Alberta
Alberta wildlife is ready for its close-up
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.”
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.”
“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.”
“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.”
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
- Remote Camera Survey Guidelines and Alberta Metadata Standards
- Wildlife Cameras for Adaptive Management
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From the Fraser Institute
By Matthew Lau
To understand Ottawa’s negative impact on Alberta’s economy and living standards, juxtapose two recent pieces of data.
First, in July the Trudeau government made three separate “economic development” spending announcements in Alberta, totalling more than $80 million and affecting 37 different projects related to the “green economy,” clean technology and agriculture. And second, as noted in a new essay by Fraser Institute senior fellow Kenneth Green, inflation-adjusted business investment (excluding residential structures) in Canada’s extraction sector (mining, quarrying, oil and gas) fell 51.2 per cent from 2014 to 2022.
The productivity gains that raise living standards and improve economic conditions rely on business investment. But business investment in Canada has declined over the past decade and total economic growth per person (inflation-adjusted) from Q3-2015 through to Q1-2024 has been less than 1 per cent versus robust growth of nearly 16 per cent in the United States over the same period.
For Canada’s extraction sector, as Green documents, federal policies—new fuel regulations, extended review processes on major infrastructure projects, an effective ban on oil shipments on British Columbia’s northern coast, a hard greenhouse gas emissions cap targeting oil and gas, and other regulatory initiatives—are largely to blame for the massive decline in investment.
Meanwhile, as Ottawa impedes private investment, its latest bundle of economic development announcements underscores its strategy to have government take the lead in allocating economic resources, whether for infrastructure and public institutions or for corporate welfare to private companies.
Consider these federally-subsidized projects.
A gas cloud imaging company received $4.1 million from taxpayers to expand marketing, operations and product development. The Battery Metals Association of Canada received $850,000 to “support growth of the battery metals sector in Western Canada by enhancing collaboration and education stakeholders.” A food manufacturer in Lethbridge received $5.2 million to increase production of plant-based protein products. Ermineskin Cree Nation received nearly $400,000 for a feasibility study for a new solar farm. The Town of Coronation received almost $900,000 to renovate and retrofit two buildings into a business incubator. The Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada received $400,000 for marketing and other support to help boost clean technology product exports. And so on.
When the Trudeau government announced all this corporate welfare and spending, it naturally claimed it create economic growth and good jobs. But corporate welfare doesn’t create growth and good jobs, it only directs resources (including labour) to subsidized sectors and businesses and away from sectors and businesses that must be more heavily taxed to support the subsidies. The effect of government initiatives that reduce private investment and replace it with government spending is a net economic loss.
As 20th-century business and economics journalist Henry Hazlitt put it, the case for government directing investment (instead of the private sector) relies on politicians and bureaucrats—who did not earn the money and to whom the money does not belong—investing that money wisely and with almost perfect foresight. Of course, that’s preposterous.
Alas, this replacement of private-sector investment with public spending is happening not only in Alberta but across Canada today due to the Trudeau government’s fiscal policies. Lower productivity and lower living standards, the data show, are the unhappy results.
Author:
From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
By Ray McGinnis
Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert are on trial for conspiracy to commit murder and firearms charges in relation to the Coutts Blockade into mid-February 2022. In opening her case before a Lethbridge, AB, jury on July 11, Olienick’s lawyer, Marilyn Burns stated “This is a political, criminal trial that is un Canadian.” She told the jury, “You will be shocked, and at the very least, disappointed with how Canada’s own RCMP conducted themselves during and after the Coutts protest,” as she summarized officers’ testimony during presentation of the Crown’s case. Burns also contended that “the conduct of Alberta’s provincial government and Canada’s federal government are entwined with the RCMP.” The arrests of the Coutts Four on the night of February 13 and noon hour of February 14, were key events in a decision by the Clerk of the Privy Council, Janice Charette, and the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, Jody Thomas, to advise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invoke the Emergencies Act. Chief Justice Paul Rouleau, in submitting his Public Order Emergency Commission Report to Parliament on February 17, 2023, also cited events at the Coutts Blockade as key to his conclusion that the government was justified in invoking the Emergencies Act.
Justice David Labrenz cautioned attorney Burns regarding her language, after Crown prosecutor Stephen Johnson objected to some of the language in the opening statement of Olienick’s counsel. Futher discussion about the appropriateness of attorney Burns’ statement to the jury is behind a publication ban, as discussions occurred without the jury present.
Justice Labrenz told the jury on July 12, “I would remind you that the presumption of innocence means that both the accused are cloaked with that presumption, unless the Crown proves beyond a reasonable doubt the essential elements of the charge(s).” He further clarified what should result if the jurors were uncertain about which narrative to believe: the account by the Crown, or the account from the accused lawyers. Labrenz stated that such ambivalence must lead to an acquittal; As such a degree of uncertainty regarding which case to trust in does not meet the “beyond a reasonable doubt” threshold for a conviction.”
On July 15, 2024, a Lethbridge jury heard evidence from a former employer of Olienicks’ named Brian Lambert. He stated that he had tasked Olienick run his sandstone quarry and mining business. He was a business partner with Olienick. In that capacity, Olienick made use of what Lambert referred to as “little firecrackers,” to quarry the sandstone and reduce it in size. Reducing the size of the stone renders it manageable to get refined and repurposed so it could be sold to buyers of stone for other uses (building construction, patio stones, etc.) Lambert explained that the “firecrackers” were “explosive devices” packaged within tubing and pipes that could also be used for plumbing. He detailed how “You make them out of ordinary plumbing pipe and use some kind of propellant like shotgun powder…” Lambert explained that the length of the pipe “…depended on how big a hole or how large a piece of stone you were going to crack. The one I saw was about six inches long … maybe an inch in diameter.”
One of Olienick’s charges is “unlawful possession of an explosive device for a dangerous purpose.” The principal evidence offered up by RCMP to the Crown is what the officers depicted as “pipe bombs” which they obtained at the residence of Anthony Olienick in Claresholm, Alberta, about a two-hour drive from Coutts. Officers entered his home after he was arrested the night of February 13, 2022. Lambert’s testimony offers a plausible common use for the “firecrackers” the RCMP referred to as “pipe bombs.” Lambert added, these “firecrackers” have a firecracker fuse, and in the world of “explosive” they are “no big deal.”
Fellow accused, Chris Carbert, is does not face the additional charge of unlawful possession of explosives for a dangerous purpose. This is the first full week of the case for the defence. The trial began on June 6 when the Crown began presenting its case.
Ray McGinnis is a Senior Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy who recently attended several days of testimony at the Coutts Two trial.
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