Caribou range plans are being developed for Alberta’s 15 caribou ranges located on public lands, covering approximately 23% of Alberta and 38% of Alberta’s public lands. The intent of the caribou range plans is to ensure the survival of caribou populations, which are currently in decline in all 15 ranges, through habitat management requirements as outlined by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
Due to the vast areas in which the ranges cover, caribou range planning areas in Alberta overlap with numerous First Nation and Métis groups, municipalities and stakeholders within the forest and oil and gas sectors. As a result, this program requires intensive public and stakeholder engagement in order to identify and address how caribou range planning may affect Indigenous communities and stakeholders within the planning areas. Other planning initiatives that cover large areas are now reaching a point that there is a need to use a formal tracking tool for engagement activities that is consistent and robust. There will be ongoing needs throughout the branch and division for current and ongoing projects.
The purpose of the project is to procure an Engagement tool to manage data, tracking and reporting associated with the required engagement process for Indigenous and stakeholders. This will allow efficient data management, tracking and reporting of engagement activities to Alberta Environment and Park’s Executive regarding feedback and status of engagement with Indigenous Peoples, stakeholders, and the general public perspectives for caribou range planning across the province. The tool will ideally aid in the planning of engagement activities and efficient data sharing across the planning team regarding Indigenous and stakeholder engagement activities undertaken to date. This tool would have to accommodate a minimum of 20 users with an option to add users.
Deliverables for this project include:
• (If applicable) software package development;
• Software package (functionality);
• Data must reside in Canada;
• Customize to meet the regulatory needs of Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) Planning Branch
• Maintenance and updating;
• Introductory presentation to GoA staff;
• Training users on software; and
• Project meetings with contractor.
The immediate use of the software will be to manage and maintain engagement activities on the caribou range planning file. There is however potential to use this software with other planning initiatives that require the management of data, tracking and reporting of public and stakeholder engagement processes within the Policy and Planning Division. The software must be able to manage input on multiple planning projects while also being able to link and cross-reference common stakeholders and organizations. Examples of other initiatives could include planning for regional initiatives, recreation management, lake management and human footprint.
