The province of Alberta has announced a partnership with the oil and gas industry to restore over 10,000 kilometres of disturbed land within the habitat ranges of two northern caribou herds.
The Little Smoky and A La Peche caribou rangelands lie within an area of northern Alberta significantly disturbed by roadways cleared to explore and extract resources.
Linear disturbances, as the roadways are known, increase the ability of wolf packs to hunt in caribou territory and have resulted in both caribou herds facing added predator pressures in their habitat.
In June, a report was released with recommendations that included restoring that habitat by planting trees on 10,000 linear kilometres of land related to industry exploration.
The government announced the project at the beginning of October and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Oneil Carlier focused on the fact it will also create jobs as thousands of trees will be planted over the next five years as a result.
“We are committed to creating jobs in our communities,” he wrote in a press release. “That is why we are moving forward on restoration efforts that encourage the recovery of Alberta’s caribou population, while also providing jobs and strengthening the local economy.”
The plan has been agreed to by the oil and gas industry and includes efforts like a $500,000 grant to the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta to contract development of a restoration guide for conducting and evaluating restoration treatments and starting a restoration pilot of 70 km of legacy seismic lines in spring 2017.
There is also $200,000 for a contract to source and grow seed trees to complete the pilot and $800,000 to develop an operational plan for restoring 3,900 km of legacy seismic lines in the Little Smoky and A La Peche herd ranges.
“We are pleased to play a role in supporting the department’s caribou habitat restoration efforts and we look forward to helping with this important initiative in the future,” said Forest Resource Improvement Association chairman Murray Summers.
Caribou are a threatened species federally and provincially their populations are declining. The Species at Risk Act requires the province of Alberta to manage 65 per cent of critical caribou habitat by October 2017.
“We are pleased with the leadership role taken by the oil and gas industry in working to ensure we have a made-in-Alberta plan that provides economic certainty for industries and workers who make their living in the north and do what’s right to protect this iconic animal,” said Minister of Environment Shannon Phillips.
