What is Land Use?

Land use is the core aspect of our business. Land use, quite simply, means the way in which land gets used. In Alberta, the three major industries of Energy, Agriculture and Forestry utilize most of the Forest land base. Land base can be thought of as the total land available for use. Within a given land base, there are competing users for a limited resource, in this case, land. Agriculture primarily operates within Alberta’s White Zone. Forestry primarily operates within the Green Zone. Oil & Gas activity cover the province completely. Sometimes agriculture operates within forested lands, as in the case of a grazing lease. Conversely, Woodlot owners may hold treed land on the Prairies. Since oil and gas comes from the ground below us, surface activities must also be employed by Energy to extract their resources. These overlapping interests create the need for legal documentation and legislation to protect the rights of all parties involved.

On Crown land, (government owned), as opposed to Private land, the Government issues users agreements to temporarily use the land. (The Green Zone is primarily Crown Land, and the White Zone is primarily private Land.) These agreements are called dispositions. Common dispositions include FMA (Forest Management Agreement), CTL and DTL (Coniferous Timber License and Deciduous Timber License), MSL (Mineral Surface Lease), LOC (License of Occupation), PLA (Pipeline Agreement), EZE (Easement), GRL (Grazing Lease) and FGL (Forest Grazing License). The term of these agreements can range from 1 year to 20, depending on the disposition and its conditions, and are often renewable. Quite often, one or more of these dispositions will overlap on the same surface location.

The interface of Forestry and Oil & Gas activities is where the focus of our business is these days. Timber growers must work in harmony with energy providers to minimize impacts on the land base, maintain profits and satisfy the public and their elected representatives. Our business is to facilitate these relationships, operations and help develop long-term planning strategies.

The implications of companies having diversified interests and sharing a limited land base provide us a niche opportunity to help apply our expertise to resolve potential conflicts and develop innovative solutions for our clients. At Altus Group we believe "There’s always a way." We seek creative options to help each other and our clients come up with a best-fit solution, maximizing product quality, to be delivered on time, and within budget.

Our company has and continues to work for both Forestry Companies and Energy Companies. Our staff have educational and experience backgrounds in forestry operations and natural resource activities. We have worked for many Alberta FMA Holders and we administer their land use business in a professional, efficient manner. The services we provide cover office administration, field inspections, and GIS data mapping.

Our forestry land use clients past and present include: Millar Western Forest Products Ltd. (Whitecourt and Boyle), Blue Ridge Lumber Inc. (Whitecourt), ANC Timber Ltd. (Whitecourt), Spray Lake Sawmills (1980) Ltd. (Cochrane), Weyerhaeuser Company Limited (Drayton Valley and Edson), Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd. (Peace River), Vanderwell Contractors (1971) Ltd. (Slave Lake), Slave Lake Pulp Corporation (Slave Lake), West Fraser (Hinton), and Manning Diversified Forest Products Ltd. (Manning).