Alberta suspends caribou protection plan, asks for assistance from Ottawa

[Thomas D'Arcy McGee]

Environment Minister Shannon Phillips is urging the federal government to help Alberta come up with a workable solution to protect caribou herds. (CBC)

Alberta suspends caribou protection plan, asks for assistance from Ottawa

Species at Risk Act has already had 'negative economic consequences' for Alberta, environment minister says

The Canadian Press Posted: Mar 19, 2018 6:02 PM MT| Last Updated: Mar 19, 2018 6:02 PM MT

Alberta is suspending portions of its draft plan to protect threatened woodland caribou, saying more research needs to be done and that Ottawa needs to help out.

Environment Minister Shannon Phillips told the house Monday the province is acting on concerns about the economic impacts of the protection plan.

"The federal Species at Risk Act is an extremely inflexible instrument that has already had negative economic consequences (in Alberta)," said Phillips. "We are going to do our best to make sure that we protect jobs on this."

She said she has sent that message in a letter to her federal counterpart, Catherine McKenna.

Ottawa 'committed' to caribou, minister says

Phillips is urging the federal government to help Alberta come up with a workable solution rather than have Ottawa impose an environmental protection order.

A statement issued by McKenna's office late Monday said Ottawa is determined to support the protection and recovery of caribou.

"Our government is committed to protecting and conserving species at risk by putting in place conservation measures based on science, collaboration and robust recovery strategies," the email stated. "Boreal caribou is an iconic species and a key indicator of a healthy boreal forest."

The statement added that Ottawa will continue to work with Alberta and others to ensure the conservation of the iconic species.

Alberta's draft plan is in response to an October federal deadline under the Species at Risk Act, and is designed to help threatened woodland caribou recover in 15 different ranges.

The province released its draft plan on Dec. 19 then held a series of town hall meetings.

Province to spend $85 million

"The public meetings were attended by thousands of Albertans who are concerned about the impact caribou range plans will have on their communities and on the industries that support those communities," said Phillips' letter, which was co-signed by Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd.

The federal government has the option of imposing an environmental protection order if a province doesn't come up with a plan to protect the caribou. The order would halt any development, such as oil drilling, that could harm the animals.

The province plans to spend more than $85 million in the next five years to restore caribou habitat by eliminating seismic lines, building birthing pens and bringing in other measures.

It has already invested $9.2 million and the estimated cost over the next 40 years is $1 billion.

Phillips said the feds need to step up on planning and consultation, and on the money side as well.

"Caribou recovery cannot occur without an infusion of federal funds to restore habitat necessary to ensure population growth," she wrote.

"While we need more time and partnership from the federal government on this matter, we also need your support in not prematurely implementing federal protection orders that will not have effective outcomes for Canadians and Albertans."

© The Canadian Press, 2018

 

[mbogo3]

Well a couple years back,snowmobilers went up into the high country and made a nice trail for the wolves to up to where the caribou winter.............the rest is history.The too little too late tour.

 

[Mighty Peace]

So are you saying its the sledders fault? What about industry in general- Oil/Gas/Forestry/Mining. They open access up to a lot of country which then bring in more public access. Which when you think of it- comes back to GOVT (provincial and federal) for granting these access / land acquisition rights to industry. Just Saying ....its a continuing circle of blame.

 

[fraserdw]

So are you saying its the sledders fault? What about industry in general- Oil/Gas/Forestry/Mining. They open access up to a lot of country which then bring in more public access. Which when you think of it- comes back to GOVT (provincial and federal) for granting these access / land acquisition rights to industry. Just Saying ....its a continuing circle of blame.

It's everyone's fault. Caribou are highly specialized in their environment and that environment is disappearing or being cut up to the point that herd stress is a huge issue. It's a repeat of what happened to the Atlantic Canada herd only 100 years removed. The last caribou were hunted out here in 1920s.

 

[Boomer686]

Well a couple years back,snowmobilers went up into the high country and made a nice trail for the wolves to up to where the caribou winter.............the rest is history.The too little too late tour.

Pretty certain the wolves don't need snowmobilers to show them way. Fact is they have long been aware of their prey's migratory patterns and follow the herd on the move *as* they move. They do not simply stumble upon it or require man to show them where the prey is.

