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Natural Resources
 A
natural resource is anything that is
both naturally occurring and of use to humans.
Alberta's most profitable natural resources are
hydrocarbons, such as
coal, oil, and natural gas. Soil and agriculture are also
natural resources, and are the
source of most of the vegetables and grains we eat everyday
to live. Animals are another
natural occurring resource in Alberta, as are underground minerals and the
province's vast forests.
Alberta's fertile soils were a drawing card for early
settlers to the province. Agriculture was the resource
that first sustained the province, and continues to be a very important economic
activity in Alberta.
Alberta has the largest reserves of
coal in Canada, and its oil sands represent more than
one third of the world's known reserves of conventional
crude oil. Oil and natural gas are the most economically
important resources in Alberta, and greatly influence
how we live our daily lives, from driving a car to
stepping inside a warm house in the winter.
Like agriculture, Alberta's forests
were regarded early on as a useful and valuable natural resource.
Forests, and particularly the wood products they
provide, continue to be utilized as the population
expands and more pulp and lumber mills are built in the
province.
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Heritage Community Foundation Presents
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