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Alberta

Alberta wildlife is ready for its close-up

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Two moose calves in Wood Buffalo National Park. Photo credit: Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI).

Researchers are using remote cameras and cutting-edge tools to better study and monitor Alberta’s wildlife.

Researchers have used remote cameras to monitor wildlife in Alberta for many years, and for good reason: the technology is cost-effective, efficient and safe while enabling researchers to observe multiple species at the same time. However, collecting the data, coordinating with other researchers and reporting information effectively can be challenging.

Alberta’s government is teaming up with researchers to develop new resources and tools that will help wildlife experts work together, study and monitor bears, moose, cougars and other species from miles away.

“We are dedicated to wildlife conservation in Alberta. Led by our Chief Scientist, we are helping researchers better understand how wildlife is behaving and responding to the world around them to help make sure that Alberta’s amazing wildlife continue to grow and thrive for future generations.”

Rebecca Schulz, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas

Remote cameras, also referred to as wildlife cameras or camera traps, are important tools for wildlife conservation. Their footage allows researchers to gain a better understanding of wildlife numbers, behaviours and ways to support conservation, all while keeping humans at a safe distance from the action.

The use of remote cameras by Alberta researchers, agencies, industry and the public has been steadily increasing. Alberta’s government and the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) have helped distribute remote cameras to every corner of the province, from the boreal forest in the north to the grasslands in the south, tracking more than 2,500 species.

Through a $66,000 grant by the Office of the Chief Scientist in 2022, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, ABMI and the University of Alberta developed new remote camera standards and best practice resources, as well as training materials and tools for wildlife monitoring. As part of this project, Alberta released new remote camera survey guidelines and standards to help improve research, data collection and reporting. This work also improved Alberta’s understanding of what remote cameras are capturing, leading researchers to adjust the cameras and get a clearer picture of wildlife conditions.

This year, another $70,000 in government funding will go towards creating a new online tool to help researchers design remote camera projects, gather data and analyze it. With remote cameras placed throughout the province, this new online tool will help Alberta’s wildlife monitoring projects streamline and coordinate their efforts, regardless of their location, leading to better research.

“The Office of the Chief Scientist is proud to support research and guidance on use of cutting-edge technology to help improve monitoring of provincial wildlife populations. This work will produce results to support the management and conservation of mammals and other wildlife species in the province.”

Jonathan Thompson, chief scientist of Alberta

“Alberta collects a vast amount of data using remote wildlife cameras. The funds provided by the chief scientist’s office will help us develop analysis frameworks that make the work done by individual organizations more consistent, repeatable and transparent. It also will help us better approaches for sharing data that drastically improve our ability to measure and manage at broad scales the species and ecosystems that we treasure.”

Erin Bayne, professor, University of Alberta, and co-director, Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute

“The implications for data compatibility are huge: the more the standards are adopted by remote camera users, the larger the pool of data available to answer bigger and broader questions about wildlife. The Alberta remote camera steering committee is now working to develop accessible tools to support all users, from new to experienced users, in designing remote camera projects, data analysis and modelling. This will help more people conduct effective wildlife camera research and monitoring while also increasing the amount of data available to all.”

Corrina Copp, information centre director, Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute

Quick facts

  • The Office of the Chief Scientist coordinates the delivery of an environmental science program to provide scientifically rigorous data, information and reporting on the condition of Alberta’s environment.
  • Grants through the Office of the Chief Scientist support evidence-informed decisions on programs and policies addressing Alberta’s natural resources.
  • Remote cameras are most often used to monitor medium to larger mammals like white-tailed deer and bears but can also capture images of smaller creatures like birds and amphibians. They are also used to monitor elusive and far-ranging predators like wolverines and cougars.
  • Typically, the camouflaged camera is mounted to a tree or post. Some are programmed to trigger when movement or a change in heat is detected in their field of view, while others are activated by a timer. The camera collects data on all species that pass by and stamps the video or picture with the date and time.
  • The chief scientist and the Alberta government are committed to supporting research and delivering accessible reporting on the condition of Alberta’s environment.

Related information

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This is a news release from the Government of Alberta.

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Alberta

Media melts down as Danielle Smith moves to end ‘transitioning’ of children in Alberta

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From LifeSiteNews

By Jonathon Van Maren

After Alberta’s Danielle Smith put forth legislation to protect kids from being gender ‘transitioned,’ the Canadian media went on a predictable melt down, citing ‘experts’ who blatantly lie to advance the LGBT agenda.

A year after announcing her intention to combat transgender ideology and protect children, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has tabled three pieces of UCP (United Conservative Party) government legislation: 

  • The Education Amendment Act 2024 will require parental consent for “socially transitioning” children under the age of 16 (changing a child’s name or “preferred pronouns”). The bill also gives parents an “opt-in” option for any sexual or content at school. Smith has emphasized that the Alberta Teaching Profession Commission has the power to discipline teachers if they decide to break the law. 
  • The Health Statues Amendment Act 2024 will ban the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, as well as prohibit sex change surgeries on minors. 
  • The Fairness and Safety in Sport Act will ban trans-identifying men from female sports teams.  

Together, these three bills represent the most definitive pushback against gender ideology in Canada by any premier. Smith’s decision to announce her intent to pursue such legislation and then wait has turned out to be politically savvy—it has given the UCP government a good look at the LGBT response, and during that time the U.K.’s Labour government has successfully fought to maintain a similar ban in the courts and publicly rebutted many of the scare tactics used by LGBT activists.

