Alberta has formed an advisory panel to review how surface-rights applications and disputes are handled after the system received a record number of files in the last fiscal year.

The panel will gather input from landowners, municipalities, industry representatives and subject experts. Its work will cover service delivery, dispute resolution and the protection of property rights.

About 9,000 surface-rights applications were filed in 2025-26, according to the province. More than $44 million in compensation was directed to landowners, up from $29.8 million in the previous year.

Surface rights govern access to private land for activities such as oil and gas development, pipelines, power lines and other infrastructure. Applications can involve right of entry, compensation reviews, damage disputes and recovery of unpaid compensation.

Those files can carry long-term consequences for farm operations, land values and relations between landowners and operators. Rural municipalities also have an interest because energy and infrastructure development can affect local roads, drainage, emergency planning and tax bases.

The province appointed Kris Bower to chair the panel. Bower is president and founder of 2G Land Ltd. and has more than 10 years of experience in land and surface-rights matters.

Other members are expected to represent agriculture, landowners, rural municipalities, industry and advocacy organizations. The province said their recommendations will inform work to re-establish a separate Surface Rights Board.

Alberta merged the Surface Rights Board into the Land and Property Rights Tribunal in 2021. The new review gives the province an opportunity to examine whether that structure provides timely decisions and accessible service for people outside major centres.

The application total and compensation increase give the review a measurable starting point. They do not, by themselves, show how long cases take, how many decisions are appealed or whether landowners and operators view the process as fair.

Those details will be important when the panel reports. Rural landowners will also be watching how the review addresses unpaid compensation, access to hearings and the cost of participating in a dispute.

The province has not yet released a public timetable for the panel’s recommendations in the announcement.

Further details on consultation and reporting will determine how much opportunity landowners and municipalities have to shape the proposed system.