Menu
Alberta Northwest Species at Risk Committee (NWSAR) was formed in response to the Government of Alberta’s 2016 Action Plan to recover Boreal Caribou across the Province. Of note, the Action Plan included the permanent protection of 1.8 million hectares of land in Northwest Alberta – which encompassed land within the geographic boundaries of NWSAR’s five municipal members. This permanent protection of land commitment was made by the Provincial Government without consultation with local governments and communities, and without understanding the potential socio-economic impacts to the Northwest region.
Since the formation of the NWSAR Committee, the committee members and administration have worked tirelessly to ensure local voices and perspectives are included in higher-level government-led decision-making regarding species at risk recovery planning and policy, and that governments are utilizing the best quality and current socio-economic and environmental datasets, when planning for long-term multi-species management and/or recovery.
NWSAR is a proactive Committee who are working with external expertise including Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, Alberta Trappers Association, Natural Resources Canada and CMR Consulting to ensure progress on the collection and development of high quality datasets for the Northwest corner of Alberta.
Six Northwest Alberta municipalities founded NWSAR: Mackenzie County, County of Northern Lights, Clear Hills County, Town of Manning, Town of Rainbow Lake and Town of High Level. In 2018, NWSAR became a Committee inclusive of five Northwest Alberta municipalities, as the Town of Manning stepped down as a Committee member.
NWSAR also offers associate membership to municipalities who would like to keep up to date on all things NWSAR – we currently have 11 associate municipal members, including the Town of Manning.
