Oil Sands Regions:
TOTAL AREA:
93,259 km2
TOTAL Human Footprint:
7,675 km2
Region Overview
The Athabasca Oil Sands Area (OSA) encompasses an area of 93,259 km2 (14% of the province) in northeastern Alberta. This region is situated in the Boreal Forest Natural Region, which is characterized by a mosaic of upland forests composed of Trembling Aspen, White Spruce, and Jack Pine, and lowland forests composed of Black Spruce, Larch, and open wetlands. Multiple ice ages have created a flattened and rolling landscape dotted with numerous shallow lakes and wetlands connected by meandering streams, which largely feed into the Athabasca River system. The Athabasca OSA hosts the largest known deposit of crude bitumen in the world; as a result, the energy industry dominates the economy. However, conventional oil and gas development and forestry also have important roles. Human footprint status and trends are summarized for the Athabasca OSA.
Status
As of 2021, human footprint occupied 9.7% of the Athabasca OSA. Forestry was the dominant human footprint, covering 4.9% of the region, followed by energy footprint, which covered 2.9%. The remaining footprint types each covered <1.0% of the Athabasca OSA.
| Human Footprint Type | Area (km2) | Area (%) |
|---|
Figure: Status of Human Footprint. Summary of percentage cover of total human footprint broken down by human footprint category in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area, circa 2021.
Trend
- Between 2000 and 2021, the total area of human footprint in the Athabasca OSA increased by 4.8 percentage points, from 4.9% to 9.7%.
- This increase in human footprint was driven by the expansion of forestry footprint, which more than doubled in size during this time from 2.3% to 4.9%. However, this increase in forestry footprint is lower when forest recovery is considered: forestry footprint increased from 2.0% to 3.5% when recovery of regenerating forest is included.
- The increases in percent area of the Athabasca Oil Sands Area covered by the other human footprint categories were all small: agriculture (+0.2%), energy (+1.4%), urban/industrial (+0.3%), transportation (+0.2%), and human-created water bodies (+0.1%).
| Human Footprint Type | 2000 (km2) | 2021 (km2) | Change (km2) |
|---|
| Human Footprint Type | 2000 (%) | 2021 (%) | Change (%) |
|---|
Figure: Trend in Human Footprint. Trend in the percentage area of total human footprint, and by human footprint category in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area between 2000 and 2021. Click on the entries in the legend to turn human footprint categories on and off.
Status of Linear Human Footprint
- Density of linear features was 2.7 km/km2 in the Athabasca OSA.
- Conventional seismic lines were the predominant line type, representing 85.2% of the total length of all lines, with a density of 2.3 km/km2.
- Roads and pipelines combined represented 14.8% of linear footprint in the Athabasca OSA, with densities of 0.2 km/km2 each.
- Transmission lines and railways had very low densities in the Athabasca OSA.
| Type | Density (km/km2) |
|---|
Figure: Status of Linear Human Footprint. Density (km/km2) of linear features in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area, circa 2021, overall and broken down by linear feature type. Hover over bar or legend to view density of specific linear feature type. Please note low impact seismic lines are not included in the summary of linear footprint density.