“Any destabilizations in the current NCDE grizzly population will further undermine the grizzly population in Alberta, which in the Spring of 2015 reached an all-time low. With fewer than 700 grizzly bears remaining in fragmented pockets of diminishing habitat, if the current trends continue, some projections show that the grizzly in Alberta could be on the verge of extinction in as few as fifty-years. Alberta is the heartland of the Blackfoot Confederacy, and we cannot stand by and watch our ancestors’ legacy pass into oblivion with the sacred grizzly bear, and see our children and future generations robbed once more of a vital part of their culture – that which is represented by the sacred and spiritual power of the grizzly bear.

 

The leaders of the Blackfoot Confederacy have always made decisions that reflect the best interests of all of our people and our future generations. Those interests are best served today by opposing the USFWS’s drive to delist the grizzly bear from ESA protections.”

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From – Piikani Nation Chief and Council to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, July 20, 2015    

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