Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Southern Alberta

So grateful and excited to be participating in these two events with Hira Shah and Anna-Liza Badaloo. Hope you can join us! Thank you Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Southern Alberta and ARPA | Alberta Recreation & Parks Association!

⚠️ ACTION ALERT: Minister of Energy and Minerals LIFTS Moratorium on Coal ⚠️ In the middle of the #GrassyMountain hearings last week, the Government of Alberta's Minister of Energy and Minerals quietly directed the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) to remove the moratorium on coal mine development and exploration across the #RockyMountains and the Eastern Slopes, which has been in place since early 2022. This was only made public, and posted, on the AER's website yesterday. The moratorium was implemented in response to tremendous public pushback against new exploration and development in Alberta’s Eastern Slopes and was meant as an *interim* measure until a new coal policy was created. No such coal policy has been implemented 🚫 Removing the moratorium means that new coal mine exploration and development on more than 188,000 hectares could begin as early as THIS spring, and companies are already being notified that their exploration permits are no longer paused and are once more active. This renews, and makes even more urgent, the threat of the serious and unavoidable risks presented by mines such as #CabinRidge in Southern Alberta and the Blackstone coal project in the Bighorn Backcountry near #Nordegg 🪨 This is a profoundly short-sighted and irresponsible decision by the Minister of Energy and Minerals that puts the health, future and prosperity of Alberta, and our communities, at grave risk. 👉 Send a letter NOW to ensure our Premier, Government Ministers, and elected officials know Albertans STRONGLY oppose this decision 👈 #MountainsNotMines #WaterNotCoal #Alberta #AbLeg #AbPoli #Calgary #Edmonton #YYC #YEG #RedDeer #Lethbridge #Banff #Canmore #BowValley #Crowsnest Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Northern Alberta (CPAWSNAB) https://lnkd.in/gAFKBYeD

Happy New Year, everyone 🎉 While there's no shortage of serious, complex conservation issues facing our province in 2025, we wanted to ring the year in with some fun, light-hearted news: NEW merch is now in stock at Patagonia Calgary 🙌🏽 Patagonia Calgary, and Patagonia, have been long-time partners in our work and have supported us for years in the long, embattled fight against #CoalMining in the #EasternSlopes of Alberta's Rocky Mountains. We're proud to have our gear in their shop and to support a local business that does so much good for our community 💜 100% of the proceeds from the sale of our merch — which includes colourful t-shirts, cozy sweatshirts and hoodies, and conservation-themed hats — goes towards supporting our stewardship of #Alberta's lands, water, and wildlife 🥳 #Calgary #YYC #AbLeg #AbPoli #MountainsNotMines #WaterNotCoal #DefendAlbertaParks #DefendAbParks #DefendAlbertaForests #Treaty7 #Mohkinstsis #ShopLocal #ShopLocalYYC #ProtectNature #DefendNature #GetOutside #Hiking #Biking #Camping #AllColorsBelongInNature #DiversifyOutdoors #ColortheTrails

🌲 The Future Forest: Between Crisis and Speculation 🌲 Join us and Contemporary Calgary for a panel discussion and film screening, in which we'll explore and imagine the speculative futures of the lands we inhabit — from rewilding initaitives to sustainable management practices. Together, with our panelists — including Josh Killeen, Conservation Science and Program Manager at Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Southern Alberta — we'll explore possible futures for our planet's forests, how we can translate the labour of forest-care into political action, and support the long-term ecological health of our forests, which are critical in combating the climate crisis 🍃 The event will also feature TWO film screenings, Nic Nolet's "Assembly: Growing Together to Protect an Ecosystem," on the Upper Highwood Clearcut in #Kananaskis, and CPAWS Southern Alberta's "Dry Horizons," on the ongoing threats posed to our water and forests by industrial resource extraction 📽️ January 11 | 2-3:30PM Heather Edwards Theatre | Contemporary Calgary FREE with registration Tickets at https://lnkd.in/gfph8vGt 🎟️ Hope to see you there! #Calgary #CalgaryEvents #YYC #YYCEvents #DefendAlbertaParks #DefendAbParks #DefendAlbertaForests #DefendAbForests #MountainsNotMines #WaterNotCoal #Ab4CoalFreeRockies

