be a thinly veiled excuse to log even more caribou critical habitat.

“Harvesting the last remaining forests that make up caribou habitat in the name of ‘fire mitigation’ is like cutting out your lungs so you don’t get lung cancer. Sure, you won’t get lung cancer, but you also won’t survive. These caribou will not survive the destruction of their remaining habitat” says Tara Russell, Program Director with CPAWS Northern Alberta.

The Plan also recognizes that 60% of wildfires are human-caused. Preventing human access to mature and old forests during periods of high fire risk is not identified as a wildfire mitigation measure, but it would be the most effective approach. Instead, the Plan advocates for recreational trail development within the caribou ranges, increasing human access and the risk of human-caused fires.

There are proposed new protected areas in some mountainous parts of the subregion, but all current coal and oil and gas leases and agreements can still be developed – the identified areas will not be “protected”.

In addition to lacking meaningful content for both the caribou ranges and the new “protected” areas, the plan does not list any conservation measures for the so called “Go Zone”, which comprises about one-half of the subregion and is an area that has many vulnerable wildlife and cultural values. 

“Ultimately, the Plan is a lost opportunity to make meaningful positive changes to an oversubscribed area of the province. It could have integrated the activities of resource extraction industries with wildlife and landscape conservation, instead the Plan ends the possibility to conserve these populations further endangering this iconic species.” says Cheryl Bozarth Soll, President, Nature Alberta.