CALGARY – The Western Stock Growers Association wants major revisions to the proposed federal endangered species act.
The Alberta-based cattlemen’s association is mainly concerned over possible interference with private property rights if a farmer or rancher happens to own land where endangered plants or animals are found.
Norm Ward, vice-president of the stock growers, said the focus of the act is too narrow and only serves to protect an endangered species rather than look at a complete ecosystem.
“It’s only got about 10 percent of what it needs,” he said.
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“They need to take a holistic view of the environment. There’s plants, there’s animals, there’s endangered animals and there’s people in that environment,” he said.
The stock growers said at their annual convention in Calgary that this legislation affects them directly since they control thousands of acres of pasture which are home to wildlife and cattle. They question whether urban residents would make the same sacrifices to protect endangered species that rural people are asked to make without compensation.
As an extreme example, Ward suggested the downtown Calgary area turn building lights off at 6 p.m. to save peregrine falcons. The birds are guided by light and occasionally are killed when they fly into windows. Most of the buildings sit on private property and few owners would comply, he said.
“They’re going to come back to my private property and say ‘you should do it’,” he said.
“If you want to impose your view on somebody else’s property then you’re going to have to negotiate how you’re going to do it.”
