Linear features, including seismic lines, pipelines, transmission lines, roads, railways, and trails are pervasive in Alberta’s boreal forest and have been implicated as a primary factor leading to declines of boreal woodland caribou. Seismic lines are by far the most numerous and widespread linear feature, and restoring seismic lines, with a primary goal of preventing wolf use of lines as travel corridors, is therefore a key action that can be taken to recover caribou. However, given the extent of seismic lines – estimated at approximately 100,000 km within the Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance area of interest – it is necessary to prioritize areas to serve as starting points for restoration.
The objective of this project was to prioritize townships for the restoration of linear features within five caribou ranges in northeast Alberta: Cold Lake, East Side of the Athabasca River, Red Earth, Richardson, and West Side of the Athabasca River. In Versions 1.0 and 2.0, each township’s priority was based on the potential increase of undisturbed caribou habitat that could be achieved through linear feature restoration, accounting for both the restoration cost and the potential for future resource development. Version 3.0 builds upon this work, introducing four additional objectives:
1. Incorporate caribou habitat value into township-level prioritization.
2. Integrate restoration with predicted future industrial disturbance, including both energy and forestry.
3. Consider decision-support guidance at multiple spatial scales, from regional, to township-level, to individual lines, to specific sites along individual lines, in consideration of operational restoration planning, logistics, and treatment requirements.
4. Include additional collaborators and stakeholders to broaden the scope of the analysis and ensure relevance of the project outcomes.
The overarching goal of this project is to provide a tool to help guide where to prioritize restoration to benefit caribou in a cost-effective manner while maintaining resource development on a shared landscape. Therefore, understanding where development is most likely to occur can reduce inefficient use of restoration funds and effort by guiding restoration away from areas likely to be developed, thus avoiding re-disturbance of lines following restoration. Previous versions of this project incorporated current and future industrial disturbance by precluding restoration within boundaries for operating, approved, applied for, and announced projects shown on the Government of Alberta’s Oil Sands Information Portal (OSIP) website. Version 3.0 updates OSIP boundaries with more recent information, and explicitly addresses the implications of forest harvest activities and scheduling on restoration.
For version 1 of this report, please refer to Prioritizing Zones for Caribou Habitat Restoration in the Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance Area V1.0.
For version 2 of this report, please refer to Prioritizing Zones for Caribou Habitat Restoration in the Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance Area V2.0.