Land-Use References

Year Title (Author, Description) File Download
2006

A Checklist for Evaluating Alberta's New Land-Use Initiatives

Steve Kennett

Public land management in Alberta is once again under scrutiny thanks to several policy initiatives and stakeholder consultations recently launched by the provincial government. Many stakeholder groups and individuals who pay attention to land-use issues must be wondering whether or not they should participate in this flurry of activity and how likely it is to achieve significant results.

Contact ALCES for Steve Kennett, 2006
2008

Alberta By Design: A Blueprint for an Effective Land-Use Framework

Steve Kennett and Rick Schneider

Alberta is at a turning point with respect to land and resource management. There is a broad consensus among Albertans familiar with land-use issues in the province that the current system of planning and decision-making urgently needs an overhaul. This report, by the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, presents a practical and solutions- oriented blueprint for a new Land-Use Framework.

Contact ALCES for Steve Kennett and Rick Schneider, 2008
2010

Alberta Traffic Collision Statistics

Alberta Transportation Office of Traffic Safety

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, “why”, and “how” of traffic collisions which occurred in Alberta during 2010. Although the report is general in nature, it pays particular attention to casualty collisions, that is, those collisions which result in death or injury. Legislation in Alberta requires that a traffic collision, which results in either death, injury or property damage to an apparent extent of $1000.00 or more, be reported immediately to an authorized peace officer. The officer completes a standardized collision report form which provides information on various aspects of the traffic collision. This report is based on the data collected from these report forms.

Contact ALCES for Alberta Transportation Office of Traffic Safety, 2010
2010

Alberta Traffic Collision Statistics

Alberta Transportation Office of Traffic Safety

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, “why”, and “how” of traffic collisions which occurred in Alberta during 2010. Although the report is general in nature, it pays particular attention to casualty collisions, that is, those collisions which result in death or injury. Legislation in Alberta requires that a traffic collision, which results in either death, injury or property damage to an apparent extent of $1000.00 or more, be reported immediately to an authorized peace officer. The officer completes a standardized collision report form which provides information on various aspects of the traffic collision. This report is based on the data collected from these report forms. The collision report form is issued with standard instructions to every police service within Alberta, to be completed by the officer attending the scene of a motor vehicle collision or at a police station. Police priorities at the scene of a collision are to care for the injured, protect the motoring public and clear the roadway. Completion of the collision report form is a secondary, but necessary task. After completion, the information on the collision report form is coded for input to computer files. The Alberta Collision Information System, which has been operational since 1978, undergoes several manual and computerized inspections each year in order to ensure maximum accuracy of the final data output. This collision information is used to make Alberta’s roads safer for all road users. Due to continuing police investigation, some numbers presented in this report may be subject to revision. It should also be noted that not all percentage columns will total 100 due to rounding error. This report was produced based on collisions reported to Alberta Transportation by police, at the time of printing. The numbers presented in this report will not be updated. However, the patterns and trends detailed in this report represent an accurate description of Alberta’s traffic collision picture.

Contact ALCES for Alberta Transportation Office of Traffic Safety, 2010
2001

A Method for Measuring Sediment Production from Forest Roads

Keith Kahklen

Predicting sediment production from forest roads is necessary to determine their impact on watersheds and associated terrestrial and stream biota. A method is presented for measuring sediment originating from a road segment for individual storm events and quantifying the delivery to streams. Site selection criteria are listed to describe the characteristics for efficient data collection and analysis. The method describes equipment used to quantify sediment transport—data loggers, a rain gage, a traffic counter, Parshall flumes with stilling wells, hydrostatic pressure transducers, and water pumping samplers—as well as variables associated with sediment production—road surfacing material, traffic intensity, gradient, age, construction method, and precipitation. A sampling protocol that worked well for the forest roads in southeast Alaska and can be adapted for use in other regions also is described. Examples of data collection and analysis are explained both for sites near the road and downstream sites for sediment delivery quantification. This method can be used to determine the downstream transport of sediment originating from roads and developing regression models or validating existing sediment models.

