When resource companies enter natural areas, their good intentions to camp without a trace only succeed if others follow the same practices.
Alpac Forest Products Inc. is piloting an integrated landscape management program with energy companies and Ducks Unlimited.
Company ecologist Mark Spafford admits they are only scratching the surface in their understanding of how major industrial development affects the environment, particularly surface and ground water.
He told a water conference in Calgary on Oct. 14 that the main challenge for companies is to minimize their industrial footprint.
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Partners in the pilot project have agreed to use watershed areas as planning regions rather than an artificial boundary such as a township.
They plan to reduce or remove cumulative effects of industrial activity in a sensitive environment such as northern Alberta.
The largest pulp company of its kind in North America, Alpac holds a licence to log an area the size of one township per year in northern Alberta.
Within its licensed area, 58 percent of the landbase cannot be harvested because of rivers, wetlands and other natural obstacles.
As well, the area is crisscrossed with roads, pipelines and bridges, which affect natural water drainage patterns and ground water flows.
As part of its strategy, Alpac is looking for resilient land types that can support industry and then devise best management practices to promote minimal disturbance while still allowing industrial activity.
At the same time, it wants to identify sensitive and resilient watersheds.
“We are going to reduce the amount and duration of industrial footprint,” Spafford said.
