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Councillors in six northwestern Alberta municipalities are worried a “cookie-cutter” solution to dwindling caribou populations would cause a serious drag on the local forestry industry.

Each province and territory is required to develop caribou range plans by October, which the federal government will then adopt or reject. The plans are to help the threatened species’ low populations recover. Preliminary plans from the provincial government set aside 1.8 million hectares for permanent protection in Alberta’s northwest corner.

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After learning of the plan in 2016, councillors from six northwestern municipalities formed the Northwest Species at Risk Committee (NWSAR) to develop an alternative plan which doesn’t involve permanently protected areas.

Earlier this week NWSAR released a 117-page draft report which says the province’s proposed plan would result in 640 lost jobs in the forestry sector and a 38 per cent reduction in land base if required to leave lands undisturbed. There would be other impacts on the oil and gas and agriculture sectors.