EDMONTON — Alberta is bringing in a new policy that it says will protect woodland caribou from dying out in the oilsands region and elsewhere.
The announcement comes a week after conservation groups asked a federal judge to order Ottawa to help ensure that caribou don’t become extinct in the province.
Sustainable Resources Minister Mel Knight says Alberta will look at setting aside conservation areas, restoring land disturbed by industry and killing predators such as wolves.
“This policy directly leads to action across government and among all partners on the landscape to make a positive difference on the ground for Alberta’s caribou,” Knight said Thursday. He noted the province is spending $2 million this year on caribou recovery.
The provincial government is still working to develop exactly how it will take action and when.
Groups including Ecojustice, the Pembina Institute and the Alberta Wilderness Association called the policy too weak and too vague.
Cliff Wallis of the wilderness association scoffed at the two-page document. He said studies have shown that caribou need large areas of land free of industrial development if they aren’t to become extinct in Alberta within 40 years. Scientists estimate there are about 2,300 left in the province.
“This is empty words on paper. Another vacuous lie,” Wallis said. “There is not a single concrete action that is taken today to protect caribou. It is not enough.”
The groups say scientific evidence suggests that oilsands development is contributing to the decline of caribou and that some herds have been reduced by more than 70 per cent in the last 15 years. The conservationists say there are 34 current or approved oilsands projects within caribou ranges with another dozen on the drawing board.
Melissa Gorrie, a lawyer for Ecojustice, said Alberta’s approach underscores why it is vital for Ottawa to use the federal Species At Risk Act.
“They (Alberta) have industry interests pushing them. They don’t want to do what the need to do to protect caribou,” Gorrie said. “The government of Canada needs to step in and take this by the reins and protect these herds before they are gone.”
The federal judge has not yet ruled on the conservation groups’ request for Ottawa to take action.
Alberta’s new policy says protecting caribou isn’t just up to the province.
“Caribou conservation is a shared government, public and private sector responsibility, led by government,” reads the document.