Alberta challenges Ottawa’s accounting in new Nature Strategy

Alberta Environment and Protected Areas Minister Grant Hunter says Ottawa’s new Nature Strategy fails to reflect provincial jurisdiction and does not properly account for how Alberta manages public land.

In a statement issued April 7, Hunter said Alberta supports protecting nature and biodiversity, but argued the federal framework relies on narrow definitions of protected land and overlooks broader landscapes that are actively managed for conservation, watershed protection, habitat preservation, agriculture, forestry, recreation and resource development.

Hunter said Alberta considers all publicly owned and regulated lands in its accounting, including land protected from development. By that measure, he said, the province is already exceeding the intent of Canada’s goal to conserve 30 per cent of land and water by 2030.

According to the province, nearly 60 per cent of Alberta’s land base, about 40 million hectares, is publicly managed Crown land. Hunter said that includes areas protected through parks and conservation designations, mountain and foothill regions, grazing leases, agricultural Crown land, forests and other working landscapes governed by strict land-use rules.

He said much of that land is in Alberta’s boreal forest and northern regions, which store carbon and protect water systems and biodiversity. Hunter added that industrial activity on those lands is tightly regulated and that Alberta’s approach has long balanced environmental protection with economic activity.

Hunter said Alberta expects Ottawa to recognize provincial jurisdiction and existing conservation outcomes as the federal government advances national targets.

He said conservation efforts will not succeed through what he called a one-size-fits-all approach and urged the federal government to respect regional realities and build on provincial expertise.