Overview
Alberta’s sub-regional plans are a key component of the province’s approach to maintaining a working landscape and supporting a broad range of land uses and values including conservation, Indigenous traditional use, recreation and economic development. Planning will be completed for many sub-regions across the province.
Albertans have opportunities to share feedback on the sub-regional plans as they are developed and released. Sub-regional plans within the Lower Athabasca and South Saskatchewan regions are also guided by the land use planning directions in the Lower Athabasca and South Saskatchewan regional plans.
Where sub-regional plans are to be implemented under the Alberta Land Stewardship Act, Albertans will have opportunities to share feedback on amendments to the regional plan, or the sub-regional plans’ implementation under the act.
Key features
The 3 key features of sub-regional plans are:
- Guidance on footprint – guidance on the placement and duration of footprint from human activities, including roads, oil and gas development, timber harvest, geophysical exploration, surface material extraction and recreation
- Restoration – restoration of legacy footprint (for example, seismic lines) no longer contributing to economic activities in the sub-region to create more intact landscapes without affecting current industrial activity
- Monitoring – monitoring environmental and socio-economic indicators to improve understanding of whether the plan is achieving its outcomes and what changes may be required during the review period
Status of sub-regional planning
Each sub-regional plan will go through multiple phases of development.
Sub-regional plan boundaries
Click on the map to explore the different sub-regions and learn more about which phase of development it is in.
Sub-regions
Heritage Rangelands
Heritage Rangelands are established for the conservation of representative areas of Alberta’s prairies, using grazing via long-term leases and traditional ranching practices to maintain the native grassland ecology. They are located only within the Grassland and Parkland Natural Regions of Alberta and on significant grasslands within the Montane Sub-region of the Rocky Mountains Natural Region.