In situ oil sands wildlife monitoring programme

Challenge

The client received EPEA approval to develop and operate a commercial in situ oil sands project.

Solution

The SLR Wildlife Technical Advisor developed and implemented the wildlife and caribou mitigation and monitoring programmes.

The objectives of the programs are to monitor the effectiveness of mitigation at reducing or eliminating project effects on wildlife and specifically caribou. SLR is also developing the 2020 Soil Monitoring Programme Proposal to meet the AEP Soil Management Directive.

Impact

• SLR is implementing the remote trail camera and acoustic recording unit (ARU) monitoring of wildlife response to project development and will compile and analyze data for the 2021 Comprehensive Wildlife Report.
• SLR developed a long-term monitoring approach to determine change over time in songbird, amphibian and mammal use of reclaimed industrial sites with the use of ARUs and remote trail cameras.
• SLR completed wildlife sweeps, to locate sensitive wildlife features that may require mitigation prior to development of oil sands exploration sites and new project development phases.
• SLR is developing the Soil Monitoring Programme proposal for the second soil monitoring event as a condition of the EPEA Approval.