2018 Emerald Awards

The Waterton Biosphere Reserve is excited to announce that the Carnivores and Communities Program (CACP) has been nominated for the 2018 Emerald Awards.

For the past 27 years, the Emerald Awards have recognized and celebrated the outstanding environmental achievements of large and small businesses, individuals, not-for-profit associations, community groups, youth, and governments.

In 2009, the CACP was initiated by the Waterton Biosphere Reserve in response to increasing conflicts between large carnivores (bears, wolves, cougars) and agricultural land uses in southwestern Alberta. The CACP benefits both people and large carnivores. The program is a multi-faceted community-based approach which identifies key sources of human wildlife conflicts, designs practical solutions to improve attractant management, reduces the economic impacts of large carnivores on agricultural producers, and enhances the safety of residents. Initiatives include: electric fencing projects, grain bin replacements and feed storage retrofits, removal of dead livestock from the landscape, and bear safety workshops for agricultural families.

Congratulations to all the landowners, land managers, local partners, funders and organizations who have supported the CACP over the years. Your commitment and hard work on helping reduce and mitigate conflicts that can occur when people and carnivores share the same landscape is being recognized !

The program is a provincial success story of different people and perspectives working together through partnership organizations and levels of government to facilitate the coexistence of people and large carnivores.

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