Search results for "in the news"

Something permanent about extinction

"There's something permanent about extinction that insults the morality of humankind", said Ontario's environment commissioner Gord Miller.  Caribou-kind too, I'd say.

Mr. Miller is urging Ontario to strengthen its Endangered Species act because it's too vague and easily overridden, putting Woodland caribou and other critters at risk.

Read the whole story here (CTV).

 

Alberta gets coal in its stocking for reindeer, er, caribou protection

Have you seen this great news video on Woodland caribou in Alberta?  A reporter from National Geographic spoke with Helene Walsh, a biologist with CPAWS,  about the need to protect the 'bous' Boreal forest habitat.

Alberta is so far down with protecting caribou, but they're going about it a very unsustainable way -- by shooting wolves.  That just isn't a long term solution, says Helene.

You can watch the video at National Geographic's site.

Wildlife matters!

Canadian climate watchers got hot and bothered last month over the release of Natural Resources Canada's big report on how the country should address the impacts of climate change.  While the report acknowledged that climate change will have "unequivocal" and "significant" implications for ecosystems and wildlife, it didn't put us threatened Boreal critters at high priority for action.

Climate change, on top of habitat loss and other factors, is bad news for wildlife -- 20 to 30% of all species are at increased risk of extinction, according to the International Panel on Climate Change!.  Protecting threatened plants and animals has to be a priority in the fight against climate change.  It's a shame that Natural Resources Canada doesn't agree.

Government gets an "U" on Species at Risk

An independent watchdog responsible for auditing the government's performance on all things environmental has released a status report that calls the Feds' green record this year "unsatisfactory". 

The Federal Commissioner on the Environment and Sustainable Development's report was particularly critical of the government's work on Species at Risk. The Government gets bad grades on timeliness in creating recovery strategies for these species (fewer than 25% complete) and its failure to identify critical habitat in the strategies they have finished. (fewer than a third met the criteria).

Read the report card on Species at Risk implementation here.

There's no "Rampant industrial development" in "team"

Well, it seemed like a step forward. A few years ago, the Alberta government set up a committee to protect the best remaining Woodland caribou habitat in the province.  Government and industry representatives sat down with groups like CPAWS, and came up with some guidelines to keep industry out of critical habitat, including the Little Smoky area, near Jasper National Park.  in 2006, the province agreed to the group's findings. 

Or maybe not.  In 2008, the group found that over 90 new oil and gas wells had been approved in the area, kilometres of roads built, and new mineral leases approved.  When the group pressed for details, governement reps were tight-lipped.

This is bad news for the Little Smoky caribou herd. There are only about 60-100 caribou left in the herd, and the whole group is at immediate risk of extirpation (local extinction).

More:
Little Smoky Woodland caribou herd (CPAWS Northern Alberta)
Caribou herd could be wiped out, group warns (Edmonton Journal)
Alta government presents green face but oilpatch continues to erode caribou land (Oil Week)

The Saskatchewan boom

Talk about a mixed blessing.  Record oil prices could bring an oil sands boom to Saskatchewan to rival neighbour Alberta's.  It's great for the economy, but not so hot for wildlife.  Oil sands development has a big footprint on the Boreal Forest and its ability to counteract climate change.

CPAWS' Colleen Rickard expressed her concerns to the Edmonton Journal:

"You're going to be impacting huge areas," said Rickard.

It begins in the exploration stage with large amounts of drilling and seismic activity, along with the infrastructure that entails, she said.

"Then they build the well-pad sites, which is the point at which those horizontal wells are actually set into the ground and then down into the formation. And every one of those well-pad sites clears an area of the forest," she said.

"Once they pull the bitumen out of the ground, they need other pipes. So there's lots of things on the surface all over the place covering a huge area."

That has a huge effect on wildlife such as woodland caribou and bird species, said Rickard.

Will Saskatchewan learn from Alberta's example, and balance short-term economic growth with the long-term protection of the Boreal?  Land use plans for the province's Boreal are inadequate to deal with the coming boom, so there's reason to doubt it.  CPAWS Saskatchewan is on the case, though, so check back for updates.

Ontario Environmental Commissioner is a caribou fan

Looks like Ontario's Environmental Commissioner feels the same way about Woodland caribou as we do. According to the Canadian Press, Gordon Miller gave 'bou a shoutout during a recent conference on road sprawl in Ontario's north:

"If the threats to woodland caribou are not addressed systematically and in a concerted manner, this species could soon disappear from Ontario's boreal forests forever."

Ontario has the best caribou protection legislation in the country -- but only about 8% of their habitat is protected.  We can do better, and it's great to hear that Mr. Miller agrees.