The recent decision by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD) to close trails in the Bighorn Backcountry area to all motorized traffic due to “extreme erosion” confirms what AWA has been saying for over a decade: this important wilderness area cannot handle motorized recreation, and OHV trails are not an appropriate development for these pristine valleys. Read More
EDMONTON — Jennifer Grant, oilsands program director with Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the joint Canada-Alberta update on oilsands monitoring: Read More
The NSWA is pleased to announce its newest publication: Atlas of the North Saskatchewan River Watershed. The content has been gathered from a number of sources, including technical studies prepared by the NSWA. The Atlas is intended to provide a broad overview of the watershed, its natural attributes and the nature of human activities affecting it. We hope the Atlas will increase public awareness about the watershed and the need to manage it carefully to protect water supplies for future generations. Read More
Edmonton, Alberta – A new report released today entitled Alberta’s Oil Sands Development is Not Responsible- Moratorium Needed shows that since 2004 the federal and Alberta provincial governments have knowingly broken their own publicly vowed rules requiring the monitoring and consideration of environmental cumulative effects of all oil sands projects (effects include water, air, biodiversity and land). Read More
Canadians support renewed efforts to recover Threatened caribou in our Mountain National Parks – and we are willing to make sacrifices to allow that recovery to take place. This is one of the significant findings from a newly released Parks Canada report, Conservation Strategy for Southern Mountain Caribou: What we Heard.
In November 2011, a draft Conservation Strategy was released, and the Canadian public were asked to provide comments. Around 150 individuals and organizations obliged, and their responses are summarized in the new What We Heard document. Read More
Almost half of all (44%) of all bird species found in Canada have experienced population declines since 1970 according to a recently released report on the state of Canada’s birds. Of particular concern, populations of grasslands birds have declined by 45% on average since 1970. Read More
Every spring anxious eyes turn towards the sage-grouse mating grounds (known as “leks”) of southern Alberta to see whether or not Canada’s sage-grouse made it through the winter. This year’s spring population counts observed only 13 males at Alberta leks, showing no improvement since last year. In Saskatchewan, the only other Canadian province in which sage-grouse persist, huge population declines were observed. Only 18 males were counted at Saskatchewan leks, a dramatic decrease from the 42 males last recorded. Read More
EDMONTON — Ed Whittingham, executive director at the Pembina Institute, made the following statement in response to the federal government's passage of Bill C-38, the omnibus budget bill:
“The Harper government’s insistence on passing this bill to weaken Canada’s environmental laws demonstrates that it is not listening to the concerns of the many thousands of Canadians calling for more environmental protection, not less.
