Alberta Conservation Association

Wildlife Program

Our Wildlife Program supports and enhances conservation activities that retain the diversity and abundance of populations and communities of wildlife in Alberta. It focuses on harvested species, but also includes species at risk. The program includes components related to wildlife populations, their habitats and the ecosystems that support them.

We strive to enhance the sustainability of wildlife species through science-based conservation. The program has four thematic areas:

• Ungulates;
• Upland game birds;
• Waterfowl;
• Species at risk.

Program objectives are prioritized at the provincial scale through strategic and operational planning. Insight gained through ongoing discussion with ASRD and external experts is a key element of this planning process.

This program supports the inventory and monitoring of priority species and their habitats, the enhancement of key habitats and the restoration and reintroduction of priority populations. The program also informs and supports ASRD in the determination of species status; the development and the implementation of species recovery or management plans. We investigate questions about wildlife populations that lead toward applied management and conservation.

WILDLIFE PROJECTS:

The following are Wildlife Program activities:

• Aerial ungulate survey;
• Alberta wildlife status reports;
• Cavity nest waterfowl enhancement;
• Demography of bighorn sheep in Yarrow-Castle range;
• Elk habitat planning tool development;
• Habitat selection of moose in northeast Alberta;
• Habitat selection of pronghorn antelope;
• Impacts of human use in Wildland Parks;
• Mallard nest tunnel enhancement;
• MULTISAR (Species at Risk);
• Northern leopard frog recovery program;
• Petro-Canada sustainable grasslands program;
• Piping plover recovery program;
• Provincial waterfowl crop damage prevention program;
• Sharp-tailed grouse habitat inventory;
• Ungulate winter range restoration;
• Upland habitat enhancement: Pothole Creek.
• Waterfowl density and monitoring: Hay-Zama.