Action on caribou delayed again by federal government...

On September 28, the Canadian government informed the Federal Court that release of the mandatory final boreal woodland caribou recovery strategy will be delayed once again. “Government failing to act means more caribou death in the woods. Everyone knows what must be done to save the vanishing caribou—it’s time to get on with the job of protecting Alberta’s boreal and foothills forests,” Cliff Wallis, vice-president of Alberta Wilderness Association, said in a news release. Prodded by a Federal Court direction in July 2012, the federal government set Sept. 30 as a tentative date for the final strategy’s release. The draft recovery strategy was already four years overdue when it was finally released in August 2011 as a result of legal action taken by Athabasca Chipewyan, Beaver Lake Cree, and Enoch Cree First Nations, the AWA and the Pembina Institute. The draft recovery strategy failed to identify the urgent habitat protection and restoration measures necessary to recover Alberta’s caribou.