New $10.7 million research and monitoring Field Station opens in Wood Buffalo National Park

June 30, 2026                                       Fort Chipewyan, Alberta                                              Parks Canada

Today, Acting Chief Teri Villebrun of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, President Ruby Ladouceur of Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation, Chief Melody Lepine of Mikisew Cree First Nation, Lori Cyprien, Chair of the Board of Directors for Nipîy Tu Research & Knowledge Centre, along with Jewel Cunningham, Parks Canada’s Senior Vice-President of Operations, celebrated the completion of the Wood Buffalo National Park Field Station in the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

The Government of Canada is committed to building and maintaining strong relationships

with Indigenous communities and to protecting Canada’s natural and cultural heritage through the development of research and monitoring programs that combine Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science to assess and track the health of key ecosystems.

Located 10 km from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, in the Peace-Athabasca Delta, the field station was designed in collaboration with Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation, and Mikisew Cree First Nation.

The Field Station will support community-based monitoring initiatives, such as Muskrat and Fish Camps, land-based programs where community members, researchers and Knowledge Holders observe environmental conditions through traditional practices, which braid Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science to strengthen monitoring and stewardship in the delta. It will also serve as a gathering place to foster connections among researchers, youth, Elders, and the broader community.

The opening of the Wood Buffalo National Park Field Station represents a key milestone in implementing the Wood Buffalo National Park World Heritage Site Action Plan, responding directly to commitments to strengthen coordinated research, monitoring, and community-based stewardship in the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

Through its $3.8 billion A Force of Nature strategy announced March 31, 2026, the Government of Canada is investing $90 million over five years to support ecosystem restoration and the recovery of wood bison populations along the Alberta-Northwest Territories border. This investment, delivered in partnership with Indigenous communities and regional governments, will also advance the ongoing implementation of the Wood Buffalo National Park World Heritage Site strategy.