The Beaver Hills Moraine
Published February 28, 2007
The public hearing to deal with the Strathcona County Municipal Development Plan was held early in February. At that time, a surprising amount of additional interest was generated in policy guidelines to be established in the MDP to protect the Beaver Hills Moraine. The Moraine is an environmentally sensitive and ecologically valuable area in Central and South-eastern Strathcona County. Much of this area is already protected under the provisions of the existing Lakeland Policy Area. Now, Council wishes to extend this protection to lands closer to the natural boundaries of the moraine.
This is consistent with county policy to consider environmental protection as one of the three pillars of community sustainability (the others being economic and social well-being). The purpose of the new guidelines will be to prevent further fragmentation of the moraine thereby protecting habitat and migration routes for the many species of mammals and birds in the area. At a more personal level, the moraine provides support to our water supply, reduction of greenhouse gases and an unparalleled recreation area.
At the hearing, a clear majority, including landowners who would be impacted, supported protection of the moraine. Those less supportive had concerns about the flexibility of future land use. It must be remembered, however, that no rights currently enjoyed by landowners are to be extinguished by this new policy. All activities currently permissible in the moraine may continue as before including farming and residential uses. Council's goal is to create an inhabited landscape where people interact with the natural environment, not a formal park that bans all human activity. The rules for subdivision of property will be much like those already in place both in the Lakeland policy area and the Agricultural policy area in the North of the county. High density or country residential development, if and when desired, would be directed to other parts of Strathcona. Worries about plummeting land values are unfounded. If anything, land values will increase because of the protection afforded by the new policy.
It is an unfortunate reality that the moraine has all ready suffered measurable damage through decades of haphazard development and subdivision. As much as we might wish to, it is not possible to turn back the clock. All that we can do now is preserve what is left as best we can. We are at a point now at which we must decide whether the moraine is worth saving or not. The proposed MDP states quite clearly that it is.
Alan Dunn
Councillor, Ward 6
780-464-8206
dunn@strathcona.ab.ca
Last updated: Thursday, June 17, 2010
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