Natural regeneration of forest vegetation on legacy seismic lines in boreal habitats in Alberta’s oil sands region

Abstract

a b s t r a c tMapping of oil reserves involves the use of seismic lines (linear disturbances) to determine both their location and extent. Conventional clearing techniques for seismic assessment have left a legacy of linear disturbances that cause habitat fragmentation. Little is known, however, about how local and landscape factors affect natural regeneration patterns of trees and shrubs on seismic lines that facilitate mapping and future projections of regeneration patterns. To understand factors affecting early forest regeneration and to predict future trends in regeneration of legacy seismic lines we used LiDAR, forest stand databases and a disturbance inventory of conventional seismic lines to model seismic line regeneration to a 3 m height in a 1806 km 2 area in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Regeneration to 3 m was inversely related to terrain wetness, line width, proximity to roads (as a proxy for human use of lines), and the lowland ecosites. Overall, terrain wetness and the presence of fen ecosites had the strongest negative effect on regeneration patterns; the wettest sites failed to recover even after 50 years post-disturbance. Predictions of future regeneration rates on existing lines suggested that approximately one-third of existing linear disturbance footprints in this boreal landscape will remain un-regenerated 50 years later resulting in persistent habitat fragmentation. Model predictions estimating regeneration probability are particularly valuable for estimating current and future forest regeneration trajectories on linear disturbances which are a conservation concern and a focus for restoration and planning by government, industry and conservation organizations.

UAV Remote Sensing Can Reveal the Effects of Low‐Impact Seismic Lines on Surface Morphology, Hydrology, and Methane (CH4) Release in a Boreal Treed Bog

“…Assuming that our study site is indicative of typical treed bog conditions, these findings can partially explain the lack of successful ecosystem recovery (i.e., restoration of ground surface, hydrological, and vegetation conditions comparable to predisturbance) along linear features within the western Canadian Boreal region. van Rensen et al () indicated that wetter (flooded) areas are less likely to establish new Sphagnum moss communities, an important genus in natural hummock formation. This suggests that LIS lines within our study site, and those in comparable disturbed peatlands, are highly unlikely to recover without the pursuit of active restoration designed to recreate suitable surface conditions.…”

“…Peatlands in the Canadian province of Alberta and elsewhere have been heavily disturbed by the construction of seismic lines for petroleum resource exploration (Pasher et al, ; Schneider & Dyer, ). Seismic lines can be extremely disruptive to low‐lying peatland ecosystems, often triggering persistent changes in environmental factors such as hydrology (van Rensen et al, ), which may have implications on GHG release rates. Seismic lines are not limited to Alberta, occurring within various other provinces and territories of Canada as well as in other regions such as Siberia (Scott, ; Williams et al, ).…”

“…Low‐impact seismic (LIS) lines are widespread in Alberta and are deemed “low impact” on account of reduced clearing widths (~2–3 m) compared to legacy seismic lines (~8–10 m; Schneider & Dyer, ; British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission, ). However LIS are constructed in dense grid networks (~50 m intervals) across vast areas, and there is little evidence of enhanced recovery rates in peatlands, which are notoriously slow to recover from disturbance events (Schneider & Dyer, ; British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission, ; van Rensen et al, ). Few studies to date have explored the impact of LIS on physical peatland conditions (MT and hydrology) and GHG fluxes.…”

Slowing down wolves to protect boreal caribou populations: a spatial simulation model of linear feature restoration

“…In many instances, vegetation recovery on these lines is extremely slow (Schneider ), especially in wetter lowlands (van Rensen et al. ), which are important caribou habitats.…”

Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Monitoring Recovery of Forest Vegetation on Petroleum Well Sites

“…After a well has finished producing, the site is decommissioned and the land reclaimed to a more natural state, according to regulations outlined by Alberta's Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act [2]. However, rates of post-disturbance recovery have been found to vary considerably [3,4]. For example, Pinno and Hawkes [5] examined plant community structure derived PPCs for estimating vegetation characteristics include those shown by Guerra-Hernandez et al [34], Jensen and Mathews [35], and Wallace et al [36].…”