⚠️ Action Alert: Oppose Bill 35, the All-Season Resorts Act TODAY ⚠️ Less than two weeks ago, we introduced you to the All-Season Resorts Act, and now we need your help. CPAWS Southern Alberta and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Northern Alberta (CPAWSNAB) have grave concerns about the precedent Bill 35 sets and if you live in or near, recreate or rely upon, any of our province’s parks, protected areas, or public lands and waters — that’s all of us — you should, too. 💨 The Bill exempts tourism development in all season resort areas from the normal environmental planning, reviewing, and permitting processes applied to other public land use activities, requiring no consultation from Indigenous Peoples, or affected communities. ⛰️ It means that nothing is sacred (or safe). Protected areas — including #AlbertaParks — can lose their designation. Areas within a protected area can be delisted to become part of an ASR. 🔎 Projects that fall within the definition of an ASR will no longer be subject to review by the Natural Resources Conservation Board, which is the body responsible for public interest reviews of major natural resource projects. 🖋️ Bill 35 will remove authority from Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, allowing the Minister of Tourism and Sport to become the decision maker on lands proposed as an ASR and alter a regional plan without ANY consultation or reporting. The Minister, and the Ministry, have no experience or expertise in land-use planning. Your voice is urgently needed — Bill 35 is going to THIRD reading next Wednesday, December 4, which means that it could pass and become law in the matter of days ⏰ Let’s make it loud and clear that Albertans oppose the All-Season Resorts Act — and remind @YourAlberta, and our elected officials, that we will #DefendAlbertaParks (and protected areas) now and always. Send your letter at the link below 📮 https://lnkd.in/g7kAi2Wm #Alberta #AbLeg #AbPoli #IndigenousRights #ProtectNature #DefendNature #DefendABParks #Conservation

We know that for many, afar and at home, strange and unsettling times are upon us — socially, politically, and environmentally. In times like this, those of us here at CPAWS Southern Alberta endeavour to lean on our community and our shared values to see us through 🤎 We believe, as we always have, that: 🦦 Nature, wilderness and wild places have intrinsic value; 🍂 Nature thrives when ecosystems are healthy, functioning, resilient, and diverse; and that 🦉 People — no matter who you are, or where you come from — are an integral part of the ecosystem. Unfortunately, these are not beliefs that are adequately reflected in our provincial policy framework. The consequence of which is: 🦆 There are rapid and, as yet, largely unabated declines in the populations of species-at-risk like #NativeTrout and #GrizzlyBear; 🌲 The integrity and functionality of our ecosystems, from the #BorealForest to the #Grasslands, are deteriorating; and 🪶 The voices of #Alberta's Indigenous Peoples are not meaningfully represented in the management and protection of our natural environment. It is therefore more important than ever that those of us with the time, energy, and resources to speak up on behalf of our wild spaces and species — and on behalf of those who can't speak for themselves — do so. Today is the last day to take the Government of Alberta's Nature Strategy survey🦉 We have an easy to follow, question-by-question guide to make this as painless a process as possible; and even if filling out yet another survey can feel rather like screaming into the digital abyss, your voice matters. Reminding our elected officials of what Albertans want from a strategy that's intended to guide how we maintain, conserve, and manage nature in our province matters. If you have even a few minutes to spare today, please consider filling it out 🖋️ https://lnkd.in/gTnpGxXN #Traety6 #Treaty7 #Treaty8 #Calgary #YYC #Edmonton #YEG #Nature #ProtectNature #DefendNature #Biodiversity #BiodiversityConservation #Wildlife #WildlifeConservation #Science #SpeciesAtRisk