Contact ALCES for Keith Kahklen, 2001
2007

A new method to estimate species and biodiversity intactness using empirically derived reference conditions

S.E. Nielsen, E.M. Bayne, J. Schieck, J. Herbers, and S. Boutin

Critical to the conservation of biodiversity is knowledge of status and trends of species. To that end, monitoring programmes have reported on the state of biodiversity using reference conditions as comparison. Little consensus exists on how reference conditions are defined and how such information is used to index intactness. Most use protected areas or an arbitrary year as reference. This is problematic since protected areas are often spatially biased, while arbitrarily defined reference years are often not sufficiently distant in time. Biological Conservation 137 (2007)

Contact ALCES for S.E. Nielsen, E.M. Bayne, J. Schieck, J. Herbers, and S. Boutin, 2007
2007

An Examination Of The Effects Of Economic Growth On Landscape Features And Processes In Southern Alberta Using ALCES

Terry Antoniuk, Brad Stelfox, and Mark Anielski

Regional-scale modelling examined the long-term cumulative effects of land-use, resource demands, and population increases on the landscape of southern Alberta. The results will help inform the project, Southern Alberta Landscapes: Meeting the Challenges Ahead (SAL), in addressing the increased use of our environment into the future. SAL was launched in 2002 as a cross-Ministry, inter-governmental, strategic planning initiative to examine sustainable development issues in southern Alberta. A Base Case Scenario, which assumed a continuation of current land use practices and business plans, was developed first as a Baseline for comparison with other scenarios. An alternate scenario was then run to test various "What-if" questions. Both scenarios used 2000 for year zero because this was the most recent year for which most data were available for the region.

Contact ALCES for Terry Antoniuk, Brad Stelfox, and Mark Anielski, 2007
1984

A Policy for Resource Management of the Eastern Slopes

Alberta Energy and Natural Resources

Management in the Eastern Slopes, past and present, and a framework of provincial natural resource goals.

Contact ALCES for Alberta Energy and Natural Resources, 1984
1993

Application of a GIS for simulating hydrological responses in developing regions

Stefan W. Kienzle

Present capturing, processing and manipulation of spatial data and information as well as coupling processes between the ARC/INFO GIS and the ACRU HMS (Agricultural Catchment Research Unit) is demonstrated for the Mgeni basin in Natal, South Africa.

Contact ALCES for Stefan W. Kienzle, 1993
2008

Better Farming; Better Air

H.H. Janzen, R.L. Desjardins, P. Rochette, M. Boehm and D. Worth

Review of agricultural practices and their contributions to GHG

Contact ALCES for H.H. Janzen, R.L. Desjardins, P. Rochette, M. Boehm and D. Worth, 2008
1964

Catalogue of Coal Mines of the Alberta Plains

J. D. Campbell

A comprehensive catalogue is presented of all coal mines that have been registered or opened in the plains regions of Alberta. Included are data on surrounding terrain, geology and composition of the coal, and a location map on a scale of one inch to 12 miles.

Contact ALCES for J. D. Campbell, 1964
1992

Catchment Disturbance and Stream Response: An Overview of Stream Research at Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory

Webster, Golladay, Benfield, Meyer, Swank, Wallace

People interested in stream pollution frequently make a distinction between point-source and non-point-source pollution. Point-source pollution comes out of a pipe; non-point pollution generally enters streams in run-off from surrounding land. It is our contention that non-point-source pollution is a major contributor to degradation of water quality and ecosystem integrity in rivers; the direct effects are primarily to small streams and are then transmitted downstream to larger rivers. In this chapter we illustrate how a terrestrial disturbance affects small streams and how these streams respond to and recover from the disturbance.

Contact ALCES for Webster, Golladay, Benfield, Meyer, Swank, Wallace , 1992
2011

Chief Mountain Cumulative Effects Study

Barry Wilson and Mark Hudson

The Chief Mountain Study attempts to balance the perspectives of different stakeholders in the area and is based on the premise that all land uses examined provide economic benefits, but these benefits may have associated environmental liabilities, such as impacts on surface and groundwater or the loss of natural biodiversity. It also recognizes some liabilities may be minor by themselves, but have more serious cumulative effects. The study attempts to identify potentially conflicting land use trends and to show that even the decisions of individuals can have beneficial or negative consequences.

Contact ALCES for Barry Wilson and Mark Hudson, 2011
2010

Collisions between Wildlife and Vehicles in Alberta

Amy Carter

Contact ALCES for Amy Carter, 2010
2010

COSEWIC's Assessment Process and Criteria

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada

The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) exists to provide Canadians and their governments with advice regarding the status of wildlife species that are nationally at risk of extinction or extirpation. The COSEWIC process is divided into three sequential steps, each of which has a tangible outcome. These are detailed below. • selection of wildlife species requiring assessment - the COSEWIC Candidate List; • compilation of available data, knowledge and information - the COSEWIC status report; and • assessment of a wildlife species' risk of extinction or extirpation and subsequent designation - the record of COSEWIC assessment results.

