Wildlife, Hunting, and Trapping in the Regional Municpality of Wood Buffalo

Alberta's wildlife—the furbearers in particular—has played a pivotal role in Alberta’s history. Aboriginal people carried on a trade in furs many years before the first European in the region arrived in the mid-1700s. The fur trade and European settlement accelerated in the 1770s as competing fur trading companies built posts across Alberta.

Trapping and hunting continue to be important for recreation and sustenance in Alberta today. Trapping and hunting are reliant on sustainable wildlife populations, and with wildlife increasingly threatened by human impacts, understanding the habitat, reproductive, and resource requirements of wildlife has never been more important. This section describes Alberta’s wildlife resources and how they support the hunting and trapping industries, as well as the regulatory framework for managing these activities and their potential impacts on aquatic ecosystems. For more information see: