Foothills Landscape Management Forum


Since its formation in 2005, the Foothills Landscape Management Forum (formerly the Caribou Landscape Management Association) has established itself as a leader in integrated land management. The Forum is a partnership of an Aboriginal community, forest and energy companies. Initially, the focus of the Foothills Landscape Management Forum was minimizing industrial footprint within the habitats of the Little Smoky and A la Peche caribou ranges. These ranges are located in west-central Alberta and are approximately 5,000 square-kilometres. Over the last five years the Forum has evolved and is involved in projects that facilitate integrated land management between all forest and energy companies who develop along the foothills of Alberta’s forests. 

 The members of the Foothills Landscape Management Forum are:

  • ANC Timber Limited,
  • Aseniwuche Winewak Nation of Canada (Grande Cache)
  • Canadian Natural Resources Limited
  • Canfor (Canadian Forest Products Ltd.)
  • ConocoPhillips Canada
  • Devon Canada Corporation
  • EnCana Corporation
  • Foothills Forest Products Inc.
  • Hinton Wood Products, a division of West Fraser Mills Limited
  • Husky Energy Limited
  • Paramount Resources
  • Shell Canada Limited
  • Suncor Energy Inc.
  • Talisman Energy Inc.
  • Tourmaline Oil
  • TransCanada Pipelines Limited
  • Weyerhaeuser Company Limited

 Highlights of the Foothills Landscape Management Forum work include:

1.     Integrated Industrial Access Plan:  Member companies developed a single, Integrated Industrial Access Plan (IIAP) that is used by all companies when developing access into the ranges of the Little Smoky and A la Peche caribou herds. In the past, companies developed access independent of one another resulting in more roads and industrial footprint on the landscape.  In June of 2006, the IIAP was endorsed by the Province of Alberta as a guiding document for access development.  In July of 2008, the Berland Smoky Access Plan was officially approved and an "Information Letter" was issued which stipulates that all primary access must comply with the Plan. This is now used as a model for integrated land management elsewhere.

 2.     Mitigation Audit: Over the past 15 years, there have been over 70 separate operating practices and mitigation measures required for companies operating in caribou habitats. It is unknown if these practices and measures are effective for meeting resource objectives.  Industry and government are using this information to determine which mitigation measures are most effective in meeting specific resource management objectives.  Research will be conducted on a subset of measures to determine if they are effective mitigation measures for which they were originally designed. 

3.     Adaptive Management/Implementation Framework: The Adaptive Management Project is another example of integrated land management piloted by the Foothills Landscape Management Forum. The primary objective of this project is to create a multi-agency and stakeholder partnership of industrial, governmental and academic partners which will utilize an adaptive management planning process for the west-central caribou herds.  It will assess limiting factors and develop planning and management options that consider both ecological and socio-economic benefits and consequences while increasing knowledge of the west-central caribou herds.

The role of the FLMF will be to provide a mechanism for implementation of the recommendations that will come from the West Central Caribou Land Planng Team (WCCLPT) and an opportunity for industry to develop innovative solutions.   Both development (access, forest harvesting, gas plants) and restoration activities are included in the framework.

4. Access Management:  The Foothills Research Institute energy partners (many of whom are also FLMF members) recognized that the development of access to extract natural resources has impacts on other values both positively and negatively.  To addresss this matter, the partners held a workshop in May 2008 to initiate and focus collaborative efforts regarding access management as a specific program with its own funding.

The participants agreed that the primary purpose of the access management initative is to:

  1. Determine how best to implement existing plans.  Industry has made significant investments in plan development and wants to capitalize on these efforts by focusing on applications.
  2. Identify and resolve exisiting barriers to plan acceptance and operational application.
  3. Expand the application of access managment.  Proceed with implementation and development of a more comprehensive access management plan by building on the current base IIAP and adding other infrastructure such as secondary roads and pipelines.
  4. Identify and address priority research needs.  Research should be considered for both biological systems and for enhancing management systems.
  5. Improve our internal and external communications.

5. Data  Management:  The FLMF has developed and maintained an up to date inventory of all access development for the Little Smoky and the A la Peche caribou ranges.  This data layer will be invaluable for resource managers to develop plans for other values as well as the initiation of the governments land use framework.