Overview
Alberta’s sub-regional plans are a key component of the province’s approach to supporting caribou recovery while maintaining a working landscape and supporting a broad range of land uses and values including conversation, indigenous traditional use, recreation and economic development.
Woodland caribou are listed as Threatened under both the federal Species at Risk Act and the provincial Wildlife Act. Without effective and immediate action, we risk losing this important and culturally significant species.
The Upper Smoky sub-region is located within the Upper Peace region which currently does not have a regional plan. For this reason, we are proposing to incorporate the Upper Smoky Sub-regional Plan and regulatory details as amendments to the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan until the Upper Peace Regional Plan comes into effect.
The Upper Smoky Sub-regional Plan is the third plan to be engaged on of the 11 sub-regional plans covering 15 caribou ranges in Alberta. The Cold Lake and Bistcho Lake sub-regional plans were the first 2 plans to be approved. Feedback on the regulatory details for each of the Cold Lake Sub-regional Plan and the Bistcho Lake Sub-regional Plan and the associated Lower Athabasca Regional Plan amendments is being carefully reviewed and considered before finalization.
Albertans will have opportunities to share feedback on the sub-regional plans as they are developed and released in support of sub-regional planning areas across the province. These plans are informed by recommendations provided by the Caribou sub-regional task forces.
Key features
The 3 key features of the sub-regional plans are:
- guidance on the placement and duration of footprint from human activities, including roads, oil and gas development, timber harvest, geophysical exploration, surface material extraction, and recreation
- restoration of legacy footprint (for example, seismic lines) no longer contributing to economic activities in the sub-region to create more intact caribou habitat without affecting current industrial activity
- monitoring environmental and socio-economic indicators to improve understanding of whether the plan is achieving its outcomes and what changes may be required during the review period.
