As an
illustration of broadening participation in environmental preservation and land
reclamation, consider a letter to Alberta’s Deputy Minister of Renewable
Resources on October 6th, 1982. The recipient of the letter was Fred
McDougall; its author was Cheryl Bradley – then president of the Alberta
Wilderness Association. Bradley’s letter conveyed a proposal to create a
protected wildland at Rumsay, Alberta. The product of wide-ranging collaboration,
the AWA had consulted with representatives of the Canadian Petroleum
Association, the Energy Resources Conservation Board, and Alberta’s Department
of Energy and Natural Resources.
The document described 70
sections of land near Rumsey as “the biggest continuous block of undisturbed
Aspen Parkland remaining in Canada, perhaps in Canada.” This was “alarming,”
she said, because “Aspen Parkland once stretched over 100,000 square miles in
the Prairie Provinces.” The AWA recommended “Ecological Reserve designation”
for the 13 sections in the northern part of the block “for scientific research
purposes,” she said. “The remainder of the block (57 sections) is an attractive
mosaic of grasslands, woodlands and wetlands, on a rolling glacial moraine, and
constitutes a unique scenic wildland heritage.”
Concerned
about potential land disturbance from seismic activity, oil and gas drilling,
road building and pipeline construction, the AWA proposal was a masterpiece of
diplomacy. It recognized that oil and gas companies had valid leases in the
area, and therefore the right to develop those resources. So working with the
industry it made careful and thoughtful recommendations. Drill sites should be
“topographically positioned to minimize the amount of cut and fill required to
level the site and to minimize detrimental aesthetic impact,” it said. “Some
areas may preclude drilling because of particularly steep terrain.”
The AWA recommended
avoiding wetland habitats and sites with “rare or sensitive flora and fauna.”
The group also recommended directional drilling “if a significantly more
environmentally suitable site can be used because of it,” and suggested
modifying size and shape of drilling site to minimize surface impact. The
organization’s recommendations were extensive, and extremely knowledgeable. For
example, drilling in winter would eliminate “the need for large clearing to
satisfy fire safety standards.” Elsewhere, it recommended that the cleared area
“be allowed to revegetate with native vegetation rather than exotic
species….Where erosion of a site poses a serious problem then species should be
selected which allow subsequent natural invasion by natural species.”
The AWA saw
road-building as potentially the most destructive of the major activities
associated with petroleum development. “Impacts can be long-term in that
motorized access is provided to areas which were previously inaccessible,” the
AWA said. Therefore, operators should
use existing roads and trails “unless they were poorly planned
environmentally.” Recognizing that new roads and trails would likely be needed,
the group recommended blending into the landscape by “following natural
contours, keeping cut and fill to a minimum…and making roads no wider than
absolutely necessary.”
Peter McKenzie-Brown