Smith and the UCP are thus walking into this debate with eyes wide open, and are clearly certain that the public is on their side (it is) and that the legislation can survive the court challenges surely coming from LGBT activists. The policies are clearly popular with the UCP party’s base, who handed Smith a staggering 91.5% approval rating in her leadership review at UCP gathering in Red Deer last Saturday.  

The party also passed 35 policy resolutions, including several that indicate the UCP’s willingness to go further in fighting transgender ideology, with resolutions that would restrict “exclusively female spaces” like bathrooms and changerooms to females and designating transgender surgeries as “elective cosmetic procedures” not funded by the taxpayer. The motions received near-unanimous support.  

The Canadian press, unsurprisingly, is working hard to present policies that the vast majority of Canadians support as an attack on fundamental norms (albeit norms that only surfaced in the last few years and were never presented to voters). Global News ran the headline: “Alberta unveils 3 sweeping bills affecting trans and gender-diverse youth.” It is important to note that the press accepts the premises of transgender ideology as the starting point for their reporting, with heavy usage of nonsensical phrases like “gender-diverse youth,” which implies that there are many genders. 

In fact, Global News and other Canadian outlets trotted out talking points that have been definitively rebutted by the U.K.’s Cass Review and multiple medical studies—in fact, even the New York Times has been reporting on the permanent harms of puberty blockers over the past several years. An example from Global News: 

Alberta parents of gender-diverse youth like Haley Wray believe the new laws will give kids less choice — especially when it comes to health-care that is not permanent but instead, gives kids time to work through their identity struggles. 

‘Hormone blockers are a very valuable tool,’ Wray said, explaining they have a very small window of effectiveness to pause, but not prevent, puberty. ‘It is reversible because nothing changes. And what that does is it allows youth and families to have that that pause, that break to explore further, validate, understand what this means and know that permanent changes aren’t happening.’

Wray believes the proposed legislation will make the province a less safe place for tens of thousands of Alberta kids who aren’t straight. It’s why, Wray says, a growing number of families with transgender children are now grappling with whether Alberta is a place they can stay. ‘I know people who have, and I know people who genuinely feel like there is likely nowhere to go,’ she said. 

This is incorrect. Puberty blockers cause permanent damage, and children may be rendered permanently sterile after taking them for a relatively short period of time. Puberty is not something that can be “paused,” and it frequently causes irreversible rather than reversible damage. Smith and her government understand this, which is why they have decided to pass this legislation—not, as nearly every press outlet claimed, to “target trans youth,” but to protect them. 

The CBC chimed in with sentences like this one: 

Terms like ‘biological female’ and ‘biological male’ can be used to imply that transgender people are still their assigned sex at birth, despite their identity. 

To translate: a scientifically accurate and precise statement is now an ideological one, but inherently ideological language invented by the transgender movement over the past decade is, in fact, technically accurate. People can identify as anything they want; it is irrelevant to their biology. The CBC presents pointing this out as some sort of propagandistic attack on vulnerable people. 

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Jonathon’s writings have been translated into more than six languages and in addition to LifeSiteNews, has been published in the National PostNational ReviewFirst Things, The Federalist, The American Conservative, The Stream, the Jewish Independent, the Hamilton SpectatorReformed Perspective Magazine, and LifeNews, among others. He is a contributing editor to The European Conservative.

His insights have been featured on CTV, Global News, and the CBC, as well as over twenty radio stations. He regularly speaks on a variety of social issues at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions in Canada, the United States, and Europe.

He is the author of The Culture WarSeeing is Believing: Why Our Culture Must Face the Victims of AbortionPatriots: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Pro-Life MovementPrairie Lion: The Life and Times of Ted Byfield, and co-author of A Guide to Discussing Assisted Suicide with Blaise Alleyne.

Jonathon serves as the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

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Alberta

Alberta calling for federal election! Premier Smith demands feds scrap dangerous oil and gas production caps

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Premier Danielle Smith, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz and Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean issued the following statement on the proposed federal oil and gas production cap:

“This production cap will hurt families, hurt businesses and hurt Canada’s economy. We will defend our province, our country and our Constitutional rights.

“Make no mistake, this cap violates Canada’s constitution. Section 92A clearly gives provinces exclusive jurisdiction over non-renewable natural resource development yet this cap will require a one million barrel a day production cut by 2030.

“The evidence is overwhelming. Three reports from reputable firms have shown that these regulations will sucker-punch Canada’s economy, a million barrels cut every day according to S&P Global, $28 billion a year in lost GDP according to Deloitte, and up to 150,000 lost jobs according to the Conference Board of Canada.

“The losses to GDP mean billions a year will disappear from the economy. Billions that won’t be going towards new schools, hospitals and roads, all for a reckless ideological scheme that will not reduce global emissions.

“Ultimately, this cap will lead Alberta and our country into economic and societal decline. The average Canadian family would be left with up to $419 less for groceries, mortgage payments and utilities every month. Canadian parents and workers will suffer while Justin Trudeau outsources the duty to provide safe, affordable, reliable and responsibly produced oil and gas to dictators and less clean producers around the world. We could be the solution. Instead, Ottawa would rather sacrifice our ability to lead.

“Tweaks won’t work. This cap must be scrapped. Alberta’s government is actively exploring the use of every legal option, including a constitutional challenge and the use of the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act. We will not stand idly by while the federal government sacrifices our prosperity, our constitution and our quality of life for its extreme agenda.”

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