Seeking answers to key questions

AOHVA WANTS TO KNOW HOW SCIENCE IS BEING USED TO MAKE LAND-USE DECISIONS IN ALBERTA GUEST COLUMN

Science-based decisions should be based on relevant science, not opinion and ideology. Science figures prominently in discussions relating to recreation on public lands — as it should.

In her January 2017 announcement of the Castle Parks, you may recall Minister Shannon Phillips repeatedly and emphatically stating, “The science tells us…” that eliminating recreational activity on public land is the right thing to do.

The Alberta Off-Highway Vehicle Association (AOHVA) believes that Albertans have the right to see the science, review it and receive clarification from the government as to how it is being used to create an exclusionary formula that sets prohibitive linear disturbance (eg: trails, pipelines, powerlines, roads, etc.) thresholds which, in turn, will impact any and all activity on public lands. Only in Alberta is linear disturbance used as the primary planning tool for public land use. Other jurisdictions consider it to be just one of a number of tools to guide such decision making.

AOHVA is not opposed to the inclusion of linear disturbance as part of the planning process — our concern stems from the way it is determined and applied. Since 2015, AOHVA has been asking Minister Phillips questions many Albertans might like to know the answers to, including: 1. Who is making the decisions as to how public land use is changing? 2. Who is tasked with establishing the criteria and creating the formula to determine linear disturbance thresholds? 3. How is the linear disturbance threshold determined and how is it being applied on the landscape? 4. What scientific data is being used to drive these decisions and why is it not accessible to Albertans?

The government is eerily silent on the subject. As of today, a scientific report previously promised by the government has not yet been delivered, nor have our questions specific to linear disturbance been answered. However, Minister Phillips has proceeded to close vast amounts of public land to motorized recreation from the Castle on up through the eastern slopes. It seems as though decisions made by the government under the guise of science are not really based on science after all. Instead, they reflect a personal ideology fuelled by the influence of foreign-funded ENGOs (environmental non-governmental organizations) whose mandates include the removal of human activity from Alberta’s backcountry.

While awaiting the official Chief Scientist’s report, the AOHVA Environmental Literature Review Committee (ELRC) reviewed documentation that the Government of Alberta cited as the basis to make important decisions. ELRC members found that while the studies, conducted in the U.S. and overseas, are accurate when applied as intended, they actually contain no relevant data to support decisions made to restrict or ban recreation on public lands in Alberta. Rather, Government of Alberta advisers took valid data from vastly different geographic regions and parameters and applied it, albeit out of context, to the Alberta landscape.

If the ELRC was able to identify inconsistencies in the application of valid data with decisions made to reduce or eliminate recreation in the backcountry, why has it not been acknowledged by the academic community? Albertans need not be intimidated by the words of ENGOs and academics who are shielded and emboldened by the words “peerreviewed science.” We want the facts, not platitudes and condescending comments from “experts” who cherry pick through other peoples’ work to prop up a predetermined outcome.

The Government of Alberta is enacting the biggest change to land use in the province in over 30 years. That is a big deal for Albertans. So, AOHVA will keep asking the questions until the government provides the answers. Albertans have a right to know how science is used to guide important decisions impacting how we live, work and play. We should never hesitate to ask our government for the information we need to assess and either accept or challenge decisions imposed on us.

Brent Hodgson is president of the Alberta Off-Highway Vehicle Association (AOHVA). Visit AOHVA.com for more information.