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Habitat protections for one of Canada’s most imperiled animals have been removed by the Alberta government.
Through amendments to the Public Lands Act in July, the province eliminated protections for greater sage grouse in designated protection and recovery zones. That same month, helium extraction company Thor Resources had a new approval granted within designated greater sage grouse habitat.
The greater sage grouse is designated an endangered species by both the Alberta and federal governments. It’s estimated there are fewer than 100 of the birds left in Alberta, where the remaining population is restricted to the southeastern corner of the province.
Greater sage grouse experienced a 98 per cent population decline in Alberta from 1968 to 2012 due mainly to habitat loss and industrial development. The species currently occupies only about seven per cent of its historical range.
University of Alberta ecology professor Mark Boyce, who has worked on greater sage grouse conservation since 1977, says the removal of provincial protections puts the remaining Alberta sage grouse population at direct risk of extirpation.
“The province doesn’t give a damn,” Boyce said. “We’re going to lose the most endangered vertebrate species in Canada because of it.”
An iconic bird known for its unique mating ritual is at risk of disappearing from Western Canada. Once numbering in the thousands, fewer than 100 of the round-bodied birds remain in Alberta and Saskatchewan as their habitat shrinks
Boyce said sage grouse are highly sensitive to development. They are known to abandon their habitats due to noise and traffic, and human structures provide unnatural perches for eagles and owls which prey on the endangered species.
“That is typical for the province of Alberta, to side with industrial development over conservation,” Boyce said.
“I think that the birds are toast,” he said. “I think we’re going to lose them all.”
Province’s plan ‘balances conservation outcomes with the needs of a changing province and economy’
In a statement sent to CBC News, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas communications director Andrew Livingstone said the changes were made “to simplify regulatory requirements in the sage grouse ranges and to provide greater flexibility and clarity for proponents operating in southeastern Alberta.”
“Alberta continues to support a sage grouse recovery program focused on delivering a targeted and effective solution that balances conservation outcomes with the needs of a changing province and economy,” he said.
Livingstone said the province is investing in and expanding recovery initiatives, including brood and nest-augmentation programs, habitat restoration, predator management, stewardship partnerships, and enhanced monitoring.
“Alberta will continue to work with industry and local partners to support responsible resource development while advancing recovery of this endangered species,” he said.
Each spring, endangered sage grouse males gather on ‘leks,’ performing grounds where they hope to dazzle females with their display and other-worldly mating call.
Joshua Killeen, conservation science and program manager with the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s southern Alberta chapter, says the provincial habitat protections being lifted undermines decades of work to help the species recover.
“Now with these changes, it seems like all of that work that’s been done over the years is being put at risk. Without protection for habitat, the chances of the species being able to survive are greatly reduced,” Killeen said.
“They’re really vulnerable to being lost completely from Alberta and potentially from Canada,” he said.
Federal protections for about one-quarter of Alberta’s greater sage grouse habitat remain in place. The federal emergency order for greater sage grouse habitat, which took effect in 2014, is the only one of its kind currently active in Alberta, and one of only two that have ever been issued.
“That emergency order is still in place, but the provincial regulations cover a much wider area of the habitat,” Killeen said. “And without those, we’re left with only that federal protection. And that’s a huge hit for the species.”
Helium industry pushed for provincial protections to be removed
Thor Resources, a helium extraction company that had an approval granted in designated greater sage grouse habitat the same month the provincial protections were removed, lists several sensitive wildlife surveys on its application. That list does not include greater sage grouse.
Thor Resources CEO Brent Jonah said when the company first acquired its mineral rights more than a decade ago, the provincial recovery area did not exist, meaning they were not initially in greater sage grouse territory.
Jonah said while the helium site will still be keeping structures below 1.2 metres in height and maintaining noise mitigation measures, in line with the previous protections, “there’s nothing specific I need to follow in these areas” when it comes to greater sage grouse anymore.
Richard Dunn, executive director of the Helium Developers Association of Canada, said his group had asked the province several times to consider changing those habitat protections.
He said the provincial protections were too restrictive, and that removing it is part of “the need to balance environmental considerations, economic development and social considerations.”
“If you can’t access these areas for six to nine months of the year, the reality is that there’s no economic development,” he said, referring to the now-removed requirement for sagebrush plants, native grasses and native forbs to not be killed or moved in designated greater sage grouse habitat.
