Impaired Wetlands in a Damaged Landscape: The Legacy of Bitumen Exploitation in Canada

Impaired Wetlands in a Damaged Landscape: The Legacy of Bitumen Exploitation in Canada

Presented by Kevin Timoney (Ph.D.)

This study compares and contrasts natural and industrially-affected wetlands through a first-ever meta-analysis of data from 417 wetland study plots. It classifies the vegetation of natural and industrially-affected wetlands, then describes their physical, chemical, structural, and landscape attributes.

Date:               November 3, 2015;

Time:                3:00-4:30 pm

Location:        NAIT  Main Campus 11762 106 Street Edmonton, Alberta Nexen Theater Room # Y240

CCP:               This presentation entitles ASPB members to earn 1 PDH

Cost:               Free to members and non-members

For inquiries about the Workshop, contact Chris Newton.

Summary

Impairment of wetlands was observed along a complex three-dimensional gradient from natural wetlands through heavily-impacted process affected wetlands. Impairment of industrial wetlands was evident in their shifted species assemblages; reduced species and vegetation richness; dominance of disturbance-adapted generalists, salt-tolerant species, and exotics; absence of expected wetland species and vegetation types; reduced biomass, plant cover, height, density, and growth; elevated concentrations in water and sediments of conductivity, salts, naphthenic acids, and other chemical indicators of industrial activity; reduced concentrations of plant nutrients and organic matter; compacted sediments; hydraulic isolation; and reduced wetland size.

Through an analysis of reclaimed wetlands of known age, the data demonstrate that ecological impairment is persisting over time. No evidence was found to support the view that reclaimed wetlands are converging towards healthy natural wetlands. The study demonstrates that impairment extends beyond the wetlands to the greater ecosystem, that wetland reclamation has failed, and that monitoring is inadequate. The large-scale failure of wetland reclamation is the predictable outcome of a lax regulatory regime in which fossil fuel exploitation has been given primacy to all other considerations while development outpaces the accumulation of scientific knowledge.

Due to the combined effects of inadequate monitoring and habitat loss, vegetation and floristic biodiversity are being lost before they are being documented. A host of ecological, hydrological, and physico-chemical factors make it unlikely that the impairment of industrial wetlands and the greater ecosystem will ameliorate in the near future. A damaged and contaminated landscape, a national sacrifice zone, is being created. Without major and rapid changes in policy and management, large-scale and persistent environmental degradation is inevitable.

The study concludes: “There are those who believe that the creation of a national sacrifice zone is a small price to pay for the benefits of bitumen. The inequitable apportionment of the impacts, costs, and benefits is, however, one of the more troubling aspects of bitumen exploitation. Future generations, who will have to live with the legacy of bitumen exploitation, will be the ultimate arbiters."

Presenter's Biography 

Kevin Timoney (Ph.D.) is a well-rounded ecologist with extensive field, research, and writing experience and a commitment to solving complex environmental and ecological problems. He has expertise in subarctic and boreal ecology, vegetation, botany, climate change, hydrology, wildlife, disturbance ecology, environmental contaminants, and statistics. He has a background in remote sensing, geography, pollution ecology, GIS, ecosystem management, zoology, restoration, geology, landforms, and soils. He has conducted research in northern and isolated areas and publishes widely. He serves on the Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre Vegetation Communities Expert Committee. He has done numerous interviews for television, radio, and documentary films on the effects of industrial development in the Athabasca bitumen sands region. He volunteers for conservation and citizen’s groups and in public education. He peer reviews papers for a variety of scientific journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PLOS-One, Environmental Conservation, Environmental Science and Technology, Ecology and Society, The Canadian Journal of Botany, and Climatic Change. He serves on the Alberta Natural Heritage Information Centre Vegetation Communities Expert Committee. He has done numerous interviews for television, radio, and documentary films on the effects of industrial development in the Athabasca bitumen sands region. He volunteers for conservation and citizen’s groups and in public education.
 
As the principal investigator at Treeline Ecological Research, he conducts ecological research on a wide range of topics. Recent examples include vegetation and landscape ecology, rare flora, human effects on natural systems, high conservation value forest assessments, climate change, habitat studies, long-term ecological research and monitoring, forest and wetland ecology, and ecosystem and vegetation management.

Notice

The ASPB is not responsible for the content of this presentation; the information and views expressed by the presenter(s) are their own.