AIRDRIE, Alta. – A plan to protect Alberta’s land and natural resources is underway, even as the provincial economy slows.
Provincial sustainable resource development minister Ted Morton said the land use framework was introduced to deal with Alberta’s rapid growth. He added the framework is still necessary during the recession because it gives the province a chance to pause.
Morton said he knows the strategy has been criticized for being short on specifics, but seven regions with major watersheds have been drawn up and advisory councils are being appointed to write plans for future land development.
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“Without trying to minimize the significance of climate change, lobby your MLA for equal time on water and land issues,” Morton said Feb. 27 in Airdrie during the annual meeting of Action for Agriculture, an organization for rural residents who want to protect agricultural land.
The government wants to integrate land and water needs for each region and provide direction for land and resource use that balances economic growth with social and environmental needs. Each plan should steer a region for 10 to 20 years.
“In 10 years, I anticipate there will be a whole revisiting of these regions and plans,” Morton said.
The first regional council was appointed in December for the Lower Athabasca Region, which covers an area from Bonnyville to Alberta’s northern border and includes Fort McMurray, Cold Lake and Lac la Biche.
The council remains in place until 2010, when the plan is to be completed.
A council for the South Saskatchewan River region is to be appointed in March. Councils for the final five regions will be named within the next two years.
All regions are likely to have subregions that will be assigned specific tasks.
More than 60 percent of land is privately owned in the South Saskatchewan region. It is also home to large tracts of wetlands, wildlife habitat, fisheries and forestry.
“The land use framework does have a focus on encouraging conservation and stewardship on private lands,” Morton said. “One of the reasons many of Alberta’s farmers and ranchers have been able to take care of the land is through conservation easements and land trusts.”
He wants to encourage more people to consider these agreements to protect land for future generations.
Morton also wants to introduce development credits and conservation offset plans, in which developers pay for habitat protection elsewhere. He hopes protection can be achieved voluntarily, but the new land-use legislation includes provisions to impose a conservation easement and compensate landowners.
Alan Gardner, manager of the Southern Alberta Land Trust, which works with landowners on conservation easements and other protection measures, hopes the framework provides guidelines on how diverse groups can work together for a good outcome.
Rural people tend not to trust energy companies or the government to work effectively on these projects, he said.