Water, Fescue and the

Future of the West

The Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership

andrew@andrewnikiforuk.com

Livingstone Landowners Group and the Pekisko Group

Photo By Dave Sauchyn

Alberta’s Hardest Working Capital

• Water keeper• Carbon saver • Soil builder• Wildlife feeder• Beef sustainer (3rd generation ranches)• Heritage maker• Drought fighter• Insect warrior• Diversity banker

The Fescue Economy

The Remaining Bank Account

Annual moisture index for 1961-90 (left) and for the median scenario (HadCM3 B2(b)) for the 2080s (right):Sauchyn

Expanding Aridity

From Wallace Stegner

“There are plenty of people in the West who approach western land, water, grass, timber, mineral resources and scenery as grave robbers might approach the tomb of a pharaoh.”

In-Situ Uranium Mining

C5 Forest Management Plan

Photo by Brad Stelfox

Rosebud, Alberta

1905

1915

1925

1935

19451955

1965

1975

1985

1995

2005

Area scale of actual to shown dot features; 113:1

Area scale of actual to shown linear features; 26:1

Natural Gas Wells

EUB and IL 93-9

• special policy for the eastern slopes

• thorough public consultation

• big picture planning “to avoid piecemeal proposals”

• environmental assessments

• all companies must consolidate plans

• “a commitment; not a requirement”

Human Footprint

Montana

Well locations

Power lines

Agriculture

Roads

Southern Foothills Study

• Data base on cumulative land use trends• Use ALCES model• Tool for planning• “common ground for discussion by all parties in future land use planning.”

Southern Foothills Study

• Three land owner groups• Three municipal districts

• Two major oil companies• Town of Nanton• And more to come.

Good Science

• Modern land use practices,while increasing the short-term supplies of material goods, may undermine many ecosystem services in the long run, even on regional and global scale....There is an increasing need for decision making and policy actions across multiple geographic scales and multiple ecological dimensions....land use practices can offer “win-win-win” environmental, social and economic benefits.

Science: Vol. 309, July 22, 2005

Innovative Thinking

Given that the oil sands is a water eater and CO2 maker, par excellence, maybe the province needs a trade-off. Maybe the province needs to regard the eastern slopes as a vital water maker and carbon banker. Maybe the province doesn’t need another sacrifice zone but a sustainable beef economy that protects fescue, water, scenery and our heritage.

Oil Sands: A Water Spender

• 349 million cubic metres per year from the Athabasca River.

• That’s 2 cities the size of Calgary.

Pembina Institute: Down to the Last Drop

Oil Sands: Carbon Maker

Carbon Saver• Soil under fescue may contain up to 200 tonnes of carbon per hectare or more.

• “The carbon underfoot in a good grassland soil may exceed the amount of carbon in all above-ground portions of a temperate forest.”

• Western grasslands may contain 2 to 3-billion tonnes of carbon.

H.H. Janzen: Agriculture and Agri-

Food Canada

Water Saver

Sacrifice Zone?

Homeland Water Security

A Win-Win-Win