The Beaver Hills (also known as the Cooking Lake Moraine) is located in central Alberta. It is an extensively treed, upland area consisting of rolling to hummocky terrain rich in native wetlands and aspen dominated Boreal mixed wood forest habitat. This ‘knob and kettle’ topography supports a high diversity of vegetation, waterfowl, mammals and birds.

 

The area is a critical source of surface and ground water, and a large proportion of lands, both public and private, exist in their natural state.  The area includes Elk Island National Park, the five rural municipalities (Beaver, Camrose, Lamont, Leduc and Strathcona) as well as several provincial parks and protected areas, such as the Ministik Bird Sanctuary, Blackfoot/Cooking Lake Recreational Area and Miquelon Lake Provincial Park.  The Beaver Hills are situated immediately east of the City of Edmonton – the fastest growing metropolitan region in Canada.

 

Until now, the Beaver Hills have experienced limited development pressure because of their complex terrain and low agricultural potential. As the demand for recreational, urban and country residential and other land use grows, the Beaver Hills have come under increasing development pressure. Sustainable regional management of this area is the goal that gave rise to the Beaver Hills Initiative. The challenge now is to develop suitable management plans, beginning with establishing management goals for the area as a whole.

 

The Beaver Hills has many ecological, social and economic assets that could be the focus of management. With respect to ecological values, the area performs several critical ecological functions. The wetlands perform a critical role in regional hydrology. They are the key components of a complex system hat collects and filters surface water, which in turn supports water bodies and aquifers that extend beyond the Beaver Hills.

 

The extensive forests and wetlands scattered across the moraine provide habitat to a diverse group of plants and wildlife, including several rare species. As the largest relatively undeveloped natural area separating the northern boreal forests to the north from the Aspen Parkland in the south, it serves as an important corridor linking the adjacent natural regions. Connectivity and secure habitat with low levels of human activity will be critical for the current diversity of species, including rare species, to persist.

 

The Beaver Hills already have many of the key building blocks of a well-planned ecological network of conservation areas. Core protected areas are currently surrounded by more developed lands that form successive buffer zones with higher levels of development. Only regional land use guidelines to manage human use of those buffer lands remain outstanding/are lacking for an effective ecological network plan.

 

Strathcona County is taking a lead role in facilitating the Beaver Hills Initiative.  We have dedicated, through secondment, a full time staff member to this initiative.  Brenda Wispinski, Executive Director, Beaver Hills Initiative can be reached at 464-8280 or visit the website at www.beaverhills.ab.ca. One of her many responsibilities is to help craft this initiative into Strathcona County’s ongoing Municipal Development Plan and Land Use Bylaw. I look forward to the public input to make this a reality.

 

Glen Lawrence

Councillor, Ward 7

464-8003.