| Most people are so taken by the scenery as they barrel down Highway 22 through the rolling foothills of southern Alberta that they barely notice the grasslands surrounding them.
But that grass is the lifeblood of Stephen Hughes and about 40 other ranchers in the region (including country musician Ian Tyson) who have come togther under the mantle of the Pekisko Land Owners Association in an attempt to preserve the area from development. Most of those involved are like Hughes, who says he’s not "a tree hugger or a hot-head," but together they have managed to become a formidable group of unlikely activists.
Of course, they scoff at that description – first and foremost, these are families who work the land for a living, not people who chain themselves to old-growth timber. They are fighting to save their livelihoods, their heritage and their families' lifestyle. But the battle they've taken up is also one of conservation.
Hughes and his family run Chinook Ranch, one of the few grazing operations uses only native grasses. The picturesque ranch near Longview is surrounded by the largest undisturbed fescue grassland in North America. Hughes says the area was custom-built by nature for grazing, thanks to thousands of years of seasonal feedings by the massive herds of buffalo that once roamed the prairies.
For generations, the Hughes family and their ranching neighbours have utilized those grasses for cattle grazing – they don’t need to bring in winter feed and they don’t use any pesticides or fertilizer. Hughes was recently awarded an Environmental Stewardship Award from the Alberta Cattle Commission for his operation, and his neighbours have won similar accolades. A tree hugger might call this type of ranch a perpetually sustainable, low environmental-impact operation.
But the land that supports the Pekisko Land Owners Association is under threat from oil and gas activity, as well as from other development. Hughes says the area has remained largely ignored by petroleum companies mostly because its topography made it so difficult to develop. That may now be changing.
Outside of northern Alberta's oilsands, the province’s supply of petroleum is vanishing faster than most people realize – a recent report by the Canadian Gas Potential Committee says gas production in Alberta will likely peak in 2003, then begin a constant decline, leaving an ever-increasing gap between supply and demand. The same report says that Alberta's known supply of gas will decline by about 70 per cent in a mere 15 years.
The end of the province’s gas dream may be near, but that doesn't mean petroleum companies are giving up. They are beefing up exploration and heading to one of the last places of untapped petroleum potential in the province – the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Late last year, Hughes and his neighbours formed the Pekisko Land Owners Association to fight a drilling proposal in the area – a high-profile horseback press conference prompted Vermillion Resources Ltd. to withdraw their application only two weeks before an Alberta Energy and Utility Board (EUB) hearing into the matter.
But other applications are almost inevitable. Several companies own mineral rights in the area, and experimental coalbed methane wells are already in operation in the Palliser region of southern Alberta. Such operations are seen by some as the future of gas production in North America, but they have stirred up major conflicts in some regions of the U.S., largely because of the huge amounts of destructive salt water that are produced in the process. And with EUB approval seen as a rubber-stamping formality for the petroleum industry, people believe it’s likely only a matter of time before big oil comes knocking again.
Hughes doesn't pretend the land is completely virgin, but he worries that such development will infringe on his grazing land and introduce destructive invading grass species, spelling the end of the land that has sustained his family for years.
"This is an intact system that can't be restored," Hughes says. "It's a functioning, sustainable grassland system. People should be aware that if we take care of this, it's here forever…. But when it's gone, it's gone."
Ken Stiles, another member of the Pekisko Land Owners Association, says the benefits of preserving the area extend beyond those who make a living from the land. He says the grasslands absorb huge amounts of carbon, house top-level animal predators (which is a sign of a healthy ecosystem), hold a major part of the province's ranching heritage and are a visually stunning example of Alberta landscape.
"Most industrial development, from oil and gas to timber and even residential development… all of those act as disturbances to those native grasses," Stiles says. "The one thing those native grasses can't take is disturbance.
"We can put a man on the moon, but we can't restore those grasses."
Both Hughes and Stiles say the group is not specifically targeting the petroleum industry – Hughes says there is also "tremendous pressure" for development from towns and cities – but one of their most immediate goals is a moratorium on oil and gas development in the region, at least until better methods of reclaiming the native grassland are developed.
"Are we against oil and gas? No. I don't think there's any one of us that doesn’t have a vehicle of some sort. We recognize the importance of petroleum products," Stiles says. "The problem is, instead of just going full-blast, full-bore, we need to take a look at what is there."
Stiles and Hughes talk softly about the oil and gas industry, and perhaps for good reason – anyone who questions the petroleum industry in Alberta runs the risk of being labelled a hypocrite, unless they live an impossible petroleum-free existence. They’re simply hoping for an amicable end to their quest for preservation.
"We've had a hard time trying not to pick on the oil and gas industry," Hughes says. "The oil and gas industry is pretty used to getting what they want – and I'm not saying that to be critical, that's just the way it is. But we're trying to look at the bigger issue."
That bigger issue is something the Pekisko Land Owners Association is also asking Albertans to think about. It's a question of the smartest use of the land in the long run – oil and gas development will generate money for a limited amount of time, but will destroy an industry that can exist forever.
"This is bigger than us. It's bigger than me," Hughes says. "This is a sustainable, regenerative area. You can't say that about many places on this continent. Is it worth preserving this area?"
There is no doubt that they’ll be expressing their opinion on the matter when the next development application comes forward. |
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