ANPC participates in a number of public awareness campaigns relating to timely conservation issues in Alberta. Details for recent and past campaigns are below.
#DontMineMcClelland
Led by the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA), this campaign aims to raise awareness of the ecologically significant McClelland Lake Wetland Complex, which lies east of the Athabasca River, 90 km north of Fort McMurray. The complex consists of McClelland Lake and interconnected peatlands including an outstanding patterned fen and several provincially rare plant species. ANPC has been promoting AWA’s public awareness campaign about the imminent oil sands mining at this location and we encourage interested readers to refer to AWA’s website for more information and to take action.
#DefendAlbertaParks
Led by the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Alberta Chapters and the Alberta Environmental Network, this highly successful public awareness campaign was supported by ANPC. The purpose was to stop the closure and removal of 175 parks from the Alberta protected areas system in 2020. There are continued plans to update parks legislation in the future. Please follow this issue at their website.
#AlbertaBeyondCoal
Led by the Council of Canadians and Alberta Environmental Network, this campaign was launched in 2020 in response to an announcement that the longstanding Coal Policy would be rescinded, opening up new, previously protected sites along the eastern slopes for coal mining projects. This highly effective public awareness campaign led to the reinstatement of the Coal Policy in 2021. A long-term policy solution is outstanding. ANPC supports the work of these groups, understanding that many of the mountain landscapes proposed for new mines host fragile ecosystems and rare plant species. In the case of Grassy Mountain, a review of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the proposed mine expansion included a list of 41 provincially rare plant species (tracked or watched by ACIMS) and approximately 21,000 Endangered whitebark pine and 1,000 Endangered limber pine trees. For more information about this issue, tune into the website.
Alberta Conservation Information Management System (ACIMS) Resourcing
This campaign is meant to bring attention to the chronic under-resourcing of our provincial Conservation Data Centre, ACIMS. All provinces and territories have a Conservation Data Centre, similar to ACIMS. As of 2018, ACIMS staff consisted of less than one full-time equivalent position, the second lowest staffing level of any Conservation Data Centre in Canada, despite heavy land use pressures on the landscape.
ANPC relies heavily on ACIMS to inform their native plant conservation initiatives. ACIMS is critically understaffed, underfunded and unsustainable. In summer 2018, the ANPC wrote a letter to the Minister of Environment and Parks recommending that five full time positions be resourced for ACIMS:
- Three positions to fill vacant positions of Botanist, Ecological Communities Coordinator and Invertebrate Zoologist, and
- Two positions to perform additional data management to meet current needs.
We need your support in affecting this change! Please let the Minister know that conservation of native plants in Alberta is important and that it relies heavily on the information and data available from ACIMS, which can only function properly when fully staffed. Please see the attached letters: