Suffield National Wildlife Area

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Suffield National Wildlife Area (SNWA) is a National Wildlife Area located within the boundaries of CFB Suffield in Alberta, Canada.

SNWA was formally created on the 19th of June, 2003 when it was officially gazetted under Canada Wildlife Act Regulations. The Department of National Defence (DND) was delegated authority to administer and control the NWA. The Base Commander is responsible for operations, management, and permitting in the SNWA.

CFB Suffield itself was created in 1971 when the Suffield Block was designated as a mechanized training area for Canada and Great Britain. The land for the military base was made available in 1941 when the Government of Canada expropriated a 2960 km² area as a national defence weapons testing range. This expropriated area was and is known as the Suffield Block. The portion of the Suffield Block that is now the National Wildlife Area was zoned for environmental protection and included three parts: the Middle Sand Hills, the Mixed Grass Prairie zone, the South Saskatchewan River zone.

In 1974 Canada and Alberta signed a surface access agreement for the purpose of developing petroleum reserves on CFB Suffield. Since that time there have been over 14,000 oil and gas wells drilled at CFB Suffield. Most of this activity was conducted by the Alberta Energy Company (AEC), which is now EnCana Corporation. The company has drilled 1,163 natural gas wells within the SNWA, all prior to the creation of the SNWA. EnCana has proposed an additional drilling of about 1,275 more natural gas wells over three years. This shallow-gas infill drilling program is the subject of an environmental assessment [1].