Wildlife Habitat Area | 9-104
Region: Peace
Legal under OGAA: Yes
Legal under FRPA: Yes
General Wildlife Measures
Secondary roads and limited impacts to forest cover
WHA established to protect and conserve Northern Caribou in the Peace Forest District
To minimize habitat loss, alteration and fragmentation. Maintain large leave.
To limit new access through coordination, deactivation and use of existing disturbance.
To limit human and sensory disturbance to caribou.
To minimize impacts to forest canopy and maintain connected forest cover.
To limit predator mobility and attractants
To prevent impacts to terrestrial and arboreal lichen.
To retain critical habitat including:
a. Natural meadows
b. Wetlands
c. Riparian management areas
d. peatland complexes
e. fens and black spruce bogs
f. complex water bodies
g. lichen bearing stands
h. mature black spruce stands
Planning Measures:
Limit new access structures to low impact secondary roads (low impact and low maintenance winter roads are preferred).
Minimize impacts to forest cover.
Use existing disturbance.
Maintain a network of connected forest. Cluster activity, prevent fragmentation and maintain large leave areas.
Linear disturbances will not cross natural meadows, wetlands or riparian management areas to extent practicable.
Avoid and buffer (250m) meadows, wetlands, RMA, black spruce bogs, bog-fen complexes or lake clusters, lichen bearing stands and mature black spruce stands.
Minimize impacts to lichen:
- avoid mature pine leading forest
Operational Measures:
Coordinate access, road development and deactivation with other operators.
Complete activities in the shortest timeframe practicable
Reduce sensory disturbance and displacement of caribou during stressful late winter period. Time activity for early winter (Nov1-Jan30).
Minimize impacts to lichen:
- use snow cover and frozen ground to improve lichen survival and regeneration
- retain trees for dispersal of lichen
- avoid impacts to natural drainage patterns
Restoration and Mitigation:
- Control access to limit human/predator use
- Manage for line of sight (screens/doglegs)
- Promptly deactivate access corridors
- Reforest disturbed area to natural pre-development ecosystem.
- No seeding grasses and legumes that attract ungulates.
- Upon completion of activities employ reclamation techniques that limit or inhibit predator movement
- Reforest disturbed area to natural pre-development ecosystem
Limit predator mobility and attractants
- Large intact peatland complexes, fens and black spruce bogs, and complex water bodies function as calving habitat allowing for caribou to disperse widely and calve in isolation away from predators.
- Overwinter in low-elevation pine-lichen stands (especially mature spruce stands on sunny aspects) or high elevation on wind-swept alpine ridges.
- Calve at high elevations, migrating to subalpine ridges.
- Within winter range, maintain pine-lichen forests.
- Within calving areas, maintain peatland complexes, fens and black spruce bogs.
- Manage for predator/prey relations by limiting fragmentation and managing for line of sight.
All Activities
- Identify key habitat features using appropriate measures (i.e., QP direction, desktop review, field confirmation, etc) and plan activities within the operating area accordingly.
- Plan oil and gas activities to avoid pine-lichen forest stands as these areas are important habitat for winter foraging by Northern Caribou. Attributes associated with pine-lichen forest stands: 25-55% crown closure, 50-110 years of age, pine 7-17m in height, a site index <13 (height less than 13m at 50 years of age), a duff layer <5cm.
- Plan location of activities such as wellsites, facility sites and all-weather roads outside of calving habitat.
- Time works such that they occur outside of the critical timing window.
- Apply the appropriate survey and setback requirements for WHFs within identified habitat. (Refer to section 1.9 of the EPMG for additional guidance on WHFs).
Linear Features (seismic, roads, pipelines)
Roads:
- Avoid creating access into calving habitat and winter foraging areas.
Seismic:
- Plan the use of existing disturbance where possible.
- Minimize the number of wetland crossings
All Activities
- Undertake construction and operation of oil and gas activities in a manner that minimizes impacts to desired plant communities and key habitat features.
- Time activities during frozen ground conditions when there is sufficient snow cover to avoid ground disturbance and protect terrestrial lichen.
- Promote natural regeneration to pre-disturbance ecosystem and avoid artificial seeding of grass and legume based mixes as these attract primary prey species (moose and elk) and subsequently increased predators (wolf).
Timing considerations when working within identified habitat:
- When working within identified habitat, avoid disturbance and/or clearing activities in peatland complexes, fens and black spruce bogs, and complex water bodies during the calving period May 1 to June 30.
- Where an application area is within a NEBC UWR or WHA for Northern Caribou, please refer to the EIMS summary for that Order. Proponents are required to adhere to the guidance provided in that summary, including any relevant timing considerations.
Linear Features
All
- Avoid creation of linear features within known birthing areas.
- Upon completion of the activity, undertake the following measures to encourage re-establishment of the pre-disturbance ecological trajectory:
- deactivate unnecessary access corridors,
- undertake measures to control access,
- promote natural or assisted regeneration.
Roads:
- Minimize snow ploughing of access route to reduce predator use.
- Where snow ploughing is necessary and roadside snow berms reach greater than 1.5m in height, create breaks in snow berms.
Seismic and Pipelines:
- Retain breaks in pipe section, soil stockpile and windrows