Landowners want input on wildlife protection

Current number of listed terrestrial species in Alberta 

EDMONTON — Canada’s Species at Risk Act might have noble goals to protect vulnerable plants and animals, but it can have a big impact on agriculture, forestry or oil and gas using the same land.

There are no consequences be-cause there is no compensation to landowners if this happens, said delegates to the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties.

A resolution was passed at the organization’s recent meeting that said if species at risk policies negatively affect rural landowners, the association should work with the other levels of government to show the social and economic impacts it could cause.

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Neil Wilson of the Municipal District of Willow Creek said people must feel secure in the property they own.

“If they find themselves in a position where they are not secure in their property, we believe the foundations of this country are in jeopardy,” he said.

The federal government has decided to enhance the act to prevent wildlife species from extirpation or extinction.

SARA (Species at Risk Act) policies are open for public comment until March 31 on critical habitat protection on non-federal land, conservation agreements on mostly private land, survival and recovery, identifying habitat and a listing policy for species at risk.

Many of the newly listed species are found on the Prairies, said Mark Wayland of Environment Canada.

“The majority of the listed species are found in the prairie ecozone where the loss and degradation of native prairie has proven detrimental to some of the most sensitive species,” he told delegates at the spring meeting held March 20-21.

No new listing of species has occurred since 2012, but a new list of recommendations went forward in February. About 100 species are recommended for protection.

Two major recovery strategies published in 2012 are ongoing.

The boreal woodland caribou recovery strategy established a plan for all herds across Canada.

“Each caribou range would need to be 65 percent of undisturbed habitat or increase the undisturbed habitat until it is 65 percent. Many of these ranges are now below that threshold,” he said.

Most of habitat is on provincial crown land and requires co-operation of provinces and territories. Range plans outline how each range will be managed and how space to ensure 65 percent of the habitat is available and undisturbed.

“It may take some time before that 65 percent mark can ever be achieved,” he said.

Wood bison was listed as a threatened species because of the declining population of some herds and the risk of tuberculosis and brucellosis in some groups.

The federal government published a recovery strategy in 2016 with short- and long-term population objections.

The short-term objective is to maintain disease-free status and provide range for the healthy wood bison population.

The long-term strategy is to ensure the existence of at least five disease-free herds across Canada. Each herd should have at least 1,000 animals to maintain genetic diversity in diseased and non-diseased herds.

The Wood Buffalo National Park herd is the largest and most genetically diverse in Canada although that group is a reservoir of brucellosis and TB.

In 2015, the government proposed to down-list wood bison to special concern. A second round to hear public comments is expected soon.

A recovery strategy is also underway for the Ferrruginous hawk found in the prairie regions of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It is listed as threatened. Its population was estimated to have declined by about 30 percent across the Prairies between 1992-2005. About 1,370 pairs are found across the Prairies. They have large territories so the government anticipates the critical habitat could be large.