JAC MACDONALD, JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Edmonton, The Edmonton Journal, April 9, 1999.

Rapid degradation of Alberta’s wilderness means this province will soon be facing the same situation people in Europe with few large areas of pristine wilderness left, says a biological sciences professor.

"If we don’t do something very fast to change our legislation in a positive fashion, we will have a situation like Europe and the U.S. with small parks we will use for recreation, but no large undisturbed areas," Suzanne Bayley of the University of Alberta told a panel Thursday night on the province’s Special Places 200 program.

Bayley said provincially protected areas are very small, only 1.05 million hectares, or 1.6 per cent of the province’s land area. The national parks protect 5.4 million hectares, or 8.3 per cent of Alberta’s land area, she said.

But the national parks are not doing a good job of protecting various plant and animal species in the province because much of their area is inhospitable. Other areas are threatened by over use, growing traffic and tourism, Bayley said.

The government has to realize that protected wilderness areas can be as valuable economically as agriculture by bringing in revenues of $210 to $940 per hectare, she said.

The provincial government has touted Special Places as a means of satisfying both industry and environmentalists, but it has come under increasing criticism to the point where environmentalists are planning civil disobedience campaigns.

Peter Lee, executive director of the World Wildlife Fund, called the program "a staggering failure of historic proportions."

The program should have been about preservation, but, instead, has focused on industrial development policy by permitting industrial exploitation of the areas that are supposed to be protected, he said.

An Environmental Law Centre analysis of the Natural Heritage Act, which is the enabling legislation for the Special Places program, found it wanting, he noted.

The minister of environment, for example, can define the language of the legislation. That kind of power is something that Lee said he is not aware of anywhere else in North America.

The act also allows any activity in the protected areas, even if the activity is contrary to the legislation, he said.

Business professor Ray Rasmussen agreed with Lee’s analysis. "The program is an overwhelming failure," he told a small audience of about 40 people.

"The Natural Heritage Act will ensure nothing natural will be left," he said.

Moderator Gustron Dacks took the province to task for failing to send a politician or Environment Department official to attend the discussion on the grounds that the act is now being discussed before the legislature. "It remains our point of view there is no better time than when legislation is under consideration that it be debated," Dacks said.