Contact ALCES for The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, 2010
1980

Cumulative Effects of Logging Road Sediment on Salmonid Populations in the Clearwater River Jefferson County Washington

C.J. Cederholm, L.M. Reid, E.O. Salo

The nature of sediment production from logging roads and the effect of the resulting sediment on salmonid spawning success in the Clearwater River drainage have been studied for eight years. The study includes intensive and extensive analyses of field situations, supplemented by several controlled experiments. It was found that significant amounts (15-25 percent) of fine sediments (less than 0.85 mm diameter material) are accumulating in spawning gravels of some heavily roaded tributary basins. This accumulation is highest in basins where the road area exceeds 2.5 percent of the basin area. Tributaries of relatively steep gradient are less likely to accumulate high levels of fines. The survival of salmonid eggs to emergence is inversely correlated with percent fines when the percentage of fines exceeds the natural levels of 10 percent. There is a rapid decrease in survival to emergence for each 1 percent increase in fines over natural levels. The presence of 2.5 km/km2 of gravel-surfaced roads undergoing an average distribution of road uses is found to be responsible for producing sediment at 2.6-4.3 times the natural rate in a drainage basin. Sixty percent of the road-related sediment production is caused by landslides while erosion on road surfaces accounts for an additional 18-26 percent. If fine sediment alone is considered, production from road surfaces and landslides is nearly equal. The tributaries of the Clearwater River may be underseeded for coho salmon due to heavy harvest rates in the commercial and sport fisheries. This underseeded condition becomes significant when the efficiency of the spawning environment in producing recruits is lowered by logging-caused sedimentation.

Contact ALCES for C.J. Cederholm, L.M. Reid, E.O. Salo, 1980
2012

CUMULATIVE EFFECTS THRESHOLDS FOR ARCTIC GRAYLING IN THE WAPITI RIVER WATERSHED

Adam Paul Norris

Intensity and types of land use have changed rapidly in the last century and in north-western Alberta this has coincided with the decline of Wapiti River watershed Arctic Grayling (Thymallus arcticus) populations. Data on diurnal dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical and physical stream habitat data were collected in nine sub-watersheds of the Wapiti River with historically abundant Arctic Grayling populations. Levels and fluctuations of DO and temperature were related to the status of populations; five of the nine streams had higher temperatures and lower DO during summer, anoxic conditions during winter and extirpated populations. Amount of disturbed land and road density within sub-watersheds were inversely related to DO levels and population status. Cumulative effects modelling suggests a possible mechanism for these relationships is increased phosphorous runoff, leading to impaired habitat. These relationships and thresholds may be used as a management tool to maintain or restore Arctic Grayling and other stream fishes.

Contact ALCES for Adam Paul Norris, 2012
2008

Curing Environmental Dis-Integration: A Prescription for Integrating the Government of Alberta's Strategic Initiatives

Danielle Droitsch, Steven A. Kennett, and Dan Woynillowicz

The Government of Alberta lacks the regulatory ability to manage the cumulative environmental impacts of the industrial development and other human activities now occurring across Alberta's landscapes. A new approach to environmental decision-making is needed to avoid continued decline in key indicators of environmental quality and depletion of Alberta's natural capital.

Contact ALCES for Danielle Droitsch, Steven A. Kennett, and Dan Woynillowicz, 2008
2011

Defining Pre-Industrial and Current Disturbance Regime Parameters for the North Saskatchewan Regional Planning Area

David Andison

This report is a technical and scientific support document to the land use planning process for the North Saskatchewan Regional Plan landscape. More specifically, the information here will provide the best available state-of-knowledge of the pre-industrial and current or business-as-usual disturbance regimes. Furthermore, this information will be used as input for a scenario / simulation modelling exercise. Specifically the Objective is: To provide a complete and succinct summary of the current state of knowledge of all key parameters of the historic and current disturbance regimes of the North Saskatchewan landscape in a model-user-friendly format.

Contact ALCES for David Andison, 2011
2011

Deliberative Democracy, Institution Building, and the Pragmatics of Cumulative Effects Assessment

Parkins, J. R.

