Anish Neupane, Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, discusses conservation offsets such as wetland replacement. The Government of Alberta has encouraged action for offsets and a regulatory review has expressed a need for them. After appropriate prevention measures consistent with the migration hierarchy have been taken, an offset may be appropriate. For example, habitat loss in one area may require habitat gain in another. It is a tool to address multiple demands on land, air and watersheds.
Currently the Government of Alberta is in the process of drafting a conservation offset framework to create the principles and system design elements and explain where offsets fit within the regulatory processes. This presentation was a part of the Alberta Soil Science Workshop, February 2015.
