CPAWS Southern and Northern Alberta chapters are concerned that the Minister of Energy has not heard the real concerns of Albertans on new coal developments in the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies. Read More
CPAWS Northern and Southern Alberta Chapters are happy to see the Government of Alberta’s announcement that all parks included in the February “Optimizing Alberta Parks” plan, which stated that 175 parks sites would be delisted or closed, will now retain their current designations and associated protections. Read More
EDMONTON, AB – Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Jonathan Wilkinson, has announced a $59.9 million funding commitment for the implementation of Wood Buffalo National Park’s Action Plan over the next three years. This funding is in addition to a previous federal investment of $27.5 million from 2018 for the park’s Action Plan, which was developed to address serious concerns with the ecological degradation of this World Heritage Site. CPAWS Northern Alberta welcomes this exciting announcement of continued investment in the future of Canada’s largest national park. Read More
The oral portion of the public hearing for Benga Mining Ltd.'s proposed Grassy Mountain Coal Project in the Crowsnest Pass concluded on December 2. The next step in the federal impact assessment process is for the Joint Review Panel to draft the Impact Assessment Report, Consultation Report, and recommend potential conditions for submission to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
Grassy Mountain is the first of at least six mountain-top removal coal mines proposed by large Australian mining companies in various stages of regulatory approval in the region. There are more than 50,000 ha of the Old Man River headwaters under lease for future mountain-top removal mining.
Edmonton, Alberta, December 10, 2020 – Local grassroots non-profit Edmonton River Valley Conservation Coalition has filed a request for judicial review regarding the City of Edmonton’s rezoning of 99 acres of river valley parkland for an Epcor industrial solar plant. Read More
Yesterday, the Alberta government took another step towards turning Alberta’s Eastern Slopes into little more than a string of coal mines. Nearly 2,000 hectares of coal leases were offered for sale in the Rockies of southern Alberta. This offering, together with existing coal leases and applications for coal leases, confirms the government’s ambition to sacrifice the southern Alberta mountain landscape for coal. Read More
EDMONTON, AB – The ongoing precarious state of Wood Buffalo National Park was internationally recognized today by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which stated in a report assessing all of its World Heritage Sites, that its conservation outlook is of “significant concern”. This assessment came only one day after the Government of Canada was due to submit a State of Conservation update report to the UN on the federal government’s implementation of the Wood Buffalo National Park Action Plan to recover the park. The Action Plan was announced nearly two years ago, but Indigenous communities and environmental organizations have consistently expressed concerns about the need for more resources and timely actions to reflect the scope and severity of threats. Read More
Last week the Government of Alberta released “Alberta’s Crown Land Vision.” The Alberta Crown Land Vision appears to be a precursor to changes in two key areas of legislation: updating parks and public land legislation, and introducing new recreation legislation (Alberta Trails Act) focused on the creation of a recreation user-based fee framework. Read More
Canada is working to meet its commitment of 17% conserved areas by the end of 2020. New creative measures have been developed to help meet these goals. Join Kecia Kerr from CPAWS Northern Alberta and Matt Munson from the Dene Tha' First Nation as they share the relatively new concept of Indigenous Protected & Conserved Areas (IPCA) and what it takes to develop the first IPCA in Alberta. Read More
