The Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) measures and reports on the state of biodiversity and human footprint across the province. This report presents data on several indicators of environmental health for the Athabasca Oil Sands Area (AOSA) in Alberta, and for two subregions within the AOSA: the Active In-situ Oil Sands Region (Active In-situ Region) and the Surface Mineable Oil Sands Region (Mineable Region).
The AOSA makes up 14% of Alberta’s land area and is similar in size to the State of Maine and three times larger than Vancouver Island. The AOSA is situated within the Boreal Forest Natural Region; this heavily forested region is naturally regulated by disturbances like fire and insect outbreaks, which results in a patchy mixture of young and old forest across the landscape.
As of 2010, human footprint covered 6.8% of the AOSA land base. Forest harvesting represented the largest human footprint category at 3.1% of the region. Human footprint in the Active In-situ Region was 7.7%, whereas it was 20.8% in the Mineable Region. Energy infrastructure was the largest human footprint type in the Mineable Region at 16.8%.
Overall, 9% of the AOSA is managed as protected areas. The ABMI assessed the status (current condition) of over 350 species in the AOSA, Active In-situ Region, and Mineable Region and found the Biodiversity Intactness Index to be, on average, 94%, 91%, and 86% for each of the regions, respectively. The high intactness value for the AOSA is due to its relatively low human footprint. In the Mineable Region, where human footprint is higher, the biodiversity intactness is 8% lower. Even though active surface mines have a biodiversity intactness near 0%, much of the land base in the Mineable Region is not currently developed. These undeveloped areas have higher biodiversity intactness.
At present, the biggest ecological change in the AOSA is associated with higher-than-expected abundances of species that thrive in areas with human development, such as the Coyote and Song Sparrow.
Additional results of note include:
• Species that prefer old-forest habitat, like the Marten, Fisher, and Bay-breasted Warbler, were less abundant than expected.
• Non-native weeds were detected at 32% of the sites surveyed. At sites where they were found, an average of 2.1 non-native weed species were detected.
With respect to species at risk in the AOSA, the Woodland Caribou has the highest public profile. Government of Alberta data show that Woodland Caribou populations in the AOSA have been consistently declining over the past 20 years. ABMI analysis shows that the total amount of human footprint in all Woodland Caribou ranges increased between 2007 and 2010. In 2010 human footprint varied from a low of < 1% in the Richardson population range to a high of 7% in the Nipisi population range.