What we are fighting for?

An important place

Alberta’s southern Rocky Mountains are under threat. This iconic place that has supported generations of Albertans is set to become an industrial landscape, if a group of foreign mining companies get their way.

When you think of Alberta ranching country, you probably picture this place. Driving south down the famous Cowboy Trail (Highway 22), the snowy peaks of the Livingstone Range rise to the west, standing guard over rare native grasslands and near-pristine trout streams. These mountains and their foothills are landscapes steeped in Alberta’s ranching, hunting, fishing, outfitting and renewable resource management history. This place is the headwaters of the Oldman River, named for Napi, an important cultural figure to the Pii’kani, one of the Indigneous groups who have called this area home since time immemorial. 

Behind the peaks of the Livingstone, lies some of Alberta’s best remaining natural, unprotected pieces of public land. Although its lack of protection has caused many challenges over the years, the approximately 1,400 km2 of the Livingstone Range remains a vitally important area for large mammals like grizzly bear and elk. The streams draining its fragile soils provide critical habitat for the threatened west slope cutthroat trout and send clean, healthy water to the 200,000 people downstream. It's a hunting and fishing mecca, and helps sustain the region’s ranching traditions.

Private interests

But the days may be numbered for this idyllic landscape. Foreign investors — mostly Australian mining interests — are planning no fewer than 4 coal mines in the Livingstone Range. The first, the Grassy Mountain mine near the community of the Crowsnest Pass, a group of towns dependent on the boom and bust cycle of a volatile global commodity, is already nearing the final stages of regulatory review and may soon be approved.

Make no mistake: these mines will be big, they will be ugly and they will be incredibly destructive. Excavators will strip away the mountaintops to expose the coal seams. The waste will end up in giant spoil heaps and tailings ponds, and everyone downstream and downwind will risk a likely future of contaminated air and water. The same kind of mining a few kilometers west, in BC, has left streams  polluted with poisonous selenium seeping from the shattered rock. Even if the mining companies follow through with remediation efforts, the landscape and streams will never recover.

The mining juggernaut might seem unstoppable to those who worry about a sustainable future for a region. The companies have billions of dollars and can dedicate huge resources to securing face time with government. Lobbyists representing the companies have already met with federal officials at least 13 times in the past 2 years.  But they can, and should be stopped. Grassroots Albertans are banding together to protect our heritage.

Who we are

The Southern Alberta chapter of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and the Livingstone Landowners Group are working together with other Albertans to ensure a sustainable future for the region. The partnership of CPAWS and LLG combines experience and perspectives in conservation and local rural values, allowing us to support each other and build a strong alliance. We are committed to informing Albertans of the scale and nature of mining activities coming in our direction, what the impacts of that may be for all of us, and what might be done to protect our treasured landscapes from irreversible harm. 

All Albertans have an interest in sustaining the streams, landscapes and future we rely on for our well-being and which help define us as a people. In fact, anybody who cares about coal’s contribution to the climate crisis has a stake in this issue.