Cumulative effects assessment is a process of scientific analysis, social choice, and public policy development, yet the linkages among these domains are often less than transparent. Limits to scientific and technical assessment, issues of power and control of information, and episodic forms of civic engagement represent serious challenges to meaningful understanding of cumulative effects assessment and land-use planning. In articulating these challenges, I draw on case studies from Ontario's Lands for Life and Alberta's Land-use Framework to illustrate current limitations to cumulative effects assessment on public lands in Canada. As a partial remedy for these limitations, insights into a pragmatic approach to impact assessment, in contrast to decisionistic and technocratic approaches, offer a way forward through a more robust integration of scientific information, civic engagement, and public policy development. I also identify a need for longer-standing institutions that are dedicated to regional planning and cumulative effects assessment in Canada.

Contact ALCES for Parkins, J. R., 2011
2006

DELIVERING UNPOPULAR MESSAGES: Don’t just survive. Succeed!

Lorne Fitch, P. Biol.

We’d all like to deliver popular messages, the ones people want to hear, the positive and uncontroversial ones and those that evoke emotional responses like gratitude, pleasure and warmth. In a perfect world what other messages would there be to deliver? In that other sphere those that listen to messages would be well informed, rational, interested, motivated, knowledgeable and broad-minded. The fact that people, in this world, often don’t display these characteristics is not an indictment against them. It isn’t right, it isn’t wrong; it is just that way. As someone who is going to deliver an unpopular message it is the recognition that some responses are predictable, unsurprising and not totally unjustified. As the deliverer of that message, you are challenging the beliefs, perceptions and opinions of someone. Most people are driven by a combination of beliefs that are largely ill formed, lack crucial information and can be irrational because of other circumstances. There is a lack of time, application of critical thinking and interest to sort through a complex situation, until the message deliverer holds up a mirror forcing people to face the issues. Who wouldn’t be wracked with anxiety, anger or fear with that prospect?

Contact ALCES for Lorne Fitch, P. Biol., 2006
2010

Demand Letter to Minister Prentice

Jack Woodward, Woodward & Co. LLP

We are legal counsel for Beaver Lake Cree Nation, Enoch Cree Nation, Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (collectively, the “First Nations Petitioners”) in respect of this matter. We write on behalf of the First Nations Petitioners to request that you take immediate steps to protect the full ranges of the remaining woodland caribou herds in northeastern Alberta by preventing any further industrial activity anywhere within those ranges. Leading woodland caribou biologists have been recommending this course of action to you and to your ministry (Environment Canada) for several years. You and your ministry have also known for several years about the precipitous decline of woodland caribou in northeastern Alberta, but to date you have done nothing to protect woodland caribou or their habitat.

Contact ALCES for Jack Woodward, Woodward & Co. LLP, 2010
2002

Development of a Threshold Approach for Assessing Industrial Impacts on Woodland Caribou in Yukon

Robert B. Anderson, M.Sc., P.Biol., R.B.Bio. Simon J. Dyer, M.Sc., P.Biol. Shawn R. Francis, M.Sc.,

To date, no jurisdiction in Canada has established, implemented and enforced cumulative effects thresholds for industrial activity in woodland caribou range. Instead, guidelines and regulations have been put in place in an attempt to minimize and mitigate the impacts of individual development projects on caribou. Under this system of management, many caribou populations throughout the provinces are either the focus of concern or have been extirpated from former ranges. In some situations, caribou ranges have already been severely impacted and will require a great deal of effort, financial resources, and political will to return habitat effectiveness to an acceptable level. Yukon has a unique opportunity to develop and implement cumulative effects thresholds for caribou range prior to large-scale industrial development over significant areas. This must be initiated now if Yukon wishes to have healthy caribou populations in perpetuity. The current report is intended to assess potential threshold approaches and recommend a methodology for setting industrial thresholds for woodland caribou range in Yukon. The criteria for recommending a threshold development strategy was that it: 1) be directly relevant to caribou ecology, 2) truly assess cumulative effects of known human influences on caribou, 3) be able to suggest a clear threshold, and 4) be usable and acceptable by a wide range of stakeholders. Based on a literature review, experience from other jurisdictions, and consideration of the Yukon situation, it was concluded that the most appropriate method for developing cumulative effects thresholds for Yukon caribou range was the habitat effectiveness approach, whether it be based on a full habitat effectiveness model or simply a total zone of influence. This approach addresses the influence of industrial activity on caribou ecology, includes cumulative effects from several disturbance types, can be related to clear thresholds, and generally meets the criteria of being usable and acceptable by a wide range of stakeholders. Although habitat effectiveness calculations incorporate, in a general sense, the importance of human features in changing mortality rates due to humans and other predators, and the effects of spatial distribution of harvest on caribou habitat effectiveness, there are obvious limitations to this relatively simple threshold approach. Range-specific factors, such as predator density, or distance to human settlements, may influence caribou recruitment and survival differently, despite ranges having similar habitat effectiveness values. Despite these limitations, setting of thresholds represents a risk management exercise for development of industrial activity in caribou range, and is a more defensible management technique than the alternative approaches (projectspecific mitigation strategies), which have largely failed in other jurisdictions Most elements required for the development and implementation of the habitat effectiveness approach within Yukon already exist. The data required to set a threshold for Yukon caribou range are either already in existence, or could be acquired in a timely fashion. The technical expertise and technological resources required to implement thresholds currently exist in Yukon and are fully capable of developing the tools needed to assess proposed projects and undertake long-term range planning. The coordination of these activities among government agencies and existing management structures will be the greatest challenge to implementing a threshold approach for Yukon.

