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What is CPAWS Northern Alberta’s role in protecting nature and wildlife? 

CPAWS is Canada’s only nationwide charity dedicated solely to the protection of Canada’s public land and water and ensuring our parks are managed to protect the nature within them. Since CPAWS Northern Alberta’s inception in 1968, our chapter has moved the needle on nature conservation here in Alberta! As an environmental organization, we work towards increased nature protection through community engagement, connecting people with nature, and advocating for policy that protects our landscapes and ensures habitat for wildlife in Alberta.

There is an urgency to see collaborative action to halt and reverse biodiversity loss. CPAWS Northern Alberta highlights tangible opportunities and pathways to protect Alberta’s water, wildlife and ecosystems. Your support is crucial to our big (and small) wins as an organization.

Here are a few examples of work and collaborations we are particularly proud of from 2022:

• For several years we have been supporting Indigenous-led conservation initiatives that will have benefits for species at risk. For example, the Dene Tha’ First Nation’s Wildlife Monitoring Program and proposal for an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area around Bistcho Lake, and actions to protect the few remaining individuals of the Wabasca Wood Bison herd by the ShagowAskee Foundation.  
• In the spring of 2022, CPAWS Northern Alberta released a report “50 years of Sprawling Tailings” showing the shocking expansion of tailings ponds in the oilsands region of NE Alberta since the 1970’s and the risks of those ponds to Alberta’s communities, wildlife, and waters. Unfortunately, our concerns were starkly shown to be reality when a spill and long-term leak at an Imperial Oil tailings pond was made known to the public. It turns out that the leak was ongoing and unknown to downstream and Indigenous communities for years. We are currently engaging on regulations being developed by Canada and Alberta for the treatment and release of tailings into the Athabasca River.  
• At the end of 2022, the international community gathered in Montreal for COP15 (‘NatureCOP’). A historic agreement was made, which included agreeing to protect 30% of land and water by 2030. Several other important targets for biodiversity were also agreed to and now make up the Global Biodiversity Framework. CPAWS Northern Alberta, our CPAWS colleagues across the country, and partners from Indigenous communities were there to support ambitious targets being included in the agreement. In a poll released just before the international conference, 85% of Albertans were supportive of Alberta commiting to the international target of protecting 30% by 2030.  
• In May 2022, we were part of a collaborative that released a community policy that showed the Government of Alberta that a NEW Coal Policy could prioritize the protection of our landscapes and our waters.   
• In 2021, alongside the CPAWS Southern Alberta Chapter and the Alberta Environment Network, we were successful in reversing the Government of Alberta’s decision to remove over 300 parks from the Alberta Parks system 
• Since 2018, we have advocated for action on Wood Buffalo National Park and highlighted calls from Indigenous Nations on its deteriorating natural and cultural values. During the park’s second Reactive Monitoring Mission, over 3000 letters were sent calling governments to take urgent action.  
• In 2021, we were successful in influencing the Government of Alberta to call for a pause on logging in the critical habitat of the A La Peche caribou herd.  
• In 2021, wild wood bison in Alberta received some good news: they would finally receive protection from the Alberta Wildlife Act. They were previously considered ‘livestock’.