New oil and gas leases, license disturb caribou ranges

The Alberta Wilderness Association says the Alberta government has auctioned more new oil and gas leases/licenses allowing surface disturbance within its threatened woodland caribou ranges since October 2012 when the federal caribou recovery strategy mandated provinces to start developing plans to protect caribou habitat. Alberta has also announced that by April 30 it plans to sell even more leases/licenses in five caribou ranges. “Alberta’s ongoing energy leasing in caribou ranges leads directly to more surface disturbance, which increases the already high risks to its threatened caribou,” said Carolyn Campbell, conservation specialist at AWA, in a news release. “This undermines the federal caribou strategy requiring provinces to reduce risks to their caribou, and violates Alberta’s own stated caribou policy†priority to maintain caribou habitat. Alberta must stop this irresponsible disregard for the basic survival requirements of caribou, or we will lose these populations within a few decades.” All Alberta boreal caribou populations have habitat disturbance levels well beyond the maximum 35 per cent threshold set in the federal strategy.