Hydro projects in BC cited as one major concern: UNESCO inspectors visited the park in September and October. They came at the urging of First Nations, who have long expressed concern about the cumulative impacts on the Peace-Athabasca Delta of hydro projects in British Columbia, oilsands development in Alberta and climate change, which is already changing the landscape.

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Federal documents echo earlier concerns that Canada’s largest national park faces long-term threats that have placed it on a list of endangered world heritage sites.

An environmental assessment provided to UNESCO says oilsands activity, climate change and hydro development are fundamentally changing the environment of Wood Buffalo National Park in northern Alberta.

The report’s executive summary suggests things are getting worse in the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

“Desired outcomes for the world heritage values are not being met,” it says.

Wood Buffalo covers almost 45,000 square kilometres of grasslands, wetlands and waterways — one of the world’s largest inland deltas. Billions of migratory birds from four continental flyways converge there to breed.

It is the world’s only breeding ground for endangered whooping cranes and home to the largest herd of free-ranging wood buffalo left anywhere. First Nations have depended on the area for generations for cultural and physical sustenance.

It became a World Heritage Site in 1983.