| Caribou herd’s survival threatened by gas pipeline
The Little Smokey caribou herd could be threatened with extinction if Suncor Energy and ConocoPhillips proceed with a pipeline northeast of Grande Cache that runs through the herd’s core home range, say Alberta environmental groups.
The Alberta Wilderness Association, the Federation of Alberta Naturalists, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Athabasca Bioregional Society have joined together to call for the oil and gas companies to reroute the 101-kilometre pipeline outside the caribou herd’s prime habitat. The groups are also demanding a moratorium on any industrial activity in the area and are asking the government to implement the recommendations within the recently created Woodland Caribou Recovery Plan. The plan was created by representatives of government, the oil and gas and forestry industries and environmental groups and was presented to the government in October.
Glen Semenchuk, executive director of the Federation of Alberta Naturalists, helped create the recovery plan, which identified the Little Smokey caribou herd as the most endangered herd in the province. He questions why a pipeline is being allowed to proceed in its core range before any recommendations of the recovery plan are implemented. Semenchuk says the Little Smokey caribou herd has fewer than 80 animals and the population is "in free fall."
"Their range has been hammered by oil and gas and forestry," he says. "The pipeline goes almost through the middle of the last intact section."
Darcie Park, spokesperson for Suncor Energy, says Suncor and ConocoPhillips have committed to using land that has already been cleared in the past by other oil and gas companies for 90 per cent of the 101-kilometre pipeline. She says this will mean the company will only have to clear about eight kilometres of new land. As well, the two companies have committed to spending $1.5 million to restore Little Smokey caribou habitat, which was fragmented by earlier oil and gas and forestry development.
"We feel it’s a pretty progressive step," says Park. "We think we can restore about 400 kilometres of old seismic lines."
Desperate charities offering free gifts
‘Tis the season to be besieged with requests for donations from numerous charitable organizations. And, an increasing number of them seem to be trying to entice new donors with offers of free gifts.
The Canadian Wildlife Federation is sending out free calendars, Care Canada is sending out Christmas cards. Other organizations are sending out personalized address labels, pens or notepads.
Should you be concerned that your non-profit organization of choice is wasting too much cash sending out free gifts in the hopes of enticing money from previously uninterested donors?
Naheed Nenshi, an instructor at Mount Royal College’s Institute For Non-Profit Studies, says competition is becoming increasingly stiff between charitable organizations, and organizations are trying to do anything they can to distinguish themselves from each other.
"It’s a response to a more crowded marketplace for charitable organizations," he says.
He points out that non-profit organizations now have to compete for scarce donor dollars with universities and hospitals, which have been forced to appeal to the general public because government funding isn’t high enough.
But Nenshi says people shouldn’t be too concerned about the cost of free gifts.
"These campaigns are very well thought out," says Nenshi.
He says the free gift ploy has become an effective tactic in getting people to open their wallets. And, organizations don’t shell out a lot of money on the gifts because they buy them in bulk.
"By and large these gifts typically aren’t as expensive as the donor thinks," he says. |
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