Alberta Grizzlies
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.
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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 »
Despite “Threatened” Listing, Alberta Grizzly Deaths Remain Too High
Submitted by Webmaster on Fri, 2011-07-08 07:22Media 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 Webmaster on Fri, 2011-07-08 07:11
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 Webmaster on Fri, 2011-07-08 07:04
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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