Title | Traditional land use: Petro-Canada amendment application - MacKay River expansion |
Publication Type | Report |
Year of Publication | 2005 |
Publication Language | en |
Keywords | traditional land use |
Abstract | The objectives of this section of Petro-Canada's larger environmental impact assessment for the McKay River Expansion were to determine the extent of traditional land use of the local study area; to discuss the vegetation and wildlife used for nutritional and medicinal purposes, and the effects of the project; to identify the traditional land uses (fishing, hunting, plant harvesting) and cultural uses (cabin, spiritual, and grave sites); to determine both the project's and the cumulative impact of development on these uses; and finally, to identify possible mitigation strategies. Interviewees were chosen, with direction from Fort McKay Industry Relations Corporation, on the basis of traplines most likely to be affected by development of the lease area. Both registered owners of traplines, as well as knowledgeable family members that share those traplines were included. For confidentiality, numeric codes were assigned to the nine participants. Interviews were conducted in the interviewee's choice of language and recorded with permission. The interviews were semi-directed, but interviewees were encouraged to lead discussions into other matters of importance. Following a substantial discussion of the methodology used in the study, the traditional land use baseline results are presented. Baseline results include historical and cultural context, results of the literature review, detailed results of interviews with trapline holders, detailed descriptions of historical and current traditional land use sites, interview results regarding various components of traditional ecological knowledge (e.g. beavers, water quality, "yellow stuff"), and identified issues and concerns (e.g. access, non-Aboriginal land users, pollution). The next section discusses the project-specific impacts to the previously identified traditional land uses, including impacts to traditional land use site resources (e.g. salt lick, beavers) and impacts to traditional land users (e.g. pollution, compensation). This section also makes management and mitigation recommendations for a number of identified concerns (e.g. salt lick protection, beaver management).Finally, there is a very brief section on cumulative effects and possible mitigation measures. The report concludes by noting four impacts to the environment, four impacts to traditional land use patterns, and a general concern for community well-being as a result of the project. Mitigation measures are recommended to help reduce the magnitude of these impacts, as well as to provide the community with a measure of control over how these impacts are managed. |
Notes | Consulting firm commissioned by Petro-Canada Oil and Gas |
Topics | Environmental Impact Assessment- amendment to |
Locational Keywords | Fort McKay |
Group | CEMA |
Citation Key | 25048 |