The Stony 800 Integrated Planning Healthy Landscapes Demonstration

This demonstration project shows how an understanding of natural patterns can help guide land use planning. The Stony 800 is an area in northeastern Alberta—a landscape in which the energy sector is particularly active. This makes it an excellent location to test ecosystem based management principles for reducing negative cumulative effects.

This unique demo project involved several stages:

1. understanding the nature of the larger problem-to-be-solved,
2. devising an alternative, innovative, and fully integrated planning process,
3. providing OR developing the science necessary for the new planning process, and
4. testing and comparing the short and medium-term outcomes of our planning process against business-as-usual.

We found that a Healthy Landscapes approach created significantly greater levels of landscape scale biodiversity than any of the other policy options.

The final report was completed in September 2015.

Background Resources

The Healthy Landscape Approach to Land Management

Defining Pre-Industrial and Current Disturbance Regime Parameters for the North Saskatchewan Regional Planning Area

Using Natural Disturbance Patterns to Guide Management of a South-Western Alberta Landscape. Part 1: What is a Natural Pattern Approach?

Using Natural Disturbance Patterns to Guide Management of a South-Western Alberta Landscape. Part 2: A Natural Pattern Based Planning Process

Final Report

Using a Healthy Landscape Approach to Restore a Modified Landscape in Northeastern Alberta