Caw Ridge: Two Cheers for Alberta’s Fish and Wildlife Division

Wild Lands Advocate article, December 2009, by Ian Urquhart.

Year after year, decade after decade, public servants in Alberta’s Fish and Wildlife Division defended the present and future health of the woodland caribou, mountain goat, and other large mammal populations who depend on the ecological integrity of Caw ridge. At every turn, their efforts have been blunted and frustrated by the “development imperative” – expressed by the proposals, plans and policies that spring from the coal lease rights now held by Grande Cache Coal. Fish and Wildlife’s convictions that the region’s mountain goats and threatened caribou would suffer if coal exploration and development proceed in the vicinity of the ridge’s alpine environment have taken a back seat to the company’s rights time after time after time.