Wildlife Habitat Area | 9-101
Region: Peace
Legal under OGAA: Yes
Legal under FRPA: Yes
General Wildlife Measures
Secondary roads only and minimal impacts to forest cover.
Area established to meet the habitat requirements for boreal caribou.
To prevent habitat loss, alteration and fragmentation. Maintain large leave.
To protect caribou during pre-calving and post calving periods (Mar15-May15), and to minimizing impact during post calving (May15-Jun30) and rutting (Sept15-Oct31).
To limit new access corridors, coordinate access planning and leverage existing disturbance.
To minimize impacts to forest canopy and maintain connected forest cover.
To share access and use existing disturbance.
To limit predator mobility and attractants
To minimize impacts to terrestrial and arboreal lichen.
Avoid critical habitat including:
peatland complexes
fens and black spruce bogs
complex water bodies
lichen bearing stands
mature black spruce stands.
Planning Measures:
Applicants proposing works within Boreal Caribou areas will continue to refer to the guidance within the IOP (Interim Operating Practices for Oil and Gas Activities in Identified Boreal Caribou Habitat).
Operational Measures:
Please refer to the IOP (Interim Operating Practices for Oil and Gas Activities in Identified Boreal Caribou Habitat) for additional information
- Black spruce bogs, bog-fen complexes or lake clusters, lichen bearing stands and mature black spruce stands.
- Large intact peatland complexes, fens and black spruce bogs function as calving habitat allowing for caribou to disperse widely and calve in isolation away from predators.
- Lichen bearing winter foraging areas including mature black spruce.
- Minimize disturbance within calving areas.
- Minimize access (predator and vehicular access) into calving areas and winter range.
- Maintain functional integrity of Caribou habitat.
- Avoid introducing ungulate attractants (such as early seral forage, grasses and legume)
- Prevent fragmentation and linear disturbance
- Manage line of sight (predator/prey impacts)
*NOTE: Provincial management of Boreal Caribou will be changing in the near future in response to the Boreal Caribou Implementation Plan 5 years of research and therefore the current guidance is certain to change pending any new direction transmitted to the Commission from Provincial government. All guidance will be updated as soon as it is available. Please refer to the IOP (Interim Operating Practices for Oil and Gas Activities in Identified Boreal Caribou Habitat) for additional information.
*NOTE: Provincial management of Boreal Caribou will be changing in the near future in response to the Boreal Caribou Implementation Plan 5 years of research and therefore the current guidance is certain to change pending any new direction transmitted to the Commission from Provincial government. All guidance will be updated as soon as it is available. Please refer to the IOP (Interim Operating Practices for Oil and Gas Activities in Identified Boreal Caribou Habitat) for additional information.