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Livingstone-Porcupine Hills Land Footprint Management Plan

The Livingstone-Porcupine Hills Land Footprint Management Plan guides land use to protect ecosystems, watersheds and wildlife.

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Environment and land use planning

Overview

The Livingstone–Porcupine Hills Land Footprint Management Plan guides how land is managed within the Livingstone and Porcupine Hills Public Land Use Zones. It helps reduce the long-term effects of development while balancing the needs of biodiversity, watersheds, recreation, Indigenous traditional use and economic development. By managing the extent, duration, and rate of land disturbance, the plan supports healthy, resilient ecosystems that provide lasting benefits to communities and all Albertans.

The Livingstone-Porcupine Hills sub-region is located along Alberta’s southern Eastern Slopes, stretching from just south of Kananaskis Country to the Crowsnest Pass. This diverse landscape includes the rugged Livingstone Range, the rolling foothills of the Whaleback, and the Porcupine Hills east of Highway 22. Known for its scenic mountain vistas, native grasslands, healthy watersheds and rich wildlife habitat, the area supports a wide range of uses, including recreation, ranching, forestry and resource development.

The plan

The plan identifies policy direction and requirements for activities within the Livingstone and Porcupine Hills Public Land Use Zones to manage cumulative effects of development on the landscape. Its primary objectives are to conserve biodiversity, protect watershed health, reduce landscape disturbance, restore impacted areas and support sustainable recreation, ranching, resource development, and Indigenous traditional land uses through coordinated, long-term management.

Read the Livingstone-Porcupine Hills Land Footprint Management Plan.

Key elements of the plan

  • Managing cumulative land footprint

    The plan aims to minimize the extent, duration and rate of human-caused disturbance to public lands. This includes managing the cumulative effects of natural resource, recreational and infrastructure development to maintain healthy ecosystems.

  • Conserving biodiversity

    The plan prioritizes maintaining and restoring habitat for native species by:

    • reducing landscape fragmentation
    • protecting important wildlife habitat and movement corridors
    • supporting ecosystem resilience and connectivity

  • Watershed protection

    The sub-region contains headwaters that supply water to communities, agriculture and ecosystems throughout southern Alberta. The plan seeks to limit activities that could negatively affect watershed health.

  • Footprint Management and Restoration

    The plan recognizes different levels of sensitivities on the landscape resulting in two management zones that are reflected in regulatory limits placed on motorized access for both industrial access and public access including for recreational motorized use. 

    It provides direction for:

    • integrated land management practices
    • reclaiming and restoring inactive roads, trails and other disturbances
    • improving overall landscape condition over time

    Learn more about Integrated land management.

  • Balancing multiple land uses

    The plan provides a common framework to balance conservation priorities and a wide range of land uses in the Livingstone and Porcupine Hills Public Land Use Zones (PLUZs). PLUZs are designated public lands managed to support multiple activities, including recreation, grazing, natural resource development, conservation, and traditional Indigenous use.  The plan recognizes the competing pressures these lands experience and establishes a coordinated approach to land management rather than managing individual activities in isolation.

  • Monitoring and adaptive management

    The plan includes a commitment to:

    • monitor landscape conditions and disturbance levels
    • track implementation progress
    • adjust management approaches as new information becomes available

Livingstone-Porcupine Hills planning zones

Loading map

Click anywhere on the map to see which zones and layers apply at that point. Use the legend control in the map's bottom-right corner to identify colors and patterns.

View the spatial files for the Livingstone Porcupine Hills Land Footprint Plan: Livingstone-Porcupine Hills Planning Zone Boundaries

Implementing the plan

The plan was informed by input from Indigenous communities, municipalities, industry representatives, recreation users, environmental organizations, and other stakeholders.

The Livingstone-Porcupine Hills Land Footprint Management Plan was the first cabinet approved sub-regional plan in Alberta. Finalised in 2018, the plan became effective as a sub-regional plan under the South Saskatchewan Regional Plan in accordance with Section 13(5) of the Alberta Land Stewardship Act (ALSA) with regulatory management thresholds. The SSRP establishes regional land-use outcomes and policy direction, and the Livingstone-Porcupine Hills Land Footprint Management Plan translates those objectives into practical management actions for the Livingstone and Porcupine Hills Public Land Use Zones.

Additional Resources

Completed plans

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