 

[shoota]

Roads and trails have made easier travel for wolves, which gives them an advantage which in turn allows them to kill more prey. They are killers, many have seen them kill for sport not just the weak or sick to feed as some would lead you to believe.

 

[finstr]

It’s time to target wolves. Our moose population is dwindling in Ontario because of over restrictive wolf hunting.

 

[bbobie]

Wolves dont need roads and seismic lines to be devastating on ungulates l
There haze been a lot of talk for as long as I can remember about the dwindling caribou
It might be to late , I sure hope not

 

[mbogo3]

So are you saying its the sledders fault? What about industry in general- Oil/Gas/Forestry/Mining. They open access up to a lot of country which then bring in more public access. Which when you think of it- comes back to GOVT (provincial and federal) for granting these access / land acquisition rights to industry. Just Saying ....its a continuing circle of blame.

For packing a trail to grant the wolves access ............yes as it was death to that local herd.

 

[albertacoyotecaller]

For packing a trail to grant the wolves access ............yes as it was death to that local herd.

Yeah its it’s all sledders that are the issue. I have seen from the air packs of 21 wolves and not a sled track in site. Wonder if those wolves wait all season for a sledder to drop by and help them out.

Is the Alberta government looking for assistance from the Feds? I really don’t think so. They see that the wallet has been opened and looking for cash in my opinion.

 

[Russ]

Nothing some new tax won't fix I'm sure.

 

[FGR]

A good experiment would be to pick an area, centralized at a known calving ground and completely eradicate the wolf population. Not that I have a hate on for wolves, but it would have little impact in the big picture and would give some definitive answers on whether it would have enough impact to use as part of the overall management strategy.

 

[umchorn2]

A good experiment would be to pick an area, centralized at a known calving ground and completely eradicate the wolf population. Not that I have a hate on for wolves, but it would have little impact in the big picture and would give some definitive answers on whether it would have enough impact to use as part of the overall management strategy.

Really...we need a study? You do know that caribou and wolves have co existed in the tundra and the boreal forest zones through the ice age for thousands upon thousands of years and in numbers thousands of times greater than exist today without any human involvement or at least on a very, very limited scale.

These areas had virtually no human activity and if they did it was eskimos living in igloos hunting with bone spears and maintaining their body temperatures using furs while eating a diet consisting of nearly 90% raw meat protein because they didn’t have fire or wood in these regions of our planet. Or Indians with Stone Age technology and a crude ability to utilize and control fire by modern standards at least.

Only a few hundred years ago caribou numbered in the tens of millions and wolves in the millions, across Alaska, the boreal, through the Russian taiga and back again. Yet somehow over the last let’s say 150 years in particular there has been a drop in caribou numbers so vast as to trigger the entire species to be on the brink of endangered status. And we blame wolves?

For all the CGN keyboard biologists, you need only answer 2 questions.

Q1) What percentage of mortality do you think can be accounted for through predation? Wolves in particular?

Q2) What percentage of the caribou’s population variance do you think humans contribute to?

Natural predation is generally an insignificant amount which nature has already factored into it’s survival calculations through several thousand years of co existence in the same environment. But the sudden and profound influence of modern humans in an ecosystem largely devoid of human involvement and exploitation for such a long period of time was not accounted for in such a narrowly balanced and fragile northern environment. Does this seem reasonable?

That said, I cannot believe there are people so uneducated and naive enough to post on this thread about the impact wolves have on caribou given the explosion of human activity everywhere on earth and in the north over the last 150 years in particular (talking about you “mbogo” you always blame wolves as if it’s a default setting).

Educate yourself and each other.

 

[cant_rope_the_wind01]

I believe its not so much as the economic and oil field and logging that's hurting the caribou in Alberta , as much as the predators,
I've worked in the woodland caribou regions, and the amount of wolves and cougars is, unreal, on any given day it wasn't unreal to see up 25 or 30 different wolves and a couple cougars, get rid of the precious wolves and the caribou will start making a come back,

 

[FGR]

Really...we need a study? You do know that caribou and wolves have co existed in the tundra and the boreal forest zones through the ice age for thousands upon thousands of years and in numbers thousands of times greater than exist today without any human involvement or at least on a very, very limited scale.

