Management

The Livingstone-Porcupine region is managed under the 1987 Livingstone Porcupine Hills Sub-Regional Integrated Resource Plan. Management objectives include:

• To recognize watershed protection as the highest priority in the planning area. To maintain and improve water quality, quantity and flow regime for aquatic habitat and onstream and downstream users.
• To assess, preserve and manage representative and unique examples of natural features, landscape and ecosystems through identification of ecological reserves and natural areas.
• To protect valuable, high quality recreation resources for future use.
• To sustain the maximum level of use of the range resources while maintaining good range condition for the benefit of domestic animals, wildlife and watershed protection.
• To maintain or increase the numbers, distribution and diversity of wildlife species, maintain critical ungulate ranges, protect migration routes and to maintain recreational and commercial uses of wildlife by hunting and trapping.

FLUZ map: JPG | PDF		IRP map:  JPG | PDF

Forests

Forests in the Livingstone-Porcupine region fall under the C5 Forest Management Area (which covers 352,200 hectares of public land between Waterton Lakes National Park and Kananaskis Country). A draft Forest Management Plan for the region was made available for public comment in December 2005 but is still to be implemented.

Oil and Gas

Oil and gas operations in the region are regulated by Alberta Energy and Utilities Board’s (EUB) Informational Letter IL 93-9 which lays out the expectations for oil and gas companies working in the Eastern Slopes. Requirements include:

• Any company intending to develop a project in the region is expected to carry out a thorough and effective public consultation program consistent with the sensitivity of the area proposed for development.
• At each stage of development… a potential operator will provide, in as much detail as practical, its best estimate of the overall extent of development. This is required in order to avoid piecemeal proposals and to ensure that the overall scope and potential impacts of the development, if permitted, are clearly understood.
• Applicants will be required to carry out environmental assessments for each proposed development stage. These environmental assessments will be of sufficient detail to allow the Board to determine whether the project's economic benefits and mitigation programs sufficiently outweigh any remaining social and environmental costs (i.e. that the project is in the overall public interest).
• Operators proposing developments within this region are expected to consolidate their plans and activities with other operators to the greatest degree practical wherever this may reduce area impacts.