Landscapes & Letters
Paul McCarney
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Despite being listed as threatened under the federal Species At Risk Act (SARA) in 2003, the Alberta government has made very little progress on woodland caribou protection or recovery. The Canadian and Alberta governments recently signed a new collaborative agreement to work towards caribou conservation. The agreement has some strengths and promising features but also leaves a lot of space for further delays by the Alberta government.
At one point in this continent’s history, we had no legal mechanisms for wildlife management and conservation. At one point, unregulated hunting and development had reduced this continent’s waterfowl populations to terrifyingly low numbers. We almost lost the wood duck, Canada geese were in danger, trumpeter swans had declined significantly, and habitat was being lost at dramatic rates. Then in 1916, North Americans made a statement about the present and future value… Read More
There is no question that two centuries of rapid expansion of human settlement and industrial development on this continent have been tough on grizzly bears. They continue to face declining habitat and the impacts of policy decisions that are polluted by human interest and partisan priorities. The British Columbia government made two announcements in 2017 concerning grizzly bear management in the province. In August 2017, the B.C. government announced that it would… Read More
“The North American model of wildlife conservation has seven components that collectively form a foundation that yields its distinct structure: 1. Wildlife as public trust resources 2. Elimination of markets for wildlife 3. Allocation of wildlife by law 4. Wildlife can only be killed for a legitimate purpose 5. Wildlife are considered an international resource 6. Science is the proper tool for discharge of wildlife policy 7. Democracy of hunting It is… Read More
Paul McCarney