Beaver Hills Initiative
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 there 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 of Canada.
Rapid growth in population and increased economic activity throughout Alberta and particularly in Alberta’s Capital Region are placing unprecedented pressure on the Beaver Hills landscape.
The Beaver Hills Initiative (BHI) developed was in 2002 from a collective recognition among all levels of government agencies, academia, industry and locally-active environmental groups. For this ecosystem to remain sustainable, the sensitivity of these shared resources needs to be considered when planning growth and development. Currently 30+ organizations and growing, participate in the BHI, through the BHI Board, and working groups consisting of:
- GIS Working Group
- Planners Working Group
- Protected Areas Working Group (PAWG)
- Communication and Education Working Group
- Research and Monitoring Working Group
- Golden Ranch Land Trusts Working Group
- Transfer of Development Credits Pilot Working Group
- Sustainable Tourism Assessment Working Group… more to come
The BHI Vision
The Beaver Hills Initiative values the region for its natural beauty and quality of life, and supports co-operative efforts to sustain the quality of water, land, air, natural resources and community development.
Last updated: Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Page ID: 9048