Road built in critical caribou habitat

The Alberta Wilderness Association is calling the provincial government out on permitting a new road to be built by Tourmaline Oil Corp. within critical habitat of the threatened Little Smoky caribou herd in west central Alberta. The AWA says the Alberta government is not following its own 2011 caribou policy to protect threatened caribou in this and other ranges in Alberta. “Alberta is allowing more roads and forest clearings to threaten the Little Smoky herd, which is at immediate risk of dying out. This is counter to Alberta’s pledged policy and counter to the federal government’s recent recovery strategy,” said Carolyn Campbell, AWA conservation specialist, in a news release. Scientists estimate that the Little Smoky caribou herd’s range is already 95 per cent disturbed. A new road was recently built into a peat wetland area that floods in spring, close to a creek just south of the Little Smoky River, displacing a sub-herd of about 15 animals. Another road and well site is slated for a nearby caribou breeding area north of the Little Smoky River.