Pearl Lorentzen
Lakeside Leader
Walter Andreeff, from Slave Lake, is involved in environmental stewardship in his work for Métis Nation of Alberta (MNA) Region 5. Recently, he was a panelist at an international conference on biodiversity called COP15.
COP15 stands for the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
“I’m part of a panel that is going to talk about caribou in Canada from the perspective of Indigenous people,” said Andreeff before he left for the conference in December.
MNA Region 5 covers a large swath of Alberta. It starts south of Slave Lake and High Prairie and continues northwest almost to Peace River. It ends south of La Créte. It Includes Slave Lake, High Prairie, McLennan, Wabasca, Red Earth Creek, and surrounding communities. The eastern portion of this region includes four caribou ranges. The Nipisi, Slave Lake, Red Earth Creek, and West Athabasca herds.
“Numbers are going down and some are just staying stable,” says Andreeff. “But numbers are really down from historical numbers.”
Asked about the cultural and food value of caribou, Andreeff says, “according to people I’ve spoken to over the years, caribou would be the last hunted for food.”
Part of this is there isn’t a lot of meat on a caribou, he adds. However, caribou are an important indicator species. They favour old growth forests as they eat lichen and mushrooms. Lichen is their biggest food source in winter. If the forest is healthy, there will be enough food for the caribou.
However, in the boreal forest around Slave Lake, Wabasca and Red Earth Creek over the last 30 years there has been a lot of industrial activity, says Andreeff. This includes oil and gas and forestry.
The industry impacts are “overprinted with the effects of climate change,” he adds. Wildfire also disrupt the caribou’s habitat, he adds. “We’ve had monster fires in this region over five to 10 years. Their habitat, particularly the Nipisi herd’s has really been affected, so it’s been hard on them.”
Another issue that faces the caribou is predation. Wolves eat a lot of caribou.
The province of Alberta has a wolf management program in the Slave Lake area, says Andreeff.
M.D. of Opportunity also has a wolf bounty.
When it comes to caribou, Andreeff is working closely with the Canadian government and one industrial business.
“We’re currently working closely with TC Energy in several areas,” says Andreeff. “They have an Indigenous working group to talk about the Red Earth Creek Caribou Range. They have utilized our monitors on several projects putting wildlife cameras in the bush … The rest of industry they do not connect with us.”
One of the results of work with TC Energy is that a local Métis hunter has been trained to set up wildlife cameras. He’ll be using this knowledge as part of a Region 5 caribou monitoring project, which is expected to start January 2023 in the Red Earth Creek Caribou Range.
“At the community level, we have people who know the land,” says Andreeff. The goal is to use this knowledge to set up camera traps in areas where caribou are present.
Also, Andreeff is a Métis representative on the National Boreal Caribou Knowledge Consortium (NBCKC). This is connected with the Canadian government.
NBCKC is a collaboration between Indigenous knowledge keepers and government of Canada scientists.
“I feel proud to be a member of that community and represent our region,” says Andreeff.
Andreeff is on three NBCKC committees – Indigenous knowledge, restoration, and monitoring.
Andreeff also recently became part of an other Canadian government initiative as an Indigenous representative.
“I also sit on another committee called the Circle of Experts,” he says. “We are putting together a discussion paper on Indigenous cooperation agreements.”
This has to do with impact assessments for any new projects. Impact assessments include economic, ecological, cultural and other impacts of a proposed activity or industry. At the moment, most of this process is between the government and the company making the application.
Andreeff says, “We (the Circle of Experts) want to provide opportunities for Indigenous governing bodies to potentially take over much of the role from the federal government of managing impact assessments.”
Andreeff hasn’t received an invitation from the provincial government to collaborate on caribou conservation.
The federal and provincial governments have an agreement that Alberta will take the lead on caribou conservation. In 2021, the province announced that sub-regional caribou plans for the Nipisi and Slave Lake herds would start in 2022. In Jan. 2022, the expected start was the end of 2022.
Asked about these caribou range plans, Andreeff said in December, “if they are working on it, they’re not involving us.”
The Leader reached out again to the province to see if the sub-range plans process had started.
In response, James Penner, communications advisor with Alberta Environment and Parks says, “Alberta remains committed to caribou recovery and has finalized sub-regional plans for the Cold Lake and Bistcho areas. Timelines and next steps regarding Alberta’s sub-regional planning work, including the sub-region that covers the Slave Lake and Nipisi caribou ranges, will be set later this winter. Although timelines have shifted, our process for completing this work remains the same, with caribou sub-regional task forces providing recommendations to government to inform the development of a sub-regional plan.”
Recently, both Andreeff and Region 5 vice-president Hilda Lambert attended an Alberta government Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP) 10-year review meeting.
LARP was the first regional plan under Alberta’s land-use framework, says the Alberta government’s website. It was approved in 2012. The lower Athabasca includes Lac La Biche, Calling Lake and eastern Alberta north past Fort McMurray all the way to the border with the Northwest Territories, excluding Wood Buffalo National Park.
“We sit in the meetings,” says Andreeff. “We voice our concerns (however, it) seems like the (provincial) government isn’t listening.”
“In the meant time, I think there are opportunities here,” he adds. “If the (provincial) government opens their hearts to engage with the Métis and all Indigenous people.”
The provincial Upper Athabasca Region Plan hasn’t been started. It will cover the area around Wabasca, the Lesser Slave Lake region, part of Utikuma Lake, and the upper half of the Athabasca River watershed. It ends at the border with Jasper National Park, close to the river’s source in the Rocky Mountains.
