Caribou habitat projects aim to assist BC Government and industry as they work towards restoring habitat, and promoting sustainable populations of threatened boreal caribou herds. Golder’s boreal caribou habitat restoration capability, garnered as a result of extensive experience working on habitat restoration projects in Alberta’s oil and gas sector, has been recognized by the British Columbia Research and Effectiveness Monitoring Board (REMB) established to support the British Colombia Government’s Implementation Plan for the Ongoing Management of Boreal Caribou with the awarding of three habitat restoration projects in boreal caribou range from 2014-2017 valued at $1.5 Million. Funding for the projects was provided by the BC Oil and Gas Research and Innovation Society (OGRIS) Fund.
In 2014, Golder was contracted to develop a
Operational Toolkit to assist industrial users with meeting interim reclamation operating practices in boreal caribou habitat in BC. The Operational Toolkit provides field-level guidance to restoration practitioners on the objectives of restoration, the toolbox of treatment options, and the associated measures to consider with each treatment type. Golder’s consultants presented the Toolkit at a one-day workshop in April 2015 in Fort St. John to a variety of stakeholders including oil and gas representatives, reclamation consultants, and provincial and federal regulatory staff.
In April 2015, Golder was awarded additional projects to develop a pilot habitat restoration program in the Parker Boreal Caribou Range. The pilot project will develop a landscape level restoration program plan for an entire defined boreal caribou range, including development of a Year 1 Field Implementation Plan, developed for implementation in 2016/2017. It will fit with the direction and management actions outlined in the Implementation Plan for the Ongoing Management of Boreal Caribou in British Columbia and the federal Recovery Strategy for the Woodland Caribou, Boreal Population. The project will include an analysis of current linear disturbance on the landscape, the development of a tactical plan to restore anthropogenic disturbances, and the implementation of field-level restoration treatments. One of the objectives will be to provide an opportunity to restore low quality habitat into higher quality habitat (e.g., large, late seral stage patches) over a landscape level scale, as a means to increasing boreal caribou habitat connectivity and intactness.
Also in April 2015, Golder was selected to develop a Restoration Monitoring Framework. The Monitoring Framework will include the development of a consistent monitoring framework which uses data collected by numerous sources to determine if habitat restoration objectives are being achieved.
The Golder team for these projects includes staff from five offices in the BC and Prairies North regions (Fort St. John, Kelowna, Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton), an indication of Golder’s broad organizational capability in caribou habitat management.
For more information on Golder’s caribou habitat management initiatives, please contact: Paula Bentham or Brian Coupal.
For additional information, please contact:
Golder Associates Ltd.
Tina Marano, National Marketing Leader
Tel: +1 (905) 567-6100 x2556
Email: Tina_Marano@golder.com
