While Alberta continues to develop its natural resources, some thought needs to be given to their safeguarding as well. If we don't develop our natural resources in a manner that will help sustain them into the future, then we will not only lose the capacity to develop these resources years down the road, we will also lose the beauty of our landscape.

Our natural resources are broken up into renewable and non-renewable. Renewable resources are those that can be naturally regenerated in a reasonable amount of time. Both agriculture and forestry fall under the renewable category. Non-renewable resources are those that, once depleted, can no longer be developed within a reasonable amount of time. Alberta's hydrocarbons are non-renewable because it would take billions of years for similar formations to again exist. 

Renewable and non-renewable resources require different and special ways of development to make the most of the resources while leaving some for future generations. In this section we explore certain steps that have been taken to develop our resources in a sustainable way. This is not to say that these actions are the best or only things that can be done, but they are part of a solution that will see our development practices in sync with the natural practices of Mother Nature.