Agreement helps habitat conservation in Alberta

Edmonton, Alta., November 30, 2006—Four of this province’s most active habitat conservation agencies have signed a made-in-Alberta agreement that makes it easier for them to pool resources and conserve valuable tracts of wildlife habitat, says Dave Kay, manager of provincial operations, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC).

“This new memorandum of understanding (MOU) will have a positive impact on habitat conservation in Alberta,” says Kay. “DUC has been working together with these other organizations for many years. But with so much pressure on a diminishing resource like wildlife habitat, this agreement gives us all a formal way to capitalize on the synergies of sharing time, expertise and resources.”

Signed by DUC, Alberta Fish & Game Association (AFGA), Alberta Conservation Association (ACA) and the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), the MOU provides a formal framework for future collaboration.

Written with input from each agency’s land managers and legal departments, the MOU will speed everything from land referrals to purchases and management, says Nic DeGama-Blanchet, manager, science and conservation planning, NCC.

“We’re all here to protect and conserve critical wildlife habitat. The MOU streamlines the process of collaboration and prevents the duplication of paperwork. That will save us all time and money we can use for other projects,” says Martin Sharren, executive vice-president, AFGA.

“It makes sense to leverage our funds and resources with other partners, but we each have different mandates and different internal systems, so the process can be complicated,” adds David Fairless, provincial program coordinator ACA.

“The MOU spells out which agency should take the lead on a particular kind of project and covers the expectations of each partner. That’s critical, because we often have to act quickly – or risk losing more habitat, forever,” notes Fairless.

DUC, which targets wetland and upland habitat conservation projects on landscapes critical to migrating waterfowl, estimates that more than 70 per cent of wetlands have disappeared in settled areas of Canada. “That habitat is gone forever. This new agreement gives us one more way to conserve what’s left,” says Kay.

For more information:

Sherry Feser
Ducks Unlimited Canada
(780) 489-2002
Email: s_feser@ducks.ca

Lisa Monsees
Alberta Conservation Association
(780) 644-5079

Randy Collins
Alberta Fish and Game Association
(780) 437-2342

Kara Tersen
Nature Conservancy of Canada
(403) 262-1253

 
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