Entries tagged "oil sands"

Alberta's Athabasca Heartland - A world class conservation opportunity for caribou and you

Feb 03, 2010

You may have read in the news yesterday Woodland caribou under threat in oilsands area, group says. Alberta’s Athabasca Heartland contains most of Alberta’s last unprotected intact wildness which is home to an amazing variety of plants and animals such as woodland caribou, wolverine, old growth forests, and peat lands. It is also the home of the Alberta oil sands , as well as other development such as logging and conventional oil and gas operations.

For the first time in over 10 years, the Alberta government will be identifying and creating new protected areas in the province --starting with the Lower Athabasca Region. What an incredible conservation opportunity! The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) wants the Alberta Government to protect at least 50% of the region by establishing a strong network of protected areas to conserve this valuable wilderness and give species, such as the threatened woodland caribou, a fighting chance for survival.

To learn more about the issues and proposed solutions visit the CPAWS Northern Alberta Chapter’s website or watch this great video prepared by the Chapter and sign the petition to protect Alberta’s last great intact wilderness for caribou and you:

(watch video on YouTube)

The Saskatchewan boom

Jan 07, 2008

Talk about a mixed blessing.  Record oil prices could bring an oil sands boom to Saskatchewan to rival neighbour Alberta's.  It's great for the economy, but not so hot for wildlife.  Oil sands development has a big footprint on the Boreal Forest and its ability to counteract climate change.

CPAWS' Colleen Rickard expressed her concerns to the Edmonton Journal:

"You're going to be impacting huge areas," said Rickard.

It begins in the exploration stage with large amounts of drilling and seismic activity, along with the infrastructure that entails, she said.

"Then they build the well-pad sites, which is the point at which those horizontal wells are actually set into the ground and then down into the formation. And every one of those well-pad sites clears an area of the forest," she said.

"Once they pull the bitumen out of the ground, they need other pipes. So there's lots of things on the surface all over the place covering a huge area."

That has a huge effect on wildlife such as woodland caribou and bird species, said Rickard.

Will Saskatchewan learn from Alberta's example, and balance short-term economic growth with the long-term protection of the Boreal?  Land use plans for the province's Boreal are inadequate to deal with the coming boom, so there's reason to doubt it.  CPAWS Saskatchewan is on the case, though, so check back for updates.

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