All eyes and ears on wildlife

We've created a video from still photos to show some of the wildlife around our Christina Lake and Foster Creek oil sands operations in northern Alberta.

November 2021 – We’re using remote cameras and specialized acoustic (audio) recording units to keep close tabs on wildlife around our oil sands operations located in northern Alberta. This monitoring improves our understanding of which species of animals are in the areas near our operations and how they interact with our facilities. We use the data and results to help us minimize our overall environmental impact.

We’ve been documenting wildlife activity since 2010, using cameras placed along winter access roads, seismic lines and natural wildlife trails. To improve how we watch for and listen to wildlife, we have deployed 166 cameras equipped with high-resolution image collection and added 75 acoustic recording stations.

“With the aid of technology, we’ve detected an incredible number of animals around our operations,” says Jesse Wong, Senior Regulatory Services Advisor at Cenovus Energy. “We are now doing more analysis to improve our understanding of wildlife near our operations to assess and prioritize development and restoration in these areas.”

Our cameras and audio recording units give us an even larger data set from which to draw information and contribute to better-informed development decisions. These monitoring techniques also reduce the amount of field-based human monitoring required, which reduces safety risks and disturbance to animals within our project areas.