The Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP) will define how land is used across the region, from conservation, to recreation, to industrial, uses. The provincial government is in the process of creating a plan for the future of Alberta’s lands, and they’re asking for the help of Albertans as the draft plan goes before the public in a series of public consultations, with Lac La Biche residents getting their say on April 28.
The new legislation falls under the mandate of Sustainable Resource Development Minister Mel Knight, who says this third round of public consultations on the draft plan have been “going along really well, actually.”
For Knight, one of the highlights of the LARP, the first of several regional plans to be developed, is the use of cumulative effects management, which looks at the effects of industrial activity on the land, air and water, as well as its socio-economic impacts. This is the first plan in the province to do so.
“It’s pretty leading edge,” said the minister, adding that protecting endangered species like the woodland caribou is an important part of the plan.
An area within the Athabasca Region – which includes Lac La Biche and north to Fort McMurray – that is three times the size of Banff National Park will be set aside for conservation. That land has been carefully selected, said Knight, to ensure that it is the land best suited for conservation of what he calls “iconic” species like the woodland caribou.
“I think we should put aside the right piece of real estate for the right purpose at the right time,” he said.
But that doesn’t mean halting development, and while some of the proposed conservation lands will be lands currently held in oil company leases, those companies will be compensated for the loss of revenue, he said. Other companies and individuals impacted by the changes in land use will also be compensated.
For a chance to have a say in the future land uses of the region, people are being urged to attend one of the public sessions, or to download the information and workbook for the Alberta SRD website, at landuse.alberta.ca.
