Lisa Wardley, Mackenzie County Councilor & Northern Advocate

Grizzly's are on the rise... management and involvement of the locals within that management plan is required for success!

Well today was the day! Two of the three sub-regional plans have been released and the Bistcho Sub-Regional Plan is now out for 60-day public comment. I urge everyone to visit the site, review the documents, there are also three dates set for online information sessions and as always I am here to help if I can. I’d like to thank the members of our caribou sub-regional task forces for their hard work and recommendations. Alberta has been leading the way in caribou conservat...ion efforts over the past few years. These plans represent more progress on this important file. With Ottawa’s recent acknowledgement of Alberta’s strong caribou recovery actions, we are confident that our sub-regional planning process will find the right balance between protecting caribou herds while maintaining local industry and jobs. Jason Nixon, Minister of Environment and Parks I am proud of the work that we did. Bringing together local knowledge and specialists in their field and having these great minds together in the same room with common goals is powerful. These plans affect everyone who cares about the land, wildlife, communities, and the families that call these areas home. I now urge Albertans to take the next 60 days to review and comment on these sub-regional plans that outline land use moving forward. Lisa Wardley, Chairperson, Northwest Species at Risk Committee

It has been a long-time concern about the genetic purity of our NorthWestern Alberta Bison and keeping the Hay-Zama herd pure and disease free... with the intent to repopulate the area with Wood Bison who are healthy and thriving. This study may lead to some interesting results.

This is an exciting time for NWSAR, year one data collection is just about complete and the Bistcho Sub-Regional draft plan is receiving its final review from the GoA and hopefully will be released soon for public input. Watch our NWSAR site for updates!

The 'oilpatch' has been essential for decades and even in wartime they played an immense role in the success. Even today our energy industry and the men and women and communities that are at the center of it, are critical components to our survival and our quality of life!

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So happy to announce that we are collaborating with Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, Manning Forest Products, Boucher Bros. Lumber Ltd., Zavisha Sawmi...lls and Tolko Industries Ltd. for boots-on-the-ground habitat ground truthing in 2 NW Caribou Ranges!! This project is the second part to our Camera and Audio multi-year wildlife monitoring program with ABMI and the Alberta Trappers Association. We are collecting over 700 square miles of high resolution aerial imagery, and assessing habitat condition at 150 pre-selected sites. Field crews are currently in the Chinchaga Caribou Range, and will be in the Caribou Mountains soon after winter freeze up. Give them a wave, if you see them!! This project is sponsored by the 3 Forestry Companies with FRIAA FRIP funds, ABMI in-kind time, and NWSAR Funding! Tolko are providing existing data for comparison.

Supporting as promoting local!

Interview with GP Gladue on A2A Rail, talking about Indigenous ownership, the importance of this nation building project to the communities and even a little bit about timeline!

Northern Advantage of Fusarium free is now at risk. We’re looking at how we can somehow keep ourselves somewhat fusarium free, but it’s inevitable when it’s deregulated that it’s going to work its way into the area, he said. It’s just a matter of how and when Our path forward without regulation is going to have to be education.

This is absolutely huge news for Northern Alberta, the North in general and producers of a multitude of products that will see the benefits of another route and transportation system to get their products to market! Many of us have been working hard to promote rail through to Alaska and seeing this critical announcement from the US brings it one step closer! U.S. President Donald Trump has issued an executive permit allowing a $22-billion international railway to be built between Alaska and Alberta.

Northern Transportation Infrastructure is critical to address moving products in and out, reducing the cost of living and building the North, whether we are talking expanding Hwy 58 west and east, additional rail corridors, keeping our current highways and bridges safe and in good repair or a new bridge across the Peace. A bridge across the Peace River on Hwy 697 has been a long standing infrastructure requirement for the north. The Ice Bridge and Ferry operation have been st...ruggling for years, with warmer water and fluctuations in water levels, river debris, mechanical failures... more and more down days occur and full load capacity during the winter is harder to achieve. Full load crossing accounts for only about 30% of the year. Can you imagine the outrage if the QEII was only available for travel every third day? This region has experienced when the bridge at Fort Vermilion is not passable the only route to cross is south in Peace River. There are other examples of toll infrastructure... like the Mackenzie River Bridge at Fort Providence, Coquihalla Hwy in BC, Ontario Hwy 407. I agree that maybe this sets a precedent... and could be a serious issue moving forward. We all had a heck of a fight to get Hwy 88 paved, and now it is the preferred truck route and High-Wide Load Corridor (well as soon as the bridges are upgraded) Northern Infrastructure will never get built no matter how much economic benefit we have provided over the years to the Provincial coffers due to population and road counts dictating projects. And contrary to popular opinion, our population or the traffic counts don't show up as a blip on the Provincial radar! So we all need to look differently at infrastructure projects, take advantage of triggers when they show themselves and work together as a region to build and prosper! #BuildtheNorth #DontLetAnthonyHendayWinAgain #NotAnotherCityRingRoad #MackenzieRegion

Spending money locally has ripple effects that people don’t often think about. Small business owners and their employees usually spend money locally, too, keepi...ng cash flowing through the local economy. In addition, it is small businesses, not the international conglomerates online or in the city, who support the local non-profit organizations from which everyone benefits. Shop Local in High Level, La Crete, Rainbow Lake, Zama City and Fort Vermilion. See more