Parkland in Peril

The Parkland Natural Region, where Edmonton is located, is one of the most endangered landscapes in Canada, and even the world. This Natural Region faces the highest intensity of pressure from human activity in the Province. Between expanding urban centres, agriculture, and extraction activity, the human impact on the landscape has led to significant fragmentation, resulting in widespread degradation of habitat.

Conservation Connections: The Board Game

In order to help visualize this concept, EALT created an interactive game to display at our Information Table setups. Read more about how we created the game on our blog here.

The Objective

Get your animal to their home habitat! Each animal requires a different habitat, and each one can only traverse certain habitat types. Animals like coyotes are not fussy, whereas the fisher, bear, and snake are more particular. Pay attention to which kind of habitat your animal can move through.

The Journey

Moving through a landscape with so much human activity can be risky! If your animal moves through habitats where humans are active, namely the urban and agricultural habitats, roll a die to determine if your animal has a human encounter.

Your animal will need fuel for their journey. Along the way, pick up food tokens: you need a minimum of three before you can claim your home habitat!

After each turn, one piece of the habitat will change as urban areas expand. Unless your animal is highly adaptable, this will make your journey more challenging.

Success relies on strategy, and quick thinking! However, not every game will end in success - an important lesson in the context of a rapidly changing landscape.

Outreach Outcomes

In creating this game, EALT has seen greater success with conveying the importance of local land conservation. Talking about conservation challenges and distributing reading materials are effective too, but sometimes having a physical demonstration enhances the message.

While fun to play, the game also invites deeper thinking about where we live and the nature that we see and interact with every day. In demonstrating the importance of these habitat stepping stones, it inspires people to make their own stepping stones count – even a back yard can become a lifeline for wildlife! Learn more on our Safe Habitats for Wildlife resource page or review the other resource pages in this section of our website.

If you’re interested in trying the game for yourself, come find us at a community event near year! We participate in many events each year, most of which are nature and gardening-related festivals and markets hosted in and around the city of Edmonton.

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