| The environment is the second biggest concern for Albertans after health care, according to a recent Canada West Foundation survey, but the Klein government still has not made it a priority to develop adequate land use policy, says the foundation’s Barry Worbets.
Worbets says there’s a growing disconnect between public concerns and government action on environmental issues.
"There is a real concern in Alberta with how we’re governing land and water," says Worbets. "A lot of issues our government is dealing with that got them elected 10 to 12 years ago, like cutting taxes, are off the radar screen."
Worbets spoke at a University of Calgary symposium on sustaining the grasslands ecosystem, put on by the Alberta Co-operative Conservation Research Unit, on April 19.
Up to this point, Worbets says the government has been focusing too much on fostering prosperity by developing non-renewable resources. Meanwhile, natural land hasn’t been valued enough.
Worbets says the government needs to start figuring out how to "manage our growth in a better and more deliberate way."
Alberta’s current multiple land use model isn’t working and needs to be changed, says Worbets. In many parts of the province, land use plans allow various land uses at the same time, such as forestry, ecotourism and ranching and the land uses often conflict. Worbets says the government has to determine what the priority land use should be in specific area and not allow other land use to jeopardize it.
He cites Alberta’s foothills as an example. Ranching should be designated as the primary land use and no other activity, such as oil and gas development, should be allowed unless it can proceed without hurting ranching, he says.
"The landowners need to have the ability to ensure land is protected and if oil and gas wants to go onto the land they’re going to have to take extraordinary measures," says Worbets. "You’re not saying no… but the status quo is not on in some of these areas."
Worbets is also critical of the fact that various government departments are responsible for land use planning.
"There’s no co-ordination or integration," he says. "It’s really coming back to haunt them."
Worbets says it will be a great loss to Albertans if unplanned growth continues to suck up more and more agriculture land and wilderness.
"I don’t want to drive to Banff in 30 years and just see billboards and subdivisions," he says.
Worbets says he also doesn’t want to see all the agricultural land disappear in the corridor between Calgary and Edmonton.
Brad Stelfox, of Forem Technology which focuses on sustainable resource development, also spoke at the symposium.
He says if Alberta’s population continues to increase at the same rate and industrial activity continues to escalate, Alberta could lose one-third of its remaining grasslands over the next century.
Oil and gas development is a particular concern, says Stelfox. Now that conventional oil and natural gas reserves are declining, industry will have to go after the reserves that are more difficult to access. And the industry is starting to focus on extracting natural gas from coal bed methane formations, which has created widespread environmental damage in the U.S. in recent years.
"The footprint will climb exponentially over the next few decades," he says.
The growing number of people living on acreages is also a problem. As well, as more agricultural land is lost to urban development, farmers may start cultivating what is now native prairie, says Stelfox.
Cormack Gates, an environmental science professor at the U of C, says Albertans are becoming increasingly concerned about protecting landscape and wild spaces as urban sprawl rapidly escalates.
"Albertans are beginning to understand the connection between landscape conservation and human well-being. It’s not all about economics," he says.
"We have to define what it is we want instead of allowing incremental growth to happen without vision." |
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