Golder Associates Ltd.
March 2019
18-ERPC-04
Executive Summary
Golder Associates Ltd. (Golder), in association with the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) of Natural Resources Canada, is looking to investigate fire’s influence on the vegetation recovery of legacy seismic lines through transitional wetland and wetland sites, as it relates to caribou habitat restoration treatments. The key question is to understand if the vegetation trajectory of untreated seismic lines has been “reset” as a result of fire, as it relates to restoration. The main aspects to be investigated include the response of treated (i.e., mounded and planted with black spruce) restoration sites to fire, versus untreated burned linear segments, versus treated and unburned linear segments. Early field observations on previously Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (Canadian Natural) treated sites suggest that mounding, and fire, may influence vegetation species recovery on an expedited trajectory in comparison to burned lines in the absence of mounding. The CFS has also been examining seismic line response to fire, and had similar observations regarding vegetation species recovery, which has led to a collaboration.