Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC) invites you to join us for this informative event. Sustainable resource development and access to the resource are some of the leading challenges facing industry today. The oil and gas industry is committed to integrated resource management by managing the physical footprint on the landscape and minimizing industry-based effects on species, ecosystems and ecosystem components. The challenge facing industry is to reduce impacts to biodiversity and ecological processes while continuing to sustainably develop, reclaim, and effectively restore areas impacted by oil and gas development. At the same time, it is important that policy and regulatory requirements governing oil and gas activity in these areas are informed through research and sound science.
Oil and gas producers have, in recent years, invested millions of dollars in ecological related research projects to address challenges. The broad focus areas of these projects include the role of predation in woodland caribou population declines; the effectiveness of footprint reclamation or functional restoration; the effectiveness of mitigation activities; and wildlife responses to oil and gas activity.
This event will provide technical updates from current industry sponsored research that has oversight from industry and government technical champions. Presentation highlights will include project learnings/outcomes, best practices, potential cost savings, and future impact to policy and regulations. The day will finish off with a panel discussion with engagement from the audience on research done to date, what work has seen success in being operationalized, what are the outcomes and what still needs to be done?
| Time | Presentation | |
| 8:15 AM | Registration, Networking, and Breakfast | |
| 8:45 AM | Opening Remarks Allan Fogwill, PTAC |
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| 8:55 AM | Ecological Research Planning Committee Update Mark Boulton, Suncor | Shane Patterson, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas |
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| Session 1: Caribou | ||
| 9:15 AM | Laura Finnegan, fRI Research The effects of oil and gas development on the occupancy, reproduction status, and reproductive rates of prey species within caribou ranges |
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| 9:35 AM | Scott Wilson, Silvacom Algar Caribou Habitat Restoration Project |
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| 9:55 AM | Andrea Crook, OptiSeis Solutions EcoSeis Phase 2 |
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| 10:15 AM | NETWORKING BREAK | |
| Session 2: Birds and Bears | ||
| 10:30 AM | Gordon Stenhouse and Dr. Darío Fernández-Bellon, fRI Research Bears – Where do we go from here. An overview of two decades of science providing knowledge and planning tools to ensure the long-term conservation of grizzly bears in Alberta and an overview of the next 5 year plan. |
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| 10:55 AM | Paul Frame, Alberta Environment and Protected Areas Status of Recovery Plan/Where things are at with grizzly bear recovery |
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| 11:20 AM | Erin Bayne, University of Alberta Enhancing auto-recognition technologies and data management practices within the open environmental sensor platform, WildTrax |
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| 11:40 AM | Erin Bayne, University of Alberta Canada Warbler Response to Vegetation on Recovering Energy Sector |
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| 12:00 PM | NETWORKING LUNCH | |
| Session 3: Habitat | ||
| 12:40 PM | Dean MacKenzie, Vertex Evaluation of Reclamation Practices on Forested Upland and Peatland Sites With a focus on the Decision Support Tool Framework |
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| 1:00 PM | Brian Lambert, North Shore Environmental and Shane Patterson, AEPA – on behalf of the Grassland Restoration Forum Recovery Strategies for Industrial Development in Native Grassland – the Dry Mixedgrass and Mixedgrass Natural Subregion |
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| 1:20 PM | Mike Toffan, Project Forest Project Forest Presentation |
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| 1:40 PM | Closing Remarks / Adjournment |
Please note: all presenters have been invited, some are yet to be confirmed.