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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - The Alberta oil sands development is a growing hazard for migrating whooping cranes, says a new report.

Whooping cranes migrate through the Alberta oil sands region to their summer nesting areas in Wood Buffalo National Park. - photo courtesy of Wood Buffalo National Park

The warning comes from Global Forest Watch Canada, a not-for-profit research organization which released the report on July 11.

"The red flag for us, of course, was the toxic tailings ponds, and the history of those and birds is not a very happy history," said Peter Lee, the report's author and executive director of Global Forest Watch Canada. "So our concern was raised about possible landings of flocks of whooping cranes in the spring or fall migrations in these tailings ponds."

According to the report, the tailings ponds, which hold the waste byproduct of bitumen processing, represent a risk of oiling and ingestion of toxins which could result in direct mortality or reduced fitness for the birds to continue migrating.

Lee, who is a biologist by profession, also said there are other concerns, including emissions from the stacks of oil sands facilities, transmission lines, and more human-crane conflicts because of an increasing number of workers in the Fort McMurray region.

The endangered whooping cranes - a flock of about 270 - travel through the oil sands region in the fall and spring as they migrate between the NWT section of Wood Buffalo National Park and Texas.

Lee is not aware of any whooping crane being harmed by migrating through the area.

However, he said there is a potential problem because there is not 24-hours-a-day monitoring of the tailings ponds.

"As we know from past experience, birds land on the tailings ponds and disappear out of sight undetected. That's in the evidence already," he said. "So the concern would be that the same thing could happen to cranes who land on these toxic tailings ponds. They could simply disappear out of sight and nobody would see it."

Lee suggested the tailings ponds should be reduced or eliminated.

"That would be the single best assistance for the long-term survivability of the species," he said.

Lee said a related problem is the oil sands companies and the Alberta government have no specific survey protocols to look for whooping cranes.

"It was a bit of a jaw-dropper to us," he said.

Stuart Macmillan, manager of resource conservation with Wood Buffalo National Park, said the report raises good questions about whooping cranes, their migration route and the potential vulnerability to oil sands development.

"It's a valuable report in that way," he said.

As for whether the oil sands development is a threat to the survival of whooping cranes, Macmillan said that is one possible mortality factor being studied by the park and a number of other partners.

"We are concerned about sources of mortality to whooping cranes during migration," he said, noting juvenile birds are particularly vulnerable.

Whooping crane chicks are being banded both on the summer nesting areas in Wood Buffalo and on wintering grounds in Texas.

Macmillan explained about 10 to 12 whooping cranes a year are being banded with GPS transmitters to develop a better understanding of migration paths, habitat use during migration and incidents of mortality.

The three-year banding project, which began in late 2009, is a joint effort of Parks Canada, the Canadian Wildlife Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the United States Geological Survey and the Crane Trust.

As for the oil sands tailings ponds, Macmillan said it is hard to characterize them as a threat, noting there is no documented instance of a whooping crane landing in them.

"The fact that other migratory birds have been documented to land in tailings ponds and die as a result raises a flag," he said. "It's something we want to know more about and learn more about."

Travis Davies, a spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, is also not aware of any whooping crane being harmed by migrating through the oil sands region.

"It is a very unique population of animal and as such is extremely closely monitored, including tracking," he said. "We haven't to date had any indication that there has been a problem with our operations and whooping cranes."

Davies noted environmental impact assessments and regulatory processes for any oil sands project have to include a stringent look at wildlife, including migratory animals and birds.

The industry spokesperson also noted there are "plans and actions" to reduce the impact of tailings ponds.

For example, he noted mining companies with tailing ponds met in December to pool research and development and design information on mitigating and reducing the number of tailings ponds.

The project, which is led by Suncor, has developed technology called tailings reductions operations to condense a process that used to take decades into a matter of months, Davies said. "They got over a billion dollars in spending in this year alone with clear results that, yes, they will be able to reduce the inventory of tailings ponds, and tailing ponds on the books for future phases do not now have to happen."

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