Western Canada is a major hub for extracting and harnessing natural resources including hydropower, timber, oil, gas, coal, metallurgical coal, and coalbed methane. Alberta, for example, has become a center of oil and gas activity, producing a consistent and sizeable provincial budget surplus and contributing to a 32 percent increase in Calgary’s population from 1990 to 2007. Calgary’s current population of 1,019,942 is expected to reach 1,250,000 by 2016. The region is also home to the world’s second largest manufacturer of metallurgical coal, and one of the continent’s leading concrete manufacturers.
While oil, gas, timber and other such industries are obviously extractive, many people forget to consider the extractive impacts of hydroelectric power generation. Even though water is technically borrowed, the disruption to riverine ecosystems is immense. Inaccurately marketed as green energy, dams associated with hydropower have a serious detrimental effect on aquatic health and are one of the most destructive obstacles to fish connectivity throughout the Yellowstone to Yukon region.
Taken one by one, site by site, it may be hard to imagine how these industries could impact the large Yellowstone to Yukon landscape. But considering the total extent of related development – roads, railways, dams, power and processing plants, and residential and commercial development – the cumulative effect on habitat connectivity is enormous.
Like other issues facing the Y2Y region, collaborative efforts between conservation groups, businesses and citizens can have a positive impact:
- Corporations can take a leadership role, consulting with local communities and working with provincial/state and federal governments, as well as independent biologists in order to minimize impacts, and operate their facilities according to the best practices of their industry.
- Individuals can make informed consumer decisions, implement environmentally sound household practices, and help educate family and friends about the issues.