Despite being the largest national park in Canada, Wood Buffalo faces overwhelming threats from upstream industrial development and climate change. It now risks losing its international status as a World Heritage Site.
About Wood Buffalo National Park
Wood Buffalo National Park is listed as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), recognizing its outstanding international importance and deserving of special protection.
Ecological and Cultural Importance
Its outstanding ecological characteristics include the largest Great Plains-Boreal Grassland ecosystem in North America where the relationship between wolves and wood bison remain untouched, the provision of breeding habitat for the endangered whooping crane, and, the inland delta, salt plains, and gypsum karst that support a great concentration of migratory wildlife.
Pembina Institute, David Dodge CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Take Action
Speak up for Wood Buffalo National Park
CPAWS continues to support Wood Buffalo’s potential listing as a World Heritage Site ‘in Danger’, until federal and provincial governments show strong progress towards addressing cumulative threats and achieve meaningful co-management of the park.
Threats to Wood Buffalo National Park
Despite its size and global significance, Wood Buffalo is increasingly threatened by activities beyond its borders in addition to increasing development that inches closer to the park. The contribution of each project adds up when considering them all together.
Climate Change
As a sensitive, high latitude freshwater delta, Wood Buffalo is especially sensitive to climate change impacts. Any further reductions in freshwater availability will compound the existing impacts from human activities and exacerbate ecological degradation.Hydropower Projects
Upstream dams on the Peace River alter natural water flows into the Peace-Athabasca Delta, contributing to long-term drying and degradation of the delta. The recent completion of the Site C dam adds even more stress on the Peace River, altering the naturally fluctuating water levels.Tailings Ponds
Tailings ponds threaten the integrity of the park via spills, leaks, water withdrawals, and tailings management failures.Scientific evidence shows that Alberta’s tailings ponds are leaking uncontrollably and seeping tailings fluid has been detected alarmingly close to the Athabasca River waters, which feeds directly into Wood Buffalo National Park. Tailings also risk the lives of migratory birds that must fly over the oil sands region to reach the Peace-Athabasca Delta every year to breed.Oilsands
Oil sands projects upstream of the Park use significant amounts of water diverted from the Athabasca River for processing and refining bitumen. These projects can incidentally expose the waters and air with contaminants and toxins that impact downstream communities and the Park.Forestry
Logging that occurs outside the Park still affects species-at-risk inside the Park as wildlife travel freely inside and outside of the Park's borders. When Wood Buffalo National Park was first established, commercial logging persisted along both major rivers inside the Park, removing major portions of valuable and rare forest types until CPAWS successfully campaigned to end commercial logging in the Park in 1992.Weak Regulatory Rules
Effective provincial regulations are necessary to suitably address environmental risks of operations in the oil sands. However, even existing regulations can be inconsistent. Current federal and provincial governments are considering permitting the release of “treated” tailings effluent into the Athabasca River, raising significant concerns from surrounding Indigenous communities and environmental groups.
Photo: Pembina Institute, David Dodge CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
A National Park at Risk
1983
Wood Buffalo National Park was designated a World Heritage Site in 1983.
2014
With longstanding concerns about the deterioration of the park, the Mikisew Cree First Nation formally petitioned the UN body in 2014 to have the site listed as a World Heritage Site in Danger – a step that could help trigger corrective action and international attention.
In the years following this petition, Canada carried out several actions to help restore the ecological health of the park, including:
2016
Inviting a reactive monitoring mission by the UN;
2017
Completing a strategic environmental assessment of the cumulative impacts on the park;
2018
A $27.5 million investment;
2019
The development of an Action Plan, and;
2020
An additional $59.9 million funded in the park.
2022
UNESCO’s Reactive Monitoring Mission in 2022 confirmed the park’s deteriorating condition and put forward 17 recommendations, cautioning that without action, Wood Buffalo National Park could be designated as a World Heritage Site in Danger.
2026
To confirm whether key measures have been implemented, assess whether degradation has been reversed, and determine if the Park meets the criteria for inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger, another Reactive Monitoring Mission has been scheduled for August 2026.
An Action Plan For Wood Buffalo
Parks Canada completed a comprehensive Action Plan (2019) to guide recovery efforts, with 142 outlined measures. The Plan depends on collaboration with the Government of Alberta, the Government of British Columbia, and the Government of Northwest Territories.
Since its release in 2019, environmental groups and Indigenous groups have been vocal about the need for faster and more urgent implementation of the Action Plan. CPAWS feels it is especially important that Parks Canada prioritize the actions pertaining to:
- Establishing water management agreements and governance structures to address shared responsibilities and power, and monitoring and science capacity by Indigenous communities;
- The initiation and completion of a Tailings Risk Assessment;
- Progress on the development of protocols and parameters for timed releases of water on the Peace River to sustain the delta’s ecological integrity and Indigenous rights; and,
- Allocating significant resources for Action Plan implementation.
Public pushback needed to oppose new threats to Wood Buffalo
With the future of Wood Buffalo National Park and its Peace-Athabasca Delta in a precarious state, a constant vigilance is needed to ensure new threats to the Park do not pop up. This means CPAWS Northern Alberta keeps an eye on new or growing stressors outside the park's borders, such as new projects in the oil sands region.
For example, the proposed Teck Frontier open-pit oil sands mine project would have contributed a 290 sq-km footprint just 30 kilometers south of the Park, making it the closest oil sands development to the Park, ever. The project did not move forward thanks to the passionate and overwhelming opposition from the public.
David Dodge, The Pembina Institute, CC-BY-SA 2.0
ENGO Reactive Monitoring Mission Presentations
As a part of the 2022 Reactive Monitoring Mission’s investigation, ENGOs (environmental non-governmental organizations) had the opportunity to present their concerns regarding Wood Buffalo National Park’s integrity.
Presenters included Gillian Chow-Fraser from CPAWS Northern Alberta, Carolyn Campbell from the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA), Adam Norris from the Mighty Peace Watershed Alliance, and Dr. Cheryl Chetkiewicz from Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada, with comments from the University of Victoria Environmental Law Clinic and Keepers of the Water.
Download a copy of their presentations here.
Learn more
Resources
Why a ‘World Heritage Site in Danger’ listing might be the cure for the deteriorating Wood Buffalo National Park
The Key to Saving Wood Buffalo: Re-imagined Governance and Power Sharing
A Brief Indigenous History of Wood Buffalo National Park
© Wood Buffalo National Park collection, IUCNweb, CC-BY-SA 2.0
Take Action
Speak up for Wood Buffalo National Park
CPAWS continues to support Wood Buffalo’s potential listing as a World Heritage Site ‘in Danger’, until federal and provincial governments show strong commitments to addressing cumulative threats and achieve meaningful co-management of the park. Join our newsletter to stay up to date.
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