Title | Application for approval and environmental impact assessment for the Muskeg River Mine Project . Volume 3a, section e traditional land use |
Publication Type | Report |
Year of Publication | 1998 |
Publication Language | en |
Keywords | traditional land use |
Abstract | Within this section of the Muskeg River Mine Project, identification of the potential impacts of the project on current land uses; and identification of possible resource use mitigative strategies are addressed. Discussions on the regional implications of oil sands development on traditional land use are presented in Sections F15; while Section D15 provides details on the traditional land use baseline for the Project. A comprehensive program of studies that examines traditional land use issues for the region surrounding the Muskeg River Mine Project began as a result of this EIA. This report is considered to be part of the on-going consultation process and was not completed at the time of this study. Nevertheless, it does provide both general and specific information relating to the traditional uses of the immediate Project area in order to obtain an indication of the types of traditional land use practices that have occurred here in the past and continue to take place. This information serves as a basis for determining the specific impacts of the project and can be incorporated with regional level information to obtain an indication of the combined effects of developments planned throughout the region. To obtain a general impression of the types of resources that were incorporated in the traditional "bush economy" of First Nations peoples of the area, a review was conducted by the Fort McKay First Nations of the regional level traditional land use investigations in 1994. This information was supplemented by data accumulated in specific traditional land use studies completed for the Syncrude Aurora Project by the Fort McKay Environmental Services in 1996 and 1997. By consolidating information presented in those studies, a table was created identifying plant and animal species that were mentioned as being of use in the traditional lifestyle of this area. Rankings of high, medium and low were given to individual species based upon the number of times a particular species name was referred to and the number of times a species was indicated within a given region on the traditional land use maps or tables that accompany the studies. Not all plant and animals species that would be used were mentioned in the interviews conducted for this program. Only the names of the most common plants and animals used by First Nations people were provided here. Overall, the information provided in this study in terms of both regional use patterns and the specific species currently present within the project area, suggest that development of the Muskeg River Mine Project will certainly have a negative impact on Traditional Land Use throughout the area. |
Notes | Traditional Land Use Study conducted internally by Shell Canada Limited |
Topics | Traditional land use study, Environmental impact assessment |
Locational Keywords | Fort McKay, Alberta |
Group | CEMA |
Citation Key | 24879 |