By: Matthew Marcone and Jordan Maskell
Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Parks Shannon Phillips met with Liberty Multimedia during her recent visit to northern Alberta, where she addressed the province’s incoming caribou range management draft plan.
The plan has been a major topic of discussion in northwest Alberta, in particular fears surrounding its potential to eliminate jobs.
A socioeconomic impact study conducted by the Northwest Species at-Risk Committee (NWSARC) estimated a $1 billion annual hit to the forestry industry alone and 642 jobs, which is being disputed by Minister Phillips.
“There was a lot of misinformation and incorrect assumptions happening with that particular study that was put out by the municipalities,” said Phillips. “Those kinds of interventions in northern Alberta’s economy are not contemplated by this government and anywhere there is current forestry or oil and gas tenure, we are working with those companies to identify opportunities where we can recover caribou. Any conservation type conversations will be had in the future. No decisions have been made.”
Under the federal Species at-Risk Act, Government of Alberta is required to submit draft plans with the goal of protecting 65 per cent of its caribou habitat beginning in October 2017.
“There have been a number of other dates and timelines that have been put out there that are incorrect,” said Phiilips. “What is correct is that there will be a draft plan for all 15 caribou ranges, of which three or four are around here, up to five depending on how large you look. Those will go in their draft form after many of these one-on-one conversations and other conversations have happened in October with the federal government. But they will remain drafts at that point. We will continue then to move into a decision making phase based on the drafts.”
“Range level planning” was identified as the best method of implementing practical protection measures under the 2012 Federal Recovery Strategy and 2016 Federal Range Planning Guidelines, which on a working landscape hopes to benefit local caribou recovery while limiting the socioeconomic impact on communities and industry.
In the first step in meeting federal requirements, the Alberta Government hired independent mediator Eric Denhoff, who in May 2016 released a report, “Setting Alberta on the Path to Caribou Recovery.”
In the report, Denhoff recommended permanently protecting 1.8 million hectares of land in northwest Alberta by converting large sections of Chinchaga Wildland Park, Yates, Bitscho, Red Earth and Caribou Mountains into provincial parks. Denhoff falsely claimed that local stakeholders had been consulted in his report and currently works as Phillips’ Deputy Minister, which has been well-documented by The Echo-Pioneer over the past year.
“The previous [PC] government didn’t do anything on this file, everybody knew this October 2017 deadline was coming,” said Phillips. “So two years ago, one of the first things I did, I said to Eric, ‘Go in and talk to those communities, all those forestry companies, oil and gas and let’s see if we can find some new solutions,’ because the previous government had recommended what to do in that area and that was to completely throw forestry under the bus and I was not doing that. So Eric went in and did some problem solving for those particular areas, made a series of recommendations and we’re kind of hashing through those now. Again that report has been out for over a year.”
In Denhoff’s Executive Summary of the report, he discusses the issue of balancing caribou protection and economic interests.
“In the midst of both tremendous pressure on the herds, and the worst economic recession in the natural resource sector in many decades, Alberta has the tough job of balancing precautionary measures necessary for the protection of caribou, with a duty to be cautious in implementing radical change that might inadvertently exacerbate economic challenges,” said Denhoff. “Caribou come first. That’s the law, and that’s the right thing to do.”
Added Denhoff, “…And federal law requires each province and territory to develop range plans that protect, over time, at least 65 per cent of that habitat or face federal intervention.”
NWSARC have been actively fighting the strategy to create more parks. In their report, Recommendations for Boreal Woodland Caribou Population Recovery in Northwest Alberta, they state that there is no data to support that parks are the solution for caribou population recovery.
“Working landscapes that effectively balance the requirements of the environment and economic activities have had greater success.”
Tara Russell with Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Northern Alberta, who also visited the region in August to discuss caribou, argued that protected parks are an important component in helping to revive the caribou population, of which approximately 2,600-2,800 remain in the province.
CPAWS has also published its own report, Alberta’s Caribou: A Guide to Range Planning in Northwest Alberta, and Russell said she was disappointed that the NWSAR draft plan didn’t include a special component.
Another concern among regional stakeholders is how the range management plans will work across provincial and territorial boundaries. For instance, hunting caribou would be prohibited in a protected zone in Alberta but fair game in British Columbia or the Northwest Territories.
“We’ve had specific meetings of all the country’s Environment Misters on this topic because there are a number of ways in which the provinces want more clarity from the federal government,” said Phillips. “This is after all their act; this is not something that I made up. This is a federal piece of legislation that we have to fulfil the requirements of. If we don’t, that is where you get really, really severe consequences. The federal government can step in and sterilize a landscape or the emergency protection order can. It’s not even the federal government at that point, it’s the courts.”
When asked if perhaps the caribou are on an inevitable path to extinction, Phillips replied, “Not up here; no. First of all if we take that approach, the courts will make us do something else and that will not be pleasant. That will mean massive job losses.”
She added that the province will be conducting its own socioeconomic impact assessment before any plans are finalized.