Contact ALCES for Robert B. Anderson, M.Sc., P.Biol., R.B.Bio. Simon J. Dyer, M.Sc., P.Biol. Shawn R. Francis, M.Sc., , 2002
2012

Eating Tomorrow

Lorne Fitch, P. Biol.

It was a sight to behold and one greater to comprehend the eating of, that chocolate cream pie. We had whipped it together from graham cracker crumbs and chocolate pudding, shaken and then chilled in a snow bank on a backpacking trip. The anticipation of eating it brought me to the level of a child, thinking only of immediate gratification. My two companions showed considerably more restraint, electing to divide each of their respective thirds in half, to have a piece at breakfast the next morning. I ate my third immediately. The saved piece of pie was enclosed in a rock cairn to protect it from marauders. I was teased unmercifully about how good the remainder would taste in the morning, had I saved some of my pie. The early glow of morning light revealed the cairn had been transformed into a scatter of rocks. No pie remains were left and the aluminum pie plate retained gouges on its surface. A mule deer doe was beating a hasty retreat from the scene saving me from instant suspicion. But, a closer inspection of the crime scene with all the intensity of a CSI unit showed a porcupine was the culprit. Somewhere in the headwaters of the Castle River there may well be a line of porcupines still hardwired to remember a meal of non-wood, chocolate ambrosia tinged with a slight metallic aftertaste. It was my turn to laugh, since I had lost nothing in this porcupine perpetrated crime. The moral of the story, I pontificated, was that “gluttony is its own reward”. Saving a piece of the pie was foolish, because how could we predict the events of the future, and indeed the tragic loss of the saved pie? Eating it all, now, was the smart thing to do. It was only later, upon reflection that I realized how much the incident revealed of human nature and our province, if not the world.

Contact ALCES for Lorne Fitch, P. Biol., 2012
2002

Ecological basis for stand management: A synthesis of ecological responses to wildfire and harvesting

Samantha Song (editor)

Public concern over the ecological impacts of clearcutting and loss of old growth forest, as well as the increased knowledge of natural disturbance dynamics of forests, has prompted a number of agencies in North America to re-evaluate forest practices. Increasingly, in an attempt to address these concerns, many government departments and corporations have released new policies and guidelines to supplement or replace the current suite of harvesting practices with a broader range of approaches that are intended to use natural disturbance as a model. Generally, the intent of the natural disturbance template is that biotic systems adapted to natural disturbance may be better managed under a harvesting regime that attempts to emulate those disturbances rather than under existing clearcutting practices. This represents a different focus for altering harvest practices than models that aim to protect old forest seral stages, although there are many overlapping components. The objective of the Ecological Basis for Stand Management project was to review, synthesize, and evaluate the ecological basis for harvest practices at the stand level in boreal mixedwood forests. Our approach critically assessed two strategies for forest management: management for old growth seral stages, and management to emulate natural disturbances, particularly wildfire. Using a chronosequence approach and with some re-analysis of existing data, we reviewed the ecological effects of wildfires on forests, then compared with clearcutting and retention of residual trees. We compared ecological elements at each seral stage to old seral stage forests. We also documented existing information on biotic responses to riparian areas and forest edges.

Contact ALCES for Samantha Song (editor), 2002
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