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Part of Oil Sands Monitoring Program

Oil Sands Monitoring Program – Annual reports and work plans

Annual reports highlight OSMP activities and governance, while the work plan identifies projects to be completed by the program that year.

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Oil Sands Monitoring Program

Annual reports

Annual reports highlighting the accomplishments, activities, and governance of the Oil Sands Monitoring Program (OSMP). The program funds and undertakes ambient environmental monitoring within the oil sands area of Alberta to enhance the understanding of the effects of oil sands development and core outcomes.

Work plans

Ambient environment monitoring plans are created yearly to identify projects being completed for that year.

  • Glossary

    Core Monitoring: Describes long term monitoring activities under the OSM Program.

    Long-term Monitoring: Refers to the routine monitoring of status and trends of physical/chemical/biological parameters related to oil sands development activities to detect and evaluate changes in the environment over a period of time, typically more than 5 years.

    Focused Study (FS): A class of purposeful, requested projects with definite start and end dates (typically 3 years), according to the characteristics described below.

    Community Based Monitoring (CBM): Refers to collaboration between concerned citizens, government agencies, industry, academia, community groups, and local institutions to monitor issues of common concern.

  • Acronyms

    ECCC – Environment and Climate Change Canada

    AEP – Alberta Environment and Parks

    WBEA – Wood Buffalo Environmental Association

    LICA – Lakeland Industry & Community Association

    PRAMP – Peace River Area Monitoring Program

    U of A – University of Alberta

    U of C – University of Calgary

    ABMI – Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute

  • Previous plans

2025-26 Ambient Environment Monitoring Plan

The projects approved under the 2025-26 Ambient Environment Monitoring Plan for Oil Sands Development are listed below and in PDF format at: 2025-26 Ambient Environment Monitoring Plan

Activity NameAmounts approved April 3, 2025
Atmospheric Pollutant Active Air Monitoring Network$11,921,672
Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Monitoring$7,137,679
Air and Deposition Monitoring Total$19,059,351
Surface Water Quantity Monitoring - Water Levels and Flows$1,867,162
Surface Water Quality$5,523,053
Core Biodiversity Monitoring - Benthic Macroinvertebrates$2,388,696
Core Long-Term Fish Monitoring$1,260,403
Water Monitoring (Core) Total$11,039,314
Integrated Terrestrial Biological Monitoring$5,734,841
Biodiversity Monitoring (Core) Total$5,734,841
Wetland Ecosystem Monitoring Program$605,658
Wetland Monitoring (Core) Total$605,658
Groundwater Monitoring$1,934,000
Groundwater Monitoring (Core) Total$1,934,000
OSM Data Services$1,114,000*
State of Environment Reporting – Air$405,892
Social Science SOPs and Thematic Monitoring$72,000
Integrated Geospatial Program$649,500
Cross Cutting Projects Total$2,241,392
Air Quality Monitoring in the Peace Athabasca Delta$243,200
Indigenous Community-Based Monitoring (ICBM) Evaluation Reporting in Surface Water$1,770,374
Ni ho ghe di – Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation CBM$415,000
Mikisew Cree First Nation – Community-Based Monitoring Surface Water$393,000
Fort McKay Métis Community-Based Wetland Monitoring$393,600
Cold Lake FN Integrated Community-Based Monitoring Program$704,000
2025-2026 MacKay River Community-Based Monitoring Program$587,577
A Braided Approach to Evaluating Fish Health$150,000
Terrestrial Biological Integrated ICBM$588,000
Willow Lake Métis Nation Community-Based Monitoring$289,975
Conklin Environmental Monitoring$438,186
Fort McKay Community Odour Monitoring$299,737
Fort McKay Community Dust Monitoring$201,969
CPFN CBM Program$256,990
Smith’s Landing First Nation Integrated CBM$262,195
FMMN Community-Based Environmental Monitoring Program (CBEMP) - Data Tool Phase 3$373,500
Indigenous Indicator Prioritization$430,100
FCMN Oilsands Focused Community-Based Monitoring – Phase 2$150,000
Conceptual Framework for Socio-Cultural-Economic Indicators and Thresholds$209,000
Chard Métis Nation Community-Based Monitoring$75,000
Focused Investigation of Local and Regular Groundwater Flow in Cold Lake Oil Sands Region$172,311
Sensing Change: Understanding the Sensory Impact of Oil Sands Development on the Métis community of Conklin, AB$75,000
Developing the Dene Ch’anie Conceptual Framework (SLFN)$75,000
Community Based Monitoring Total$8,553,714
Oil Sands Monitoring Program Administration$2,226,318
CBMT and Capacity Funding$3,304,543
25-26 Science Secretariat$522,504
Oil Sands Program Office Total$6,053,365
TOTAL$55,221,635

*$650,000 of the Data Services total funding will be provided by Alberta Environment and Protected Areas

Image of a circle graph for allocation of budget by theme and total
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