I have recently come across another long-term bio­di­ver­sity off­set project. The Cana­dian Suncor-Winagami project dates back to 2003.

Please get in touch if you have any more update infor­ma­tion on this!

Sum­mary

The Suncor-Winagami Project (2003) was a pilot project ini­ti­ated by Sun­cor Energy Inc. who requested staff with Alberta Parks and Pro­tected Areas to rec­om­mend a non­govern­ment, non-profit con­ser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tion that could pur­chase land to off­set the hectares impacted by Suncor’s Oil Sands Oper­a­tions in Fort McMur­ray, Alberta. The Alberta Con­ser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion was sub­se­quently iden­ti­fied as the can­di­date orga­ni­za­tion by Alberta Parks and Pro­tected Areas and was asked to sub­mit a pro­posal to Sun­cor Energy Inc. so that they could be con­sid­ered as the lead orga­ni­za­tion to secure land. Given its broad con­ser­va­tion man­date and its exper­tise with land secure­ment, the Alberta Con­ser­va­tion Asso­ci­a­tion was sub­se­quently selected as the lead orga­ni­za­tion to secure land to off­set the areas impacted by Suncor’s Oil Sands Oper­a­tions in Fort McMur­ray, Alberta.

Through col­lab­o­ra­tive efforts with Alberta Parks and Pro­tected Areas, and the Sun­cor Energy Foun­da­tion, the ACA secured 470 acres of land adja­cent to Winagami Lake in north­west Alberta. These pur­chases were pre­ceded by inten­sive com­mu­ni­ca­tion efforts to con­tact all landown­ers and lessees of lakeshore parcels in July of 2003 to pro­vide them with infor­ma­tion about habi­tat con­ser­va­tion and the land secure­ment project. Fifty per­cent of those con­tacted agreed to sell their land, which in the future will be incor­po­rated and pro­tected within the Winagami Lake Wild­land and Provin­cial Parks. Since ACA began con­ser­va­tion work at Winagami Lake in 1985, over eighty per­cent of the once grazed shore­line has been con­served for wildlife and fisheries.