When the Alberta government released its draft plan to save the province’s dwindling caribou populations from local extinction earlier this month, it was heralded as a major step forward — but big questions remain.
The biggest one: after years of failing to intervene in the caribou crisis, will the new plan be enough to bring them back from the brink of extinction?
“It was great news for northwest populations where big protected areas are needed and there’s still time there to ensure caribou recovery,” conservation biologist Carolyn Campbell from the Alberta Wilderness Association told DeSmog Canada.
But when it comes to the Little Smoky range, it’s still not enough, Campbell said.
“The problem is the underlying causes of predation are still allowed to worsen in the next five years by restarting logging and by implying energy infrastructure can still go ahead,” she said. “We can’t support the plan continuing to destroy habitat.”