Protect the Athabasca Heartland

The Lower Athabasca Region is part of the Athabasca Heartland, which contains most of the last true unprotected wilderness in Alberta. The Athabasca Heartland contains Alberta Oil Sands — the world's largest energy project — as well as logging, mining and conventional oil and gas operations. It is one of the most threatened landscapes in Alberta.

A large portion of the Athabasca Heartland is included in the Lower Athabasca Integrated Regional Planning process (LAIRP) under the Province’s Land Use Framework.  Linking new conservation areas with Wood Buffalo National Park and the Caribou Mountains Wildland Park is a world-class conservation opportunity for Alberta. CPAWS is advocating for at least 50% protection of this vital landscape.

What makes the Athabasca Heartland so special?

• Is a vast storage area for carbon in its old forests and many peat lands.
• Has the most remaining roadless areas in Alberta.
• Contains a mosaic of aspen, pine, spruce and mixedwood forest, and a variety of wetlands.
• Harbours threatened species, including whooping cranes, woodland caribou, and wolverine.
• Is home to many species including: black bear, wolf, cougar, lynx, fisher, martin, migrant songbirds, woodpeckers, and owls.
• Contains the Athabasca River - one of the most diverse and productive river valley systems in Canada's mixedwood boreal forest.
• Includes the Peace-Athabasca Delta - one of the largest freshwater deltas in the world, and an internationally significant wetland for the thousands of breeding shorebirds.
• Holds important cultural value. Historically, the Athabasca River served as a key gateway to the north. It was first used by First Nations peoples and later by fur traders and European settlers. Today, it serves a variety of recreational paddlers and visitors to the region.

Campaign Objectives

• Achieving our full vision for the Athabasca Heartland will require an extended campaign. At this time we are focusing on three specific objectives:
• Establishment of additional large legislated protected areas in at least 50% of the region, focusing on ecosystems and biodiversity hotspots that are insufficiently represented in existing parks;
• Achievement of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest certification by the major forestry companies in the region, including the implementation of a meaningful old-growth strategy; and
• Establishment of a cap on linear disturbances across the entire region (applicable to roads, seismic lines, and pipelines) that is designed to maintain the ecological integrity

Opportunities for Success

• The key to the success of our campaign is that conservation planning can proceed without the intense conflicts over economic resources that have stymied protected area proposals elsewhere in the province. Factors include:
• Much of the Athabasca Heartland remains unallocated to the forest industry.
• The area has no significant mineral or hydro-electric potential and bitumen deposits only underlie 40% of the area.
• The largest forestry company in the Heartland, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries (Al-Pac), has committed to establishing new protected areas within its management area and is implementing state-of-the-art forestry practices.
• Al-Pac and Suncor Energy, a dominant petroleum company in the region, are signatories to the Canadian Boreal Conservation Framework and are committed to the establishment of new protected areas in the boreal.
• Much of the Heartland region lacks roads

The threat

Alberta is under massive developmental pressure from the oil and gas industry and forestry operations. Large areas of the boreal forest in Alberta already have been severely impacted.

Learn more about industrial impacts:

• CPAWS report on cumulative effects Alberta Oil Sands: Time to Pause, Monitor, and Plan – full report, executive summary
• CPAWS/Pembina Institute report Death by a Thousand Cuts released on the impacts of in-situ oil sands development on Alberta's Boreal Forest.
• Oil Sands Fever, The Environmental Implications of Canada's Oil Sands Rush, Pembina Institute

We need to establish a strong network of protected areas in order to conserve this valuable wilderness and give species, such as the threatened woodland caribou, a fighting chance for survival.

Solution

The Alberta government needs to:   

• Protect at least 50% of the Athabasca Heartland, including 50% of the Lower Athabasca Region, as consistent with boreal protection recommendations of aboriginal and environmental groups, scientists and progressive industry. 
• Institute strict rules for industrial practices on the remaining portions.
• Issue no new industrial leases of land within the Athabasca Heartland until the protected areas are established.
• Protect at least 50% of the Lower Athabasca Region in the new land use plan.

The revised Draft LAIRP Plan released in August does not go far enough to protect biodiversity and wilderness in the Heartland.

What CPAWS is doing

• Providing input to the Lower Athabasca Regional Planning process and asking for at least 50% protection of the area.
• Informing Albertans about the Lower Athabasca process and encouraging people to also support at least 50% protection of the area by writing a letter and signing a petition
• Working with Keepers of the Athabasca to gain community support.

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