Amazing Aerial Photos Show The True Magnitude Of The Alberta Tar Sands Developments

The Athabasca Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada are the largest known resource for crude bitumen in the world. Retrieving that oil from the earth is a major undertaking, one that requires massive amounts of machinery, facilities, and man power. But the results also produce a massive amount of profit for those involved.

While its presence has been known since the early 1700's, it was only in the last decade or so that production and development has picked up on a large scale, thrusting the Tar Sands into the national spotlight. Folks from all over Canada and North America are flocking to Fort McMurray, the epicenter of expansion, for the promise of high paying jobs.

With an estimated 133 billion barrels still available, things don't look like they'll slow down any time soon. Though that's a tough sell for environmentalists who worry about the devastation these tar sands are wreaking on the natural environment.

Artist and aerial photographer, Louis Helbig, has been photographing the Athabasaca region from above for seven years and has seen firsthand just how colossal an operation extracting and refining the Tar Sands is. He also has seen how beautiful a place it can be.

"It's an unbelievable sight," he tells Business Insider.

Helbig has compiled his work into a new book, titled "Beautiful Destruction," which will be out later this year. He also currently has a Kickstarter campaign going, and it's proven to be one of the most successful projects in the history of the site.