The Government of Alberta has announced the release of the draft
Lower Athabasca Regional Plan.
According to the draft plan, approximately 16% of the Lower
Athabasca region will be designated as a conservation area. This is
in addition to the existing six per cent of the region already
protected as wildland provincial parks. As a result of the plan,
the Lower Athabasca region will contain more than two million
hectares of legislatively protected lands – a 20,000
square kilometre area, three times the size of Banff National
Park.
The plan states that the development of oil sands, minerals and
commercial forestry will not be compatible with the management
intent of these conservation areas. Therefore, certain existing
leases, including leases where projects are already in development,
will be revoked if the plan is implemented. Leases subject to
cancellation will be compensated, including refunds for payments
made to the Crown for the leases, development and
