To read an article entitled, " Does Canada have the stomach to save sage grouse? please click on the highlighted words in this sentence. A key statement in this article is the following:
"If the sage grouse is allowed to disappear, ... it will be “the first case where the oil and gas industry has caused the extirpation of a species in Canada.”
We have to stop the Oil and Gas industry from causing the extinction of the Sage Grouse Species! If we do not it will be only the start and other plant and animal species will soon follow because of the selfishness and greed of Big Oil!
To learn more about the Sage Grouse species before you write to Ed Stelmach, please visit these websites:
http://www.srd.alberta.ca/FishWildlife/WildSpecies/Birds/GrouseRelatedBirds/GreaterSageGrouse.aspx
http://wwf.ca/conservation/species/sarrfo/grouse/
As stated in the document:http://fresc.usgs.gov/products/fs/fs-124-02.pdf
According to Steve Knick, a research ecologist at the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center:
"The negative impacts from loss of sagebrush habitat on sage grouse are indicative of what will happen to many other species of wildlife in these shrub-lands.“Sage grouse are being used as the poster species and as an indicator of fragmentation and loss of sagebrush ecosystems. The coupling of disturbance, invasion by exotic plant species, and human activities have changed the native vegetation communities and altered the form and function of these systems in such a way that sage grouse cannot exist as they once did.” Conservation of sagebrush steppe ecosystems will not only benefit sage grouse but also a variety of other birds, big-game species, and smaller animals such as the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) and sagebrush lizard (Sceloporus graciosus)."
Please write Premier Ed Stelmach using the form at this link and tell him that scientists are saying this about the Sage Grouse species and he has to stop development in the areas where the Sage Grouse are found in Alberta:
http://premier.alberta.ca/contact/contact.cfm
Thank you on behalf of the Sage Grouse species and all plant and animal species which would be affected if the Sage Grouse species becomes extinct!
This is a link to a short film produced for MT Audubon about the impact oil & gas development has on sage grouse,:
http://vimeo.com/groups/nature/videos/12285971
Source of image:http://trevorherriot.blogspot.com/2011/06/gas-development-pushs-greater-sage.html
