Action Alerts

This is OUR chance to protect Alberta's grizzly bear!

For the second time in a row, Alberta’s Endangered Species Conservation Committee (ESCC), a multi-stakeholder committee representing government, First Nations, industry, forestry, academia, ranchers, hunters and conservationists, has recommended that Alberta’s Grizzly Bear be listed as a Threatened species under Alberta’s Wildlife Act.

It is now up to Sustainable Resource Development Minister Mel Knight to decide if the grizzly bear will be given the legal protection it needs.

The best available science estimates there are fewer than 360 mature breeding grizzly bears remaining in Alberta. This is far below the minimal requirements to list a species as Threatened. Minister Knight does not seem convinced that special protection is needed; he is asking his fellow cabinet members for their opinion.

The government must quit playing politics with Alberta’s Great Bear and start taking real, committed steps to recover it!

This is Alberta’s chance to protect this iconic species. Now that the ESCC has released their recommendation for a second time, your voice is extremely important. Even if you have already contacted your MLA or Minister Mel Knight in the last few weeks, please get in touch again.

Key MLAs are on the Cabinet Committee of Resources and Environment and the Standing Committee of Resources and Environment. If your MLA is on one of these committees, please contact him or her and speak up for the grizzlies. If your MLA is not on these lists, please contact Minister Mel Knight.

Things you may want to mention in your email or phone call:

• A breeding population of less than 360 qualifies Alberta’s grizzly as threatened and it is time the government took the advice of the Endangered Species Conservation Committee and lists it as such.
• Alberta’s grizzly bear is an iconic species and an integral piece of Alberta cultural heritage.
• Listing the bear as threatened will hopefully help grant the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Development the backing and support it needs to fully implement the grizzly bear recovery plan, including taking immediate action on reducing the number of roads in core grizzly bear habitat, and allocating a specific budget for grizzly bear recovery.
• Listing the bear as Threatened is but one step in a longer journey to recover this charismatic species. Listing is the step that needs to happen now. Now, before it’s too late and there aren’t any bears to list. Alberta’s grizzly bear population is on the front lines of grizzly bear distribution in North America. The implications of recovering our population reach far beyond our borders. We don’t want to be the province that could have done something and didn’t. We want to be the province that took real action to ensure grizzly bears persist on our landscapes as they have for millennia.

Letters can be written and sent directly from our action centre or sent directly by email, fax or regular mail to:

The Hon. Mel Knight, Minister of Sustainable Resource Development
Email: mel.knight@gov.ab.ca
Fax: (780) 415-4818
Mail:
420 Legislature Building,
10800 97 Avenue,
Edmonton, AB Canada T5K 2B6

Contact information for all MLAs can be found here.

For more information on Alberta's grizzlies, here are some news releases:

• Human-caused bear mortalities in Alberta
• Endangered Species Conservation Committee meeting
• Grizzly bear status report

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