These areas had virtually no human activity and if they did it was eskimos living in igloos hunting with bone spears and maintaining their body temperatures using furs while eating a diet consisting of nearly 90% raw meat protein because they didn’t have fire or wood in these regions of our planet. Or Indians with Stone Age technology and a crude ability to utilize and control fire by modern standards at least.

Only a few hundred years ago caribou numbered in the tens of millions and wolves in the millions, across Alaska, the boreal, through the Russian taiga and back again. Yet somehow over the last let’s say 150 years in particular there has been a drop in caribou numbers so vast as to trigger the entire species to be on the brink of endangered status. And we blame wolves?

For all the CGN keyboard biologists, you need only answer 2 questions.

Q1) What percentage of mortality do you think can be accounted for through predation? Wolves in particular?

Q2) What percentage of the caribou’s population variance do you think humans contribute to?

Natural predation is generally an insignificant amount which nature has already factored into it’s survival calculations through several thousand years of co existence in the same environment. But the sudden and profound influence of modern humans in an ecosystem largely devoid of human involvement and exploitation for such a long period of time was not accounted for in such a narrowly balanced and fragile northern environment. Does this seem reasonable?

That said, I cannot believe there are people so uneducated and naive enough to post on this thread about the impact wolves have on caribou given the explosion of human activity everywhere on earth and in the north over the last 150 years in particular (talking about you “mbogo” you always blame wolves as if it’s a default setting).

Educate yourself and each other.

Speaking of keyboard biologists lol. If nothing else, you are entertaining.

 

[257Wby]

A good experiment would be to pick an area, centralized at a known calving ground and completely eradicate the wolf population. Not that I have a hate on for wolves, but it would have little impact in the big picture and would give some definitive answers on whether it would have enough impact to use as part of the overall management strategy.

Just to add to your thoughts...
There is a WMU in Alberta know for its woodland Caribou herd , which has been in decline . The biologists believe the decline is due to wolf predation. The wolves are attracted, in their opinion , by the presence of the moose population.
So this is the one area in the province where cow calf Moose licences are issued, under the premis that elimination of the moose population will result in the wolves exiting the area and save the caribou.
Go figure ...

 

[albertacoyotecaller]

Really...we need a study? You do know that caribou and wolves have co existed in the tundra and the boreal forest zones through the ice age for thousands upon thousands of years and in numbers thousands of times greater than exist today without any human involvement or at least on a very, very limited scale.

These areas had virtually no human activity and if they did it was eskimos living in igloos hunting with bone spears and maintaining their body temperatures using furs while eating a diet consisting of nearly 90% raw meat protein because they didn’t have fire or wood in these regions of our planet. Or Indians with Stone Age technology and a crude ability to utilize and control fire by modern standards at least.

Only a few hundred years ago caribou numbered in the tens of millions and wolves in the millions, across Alaska, the boreal, through the Russian taiga and back again. Yet somehow over the last let’s say 150 years in particular there has been a drop in caribou numbers so vast as to trigger the entire species to be on the brink of endangered status. And we blame wolves?

For all the CGN keyboard biologists, you need only answer 2 questions.

Q1) What percentage of mortality do you think can be accounted for through predation? Wolves in particular?

Q2) What percentage of the caribou’s population variance do you think humans contribute to?

Natural predation is generally an insignificant amount which nature has already factored into it’s survival calculations through several thousand years of co existence in the same environment. But the sudden and profound influence of modern humans in an ecosystem largely devoid of human involvement and exploitation for such a long period of time was not accounted for in such a narrowly balanced and fragile northern environment. Does this seem reasonable?

That said, I cannot believe there are people so uneducated and naive enough to post on this thread about the impact wolves have on caribou given the explosion of human activity everywhere on earth and in the north over the last 150 years in particular (talking about you “mbogo” you always blame wolves as if it’s a default setting).

Educate yourself and each other.

I wonder why the biologist spend funds on predator control then? They must need some further education.

I wonder if they understand the difference between the woodland and barren ground caribou...