Succession after reclamation: Identifying and assessing ecological indicators of forest recovery on reclaimed oil and natural gas well pads

Lupardus, Randi C.; McIntosh, Anne C.S.; Janz, Arnold; Farr, Dan

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105515

Cited by 37 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…Longlasting damage to the soil system can negatively affect forest productivity and ecosystem functionality [5]. One way to estimate the severity of logging damage to the forest soil is to measure soil bulk density before treatment and compare it with its critical level after harvesting operations [25,26].…”

Section: Howmentioning

confidence: 99%

How and How Much, Do Harvesting Activities Affect Forest Soil, Regeneration and Stands?

2020

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Purpose of Review Lowering the impact of forest utilisation on the forest environment is a part of the improvement in sustainable forest management. As part of forest utilisation, timber harvesting can also cause environmental implications. The main impact of forest operations is on the soil, on regeneration and on the residual stand. The aim of the present review was to identify the state of the art in forest utilisation, identifying how and how much forest operations affect forest soil, regeneration and the remaining stand. Particular attention was paid to the level of impact and potential to limit this. Recent Findings There are a large number of publications tackling forest harvesting, but most of them do not give a comprehensive framework and they mainly focus on one or very few aspects of forest damage. In order to improve general knowledge of the impact of forest operations, it was proposed that the scope of recent findings should be examined and a compilation of the available results from different regions should be presented in one paper. Summary It was found that the least impactful machine-based forest operations were harvester-forwarder technologies, while a larger scale of damage could be expected from ground-based extraction systems (skidders) and cable yarders. Animal power, if applicable, tended to be very neutral to the forest environment. A decrease in damage is possible by optimising skid trail and strip road planning, careful completion of forest operations and training for operators. The existence of legal documents controlling post-harvesting stand damage are rare and have been implemented in only two countries; there is no post-harvesting control on soil damage and natural regeneration.

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Section: Howmentioning

confidence: 99%

How and How Much, Do Harvesting Activities Affect Forest Soil, Regeneration and Stands?

2020

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“…In addition to open agricultural land for females with kittens in winter, areas close to active well-sites and compressor stations were medium ranked for females with kittens in both seasons and significantly selected during summer, while being low in importance for males and single females throughout the year. In Alberta, well-pads and compressor stations are surrounded by a hectare of cleared land that is usually revegetated with agronomic species that attracts white-tailed deer (Dawe et al 2014, Lupardus et al 2019. A small area with abundant forage could hold high densities of deer and provide females with kittens with frequent hunting opportunity.…”

Section: Habitat Selection Of Females With Kittens Compared To Singlementioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal habitat selection of cougars Puma concolor by sex and reproductive state in west‐central Alberta, Canada

et al. 2020

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Resource selection studies are commonly used to assess the landscape features that animals select or avoid in their environment. Selection for certain landscape features and landcover types may vary by sex and reproductive status of an individual, and habitat selection studies should incorporate these factors. Cougars Puma concolor are a wide-ranging species that live in a diversity of habitats with varying levels of human disturbance. Geographic positioning satellite telemetry collars were deployed on 55 males, single females and females with kittens. We used a two-stage resource selection function to assess the seasonal habitat characteristics used by adult cougars in west-central, Alberta, Canada, near the northern extent of the species range, from 2016 to 2018. A latent selection diference function was used to compare diferences in habitat selction between groups. All groups selected for similar habitat types including edge habitat, close proximity to water, sloped terrain, forested habitat and avoided roads. During the summer, close proximity to water and wetland land cover were among the most selected features for all groups. Forest and edge habitats also were important for single females and males. During the winter, forested habitat was one of the most important covariates for all groups along with close proximity to water, edge habitat and slope for single females and males. Selection for slope and avoidance of open agricultural land were among the most important for females with kittens. Our results provide insights into those landscape variables that are important for cougars at the northern extent of their geographical range.

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“…Loss of woody debris has been suggested as a factor contributing to delayed restoration of vegetation on well sites [25][26][27][28][29]. The creation of exploratory well pads results in the initial removal of vegetation to provide a level foundation for operation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This can result in little to no residual woody debris for some sites, while other sites can have high amounts of residual woody debris depending on: the vegetation present when cleared, the machinery used, and the operator's instructions/preferences. Woody debris on exploratory well pads does not accumulate after initial reclamation as it does in adjacent forests due to the lack of trees [28]. As a consequence, woody debris application has been recently used in some reclamation efforts by the oil and gas industry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a consequence, woody debris application has been recently used in some reclamation efforts by the oil and gas industry. Although few studies have evaluated the benefits of residual woody debris or their application, early results suggest that woody debris applications can: control erosion, provide a long-term storage/supply of organic matter and nutrients, regulate soil temperature and light, increase water content, create microsites for regeneration, and enhance diversity [25][26][27][28][29]. However, the amount of woody debris can be important.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Fire Severity and Woody Debris on Tree Regeneration for Exploratory Well Pads in Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) Forests

Filicetti

LaPointe

Nielsen

2021

Forests

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Restoring anthropogenic footprints to pre-disturbance conditions or minimizing their long-term impacts is an important goal in conservation. Many footprints, particularly if left alone, have wide-ranging effects on biodiversity. In Canada, energy exploration footprints result in forest dissection and fragmentation contributing to declines in woodland caribou. Developing cost effective strategies to restore forests and thus conserving the woodland caribou habitat is a conservation priority. In this study, we compared the effects of wildfire and local variation in the amount of residual woody debris on natural regeneration in jack pine on exploratory well pads in Alberta’s boreal forest. Specifically, we investigated how footprint size, fire severity (overstory tree mortality), ground cover of fine and coarse woody debris, and adjacent stand characteristics (i.e., height, age, and cover), affected tree regeneration densities and height using negative binomial count and linear models (Gaussian), respectively. Regeneration density was 30% higher on exploratory well pads than adjacent forests, increased linearly with fire severity on the exploratory well pads (2.2% per 1% increase in fire severity), but non-linearly in adjacent forests (peaking at 51,000 stems/ha at 72% fire severity), and decreased with amount of woody debris on exploratory well pads (2.7% per 1% increase in woody debris cover). The height of regenerating trees on exploratory well pads decreased with fire severity (0.56 cm per 1% increase in fire severity) and was non-linearly related to coarse woody debris (peaking at 286 cm at 9.4% coarse woody debris cover). Heights of 3 and 5 m on exploratory well pads were predicted by 13- and 21-years post-fire, respectively. Our results demonstrate that wildfires can stimulate natural recovery of fire-adapted species, such as jack pine, on disturbances as large as exploratory well pads (500–1330 m2) and that the type and amount of woody debris affects these patterns.

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Succession after reclamation: Identifying and assessing ecological indicators of forest recovery on reclaimed oil and natural gas well pads

Cited by 37 publications

References 86 publications

How and How Much, Do Harvesting Activities Affect Forest Soil, Regeneration and Stands?

How and How Much, Do Harvesting Activities Affect Forest Soil, Regeneration and Stands?

Seasonal habitat selection of cougars Puma concolor by sex and reproductive state in west‐central Alberta, Canada

Effects of Fire Severity and Woody Debris on Tree Regeneration for Exploratory Well Pads in Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana) Forests

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