The data, based on satellite imagery, showed forests on the eastern slopes of the Rockies are disappearing more rapidly than anywhere else in the province - including the area around the oilsands. These are two hot spots in Alberta, Peter Lee, executive director of Global Forest Watch Canada, said during a presentation of his findings to the Alberta Wilderness Association. From 2000 to 2012, the oilsands region lost 5.5 per cent of its forests, while the rate of deforestation along the eastern slopes - including the protected areas - was 6.8 per cent. The eastern slopes is an area that stands out as an area of great forest change, he said. When you take out the fires from that data set, its all industrial disturbances. Lee said industrial development is cutting through forests at twice the Canadian or American average and faster than countries such as Brazil, home to the Amazon rainforest, where the average loss was about 4.3 per cent. thestarphoenix/business/Forests+return+slopes+after+logging/10033658/story.html
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 18:00:00 +0000
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