The Future of Suffield National Wildlife Area:
Prairie Grasslands or Pipelines?

Drilling Permit Inside Protected Area Would Set Dangerous Precedent

Check out our video on Suffield wildlife, and what the future may hold for this precious prairie landscape

The wide open spaces of Suffield's prairie grasslands are a haven for wild life. Photo: Andy Teucher Latest News September 1, 2010: National Wildlife Area Missing from Proposed Endangered Owl Habitat Designation May 25, 2010: Suffield Coalition Concerned About Delay in Government Response - National Wildlife Areas Needed to Help Fight Extinction March 12, 2010: Inside Suffield National Wildlife Area, Conservation Makes Economic Sense, Coalition Argues January 12, 2010: EnCana Avoids Trial on Charges of Canada Wildlife Act Violation in Suffield National Wildlife Area January 28, 2009: Panel Confirms Need to Protect Suffield National Wildlife Area Apr. 7, 2008 - Editorial: EnCana Drilling Endangers Rare Wildlife Feb. 19, 2008 - Submission to Suffield Panel Related Links Panel Decision: Summary and Analysis Species at risk found in Suffield Caught on Tape! See Suffield Wildlife Video!

Suffield National Wildlife Area near Medicine Hat, Alberta. Home to nearly 100 plant and animal species at risk of extinction. And 1,275 shallow gas wells and 220 km of pipeline if a proposed drilling project is allowed to proceed.

The Government of Canada established an NWA within the Canadian Forces Base at Suffield in 2003, and just two years later a proposed drilling project by energy giant EnCana Corp. threatened - and continues to put at risk - one of the last remaining large intact pieces of pristine prairie grasslands in Canada.

Learn more about Suffield NWA.

Nature Canada supporters have already raised their voices in alarm over this potentially precedent-setting development. No permit of this kind has ever been granted inside a national wildlife area in Canada, and in hundreds of letters you told the government that’s the way it should stay. Keep up the pressure!

Thanks to your letters, we convinced the government to conduct a full and public review of the proposed drilling project. This was an important first step, but the future of Suffield is still in doubt.

Public Hearings

Public hearings were held in October 2008. Thanks to your letters and support, Nature Canada was successful in convincing the panel to reject EnCana's proposal as presented.

The panel found that the project would likely result in significant adverse effects on species at risk and interfere with the conservation of wildlife.

What Does the Future Hold?

Since the Panel issued its recommendation in 2009, Canadians have been left wondering what would be the fate of one of Canada's last remnants of "protected" native prairie. No decision has been taken on Cenovus' proposal and whether or not the necessary permit will be issued.

You can ask the government to remove this cloud of uncertainty. Send a letter asking that Cenovus' permit be denied.

Why Deny the Permit?

Nature Canada poses the following questions regarding plans to develop inside Suffield National Wildlife Area:

1. If Canadians cannot expect 16 federally listed species at risk to find safety inside a national wildlife area, where in the world can we expect our endangered species to exist in peace?
2. Can Canada allow expanded drilling operations inside a protected area like Suffield NWA and still meet its international conservation commitments as laid out in agreements like the Convention on Biological Diversity?
3. Does Canada really want to set the dangerous precedent of granting a permit for development inside a federally protected area, and risk rendering the very concept of “protected area” meaningless?

For more information visit the following Web sites:

• Canadian Environmental Assessment Registry Environment Canada
• Department of National Defence
• Environment Canada
  
  

Suffield National Wildlife Area. Photo: Andy Teucher