Help support Mountain Metis in protecting caribou

West Fraser Logging Ltd. based in Hinton, is proposing to clear-cut 6% of their Forest Management Area. Logging will remove 3500 hectares of old growth forest which includes significant areas classified as core caribou habitat for the highly threatened A La Peche/Little Smoky Caribou herds. The proposed logging activities will have detrimental impacts on the caribou as well Athabasca Rainbow Trout. Both species are Federally protected species at risk.

The money being raised in this go fund me account will go towards covering legal costs already incurred by the Mountain Metis Nation from preparing and if needed, submitting an injunction. The injunction would put a halt to the proposed clear-cutting activities in core A la Peche/ little smoky caribou habitat until range plans guide all activities in the ecosystem.

The Government of Alberta has spent the past 16 years undertaking programs to save the caribou: These programs consisted of wolf aerial gunning, poisoning of wolves with strychnine poison -even grizzly bears were poisoned, shooting moose and elk from helicopters as wolf bait and wasting them, incorporating a very costly seismic restoration project to regenerate caribou habitat etc. All these programs were done at the cost of tens of millions of taxpayers’ dollars. It is not reasonable for the government to approve West Fraser’s proposed logging in this critical caribou zone until regional plans have been completed by 2023 and implemented by 2025. The range planning exercise just began for these areas in 2021. Critical values need to be considered regarding core caribou habitat and the effect logging will have on these areas and ecosystems. Protecting the remaining caribou habitat is vital to the survival of the species.

 

 

The Mountain Metis Nation Association is a non-profit Indigenous community organization whose members reside in Grande Cache, Marlboro, Hinton, Brule, Edson, Grande Prairie and Grovedale. We represent the descendants of Metis people who previously resided in what is now Jasper National Park in the 19th Century.

https://mountainmetis.com/

 

We appreciate your support to protect caribou habitat for future generations. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this go fund me account, please email or phone the office. Thank you

 

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*Photo Credit of Caribou: ResearchGate.net