Spellbinding, family-friendly Halloween fun is awaiting you and yours on October 24... 🌙 Camp Brand Goods and CPAWS Southern Alberta will be offering a spine-chilling, seasonal twist on our Species at Risk education program for grown-ups and kiddos alike, while serving up tasty treats like hot chocolate around a cozy campfire 🧙🏻♀️ We'll also learn what we can do to help these cool critters stick around in our province, cast a few spells, play some hair-raising tunes, and try our hand at seasonal crafts 🪄🔮✨ When: October 24 | 5—7PM Where: CampLand Institute for Leisurely Pursuits | 1119 10 Ave SE, Calgary (we'll have the doors open if weather permits, so dress in the appropriate layers!) What: An evening of family-friendly Halloween hijinks Costumes are encouraged but not required! We'll have a mask-crafting station in-store — with feathers and sequins and scissors and glue — so that you can whip up your own wildlife-themed masks to wear and take home with you 🧙🏻♂️ Tickets on sale now on at https://lnkd.in/gePuydfY 🍭 #Calgary #ThingstodoinCalgary #CalgaryEvents #YYC #YYCEvents #Alberta #AlbertaEvents #Halloween #Halloween2024 #Inglewood #InglewoodCalgary #SupportLocal #SupportCalgaryBusinesses #ShopLocal #ShopLocalCalgary

The Government of Alberta has released a survey soliciting public feedback on the creation of an #Alberta Nature Strategy (which we have also developed a handy survey guide for - linked in the comments below!) In line with the Global Biodiversity Framework that resulted from the Kunming-Montreal Agreement at #COP15, nations around the world are putting forth their own National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). Provinces and Territories across Canada must work together to align themselves to this international effort to protect nature. 🌎 🌿 Our team (Tara Russell and Wesley Bell) presented on what a nature strategy for Alberta * should * look like, if we hope to halt and reverse #biodiversity loss, at our AGM in September. The recording of that presentation can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gwUTAKVq Stay tuned for much more content on this topic over the coming weeks as we travel to Cali, Colombia for the Convention on Biological Diversity's 16th Conference of the Parties (#COP16) with our colleagues from CPAWS · SNAP Canada, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Southern Alberta, Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society Manitoba Chapter and SNAP Québec - Société pour la nature et les parcs

Explore the clever survival ‘tricks’ of #Alberta critters and autumnal ‘treats’ enjoyed by humans on our family-friendly Halloween Hike 🎃 Date: Saturday, Oct 26th Time: 1—3 PM Location: #FishCreek Provincial Park | Votiers Flats Day Use Area Cost: $10 for adults (children under 18 are free!) This Tricks and Treats of the Wild event offers a unique blend of all-ages outdoor education and seasonal Halloween fun 🐈⬛ Learn how animals adapt to the threats of the wild while enjoying a variety of hair-raising attractions — including a costume contest, a pumpkin hunt for kids, a storytelling station with harrowing tales of the forest’s vanishing animals, and a hot chocolate station to warm you up halfway through the hike 🍂 It’ll be a frightfully good time 👻 Please note that the event will be cancelled with 24 hours notice if the weather is not suitable. Remember to bring your own mugs for hot chocolate to help us reduce waste. See you there for a hauntingly educational adventure ✨ Register at https://lnkd.in/gZmuds6u! #Calgary #CalgaryEvents #YYC #YYCEvents #Halloween #HalloweenEvents

⭐ Upcoming Webinar 💻 Join us and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - Southern Alberta for our next session in our webinar series on forestry topics. 🌲 Save the date for "At the Intersection of Caribou and Forestry" with Dr. Robert Serrouya on September 16. A widely cited expert in his field, Dr. Robert Serrouya is the Director of Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute 's Caribou Monitoring Unit. His main research has been to test recovery options for caribou and other species by implementing broad-scale adaptive management experiments. We hope you'll tune in! 🦌