In war, first disrupt communications …

Submitted by John Bennett on Fri, 2011-10-14 09:51

We got the word last night. The federal government won't be funding the Canadian Environmental Network (CEN) any more. The network consists of 600 groups from coast to coast to coast.

The news came about the same time Heritage Minister James Moore tweeted the announcement of his new War of 1812 iPhone App - part of a $29 million program to celebrate a 200 year old war.

CEN is a coordinating body that doesn't take stands. It just helps environmental organizations network and facilitates communication with the federal government. It’s the very definition of non-partisan. ... Read more »

Conservationists want clampdown on driving in Alberta grizzly country

CALGARY - Conservationists say the Alberta government needs to clamp down on traffic in sensitive backcountry habitat to provide protection for the province's dwindling grizzly bear population.

Alberta's grizzly bear numbers stand at less than 700 and prompted the government to ban hunting the last few years and to declare the animals threatened under Alberta's Wildlife Act.

But problems with all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes and other vehicles remain despite the ban.

"Nobody was ever saying the grizzly bears are in trouble because of the hunt and nobody was ever saying that removing the hunt was going to fix the problem," said Nigel Douglas, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association.

... Read more »
Link to source site: 
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/conservationists-w...
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Replace spin with conservation in Crown of Continent say conservation groups

Media Release, September 22, 2011

ALBERTA - Sierra Club Canada and the Castle-Crown Wilderness Coalition are maintaining that while it is important to have the Alberta Sustainable Resource Development’s Parliamentary Assistant, Evan Berger, representing the government today at the international Crown of the Continent Round Table in Polson, Montana, the province needs to replace its spin with actual conservation action, instead of the actions thwarting conservation in Alberta’s portion of the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. ... Read more »

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Moratorium on motorized access necessary for grizzly survival

Media Release, September 19, 2011

CALGARY -  Industrial and public motorized access routes in grizzly bear habitat greatly exceed thresholds recommended in the Alberta government’s official Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan. This issue is so critical that several Alberta Conservation organizations are calling for an immediate moratorium on new roads.

“Now that grizzly hunting is on hold, the primary cause of bear deaths is too much contact between bears and people due to motorized access into their habitat,” says Wendy Francis, Program Director for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y). “Reducing this access will benefit not only grizzlies, but also source water quality and other species at risk,” she adds.
... Read more »

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Save Alberta's Grizzly Bears

   Six hundred and ninety-one bears on the wall,
           Six hundred and ninety-one bears.

        When one of those bears just happens to fall,
               There'll be six-hundred and ninety bears on the wall.


Dear Friend,

There are just 691 grizzly bears left in Alberta, where there were once 6,000.

While no longer hunted (since 2006) logging and oil/gas exploration continues to fragment their shrinking habitat and human-caused mortalities remain too much.... Read more »

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Despite “Threatened” Listing, Alberta Grizzly Deaths Remain Too High

Submitted by Bradford Duplisea on Fri, 2011-07-08 09:22

Media Release, March 14, 2011

Even though grizzly bears were listed as threatened last June, grizzly bear mortality in Alberta reached unsustainable levels in 2010. An estimated 29 grizzlies died in Alberta, approximately 4.2 percent of the population. This level of mortality is much higher than the 2.8 percent mortality rate suggested as “sustainable” in the Alberta government’s own 2010 report, Status of the Alberta Grizzly Bear in Alberta.

“The threatened listing is meaningless if serious measures are not introduced to reduce grizzly bear mortality,” says Nigel Douglas, Alberta Wilderness Association conservation specialist. “The single greatest benefit would come from reducing motorized access into grizzly bear habitat.”... Read more »

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Legal loss to Shell dire for wildlife

Submitted by Bradford Duplisea on Fri, 2011-07-08 09:11

By Barrie K. Gilbert, PhD, Wildlife Scientist, Wolfe Island, Ont.
Source: Edmonton Journal
June 3, 2011

The recent rejection by a superior court justice of an appeal of an Energy Resources Conservation Board decision on Shell Canada's application to drill in the Castle wilderness is fallacious.

Now the legal system has joined the ERCB and the provincial sustainable resource development (SRD) department in failing to block further loss of grizzly bear habitat and endangered plant communities.

The judge ruled: "The well's opponents did not present any persuasive evidence it would endanger the bears."... Read more »

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Ranchland plans deadstock program

Submitted by Bradford Duplisea on Fri, 2011-07-08 09:04

By Sheena Read
Source: Nanton News

The Municipal District (MD) of Ranchland is planning a deadstock removal program to try to reduce predation issues.

At the Jan. 11 meeting of the Ranchland ag service board, ag fieldman Carla Bick reported that she has spoken to West Coast Reductions about the absence of service to the Ranchland area. The representative she spoke to was unaware that the company didn't go into the area, but told Bick he would be interested in doing so.

Producers who have deadstock to be removed can call the Calgary office rather than the Lethbridge office, and a truck will come out, at a rate of nine cents a pound or a $75 minimum fee.

Bick suggested that an incentive program could be established to get producers to have the deadstock removed.... Read more »

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Alberta parks legislation on hold indefinitely

Controversial Alberta parks legislation put on hold until this spring has now been quietly postponed again, indefinitely.

Environmentalists and legal experts have criticized Bill 29, the Alberta Parks Act, for taking away formal legal protections for Alberta parks. They also said it concentrated too much power in the office of the minister.

When the bill was on the verge of being passed in November, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Minister Cindy Ady suspended debate, saying she would review the concerns and introduce the legislation again this spring, with amendments.

"I have continued to listen to the views of Albertans," Ady wrote in an update posted to her department's website on Friday.

"While I had planned to bring park legislation back this spring, I will spend the time needed to address the main concerns raised by Albertans before moving forward with new legislation."... Read more »

Link to source site: 
http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/Alberta+parks+legislation+hold+indefinitely/...
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Groups ramp up parks campaign as Minister puts off controversial Bill 29

CALGARY -- “More parks now, not Bill 29” is the updated rallying cry of lead groups, such as Sierra Club Canada, in the public campaign that last November successfully got the Stelmach government to stall passage of the Minister of Tourism, Parks and Recreation’s (TPR) controversial new parks legislation. 

Bill 29 (the Alberta Parks Act) is designed to replace Alberta’s existing parks network and its overarching laws. Late this past Friday (4:54 pm), Minister Cindy Ady emailed an update announcing she won’t be bringing Bill 29 back to the spring sitting of the Legislature. 

In November, within a few of weeks of its introduction in the Legislature, the Stelmach government received more than 2000 personal letters opposing Bill 29 - this despite no one in the public receiving advanced notice or having seen a draft of Bill 29.... Read more »

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