Project Outline
General Objectives:
- An assessment of the status and health of deltaic wetland ecosystems in the Peace-Athabasca Delta (PAD), including the Birch River Delta (BRD) and rivers/wetlands in the Slave River Drainage (SRD); including the establishment of baseline/reference conditions.
- Interpretation of ecological change associated with ongoing oil-sands mining activities within the region, using hydro-climatic, ecogenomics and metrics-based diagnostic techniques. Focus will be on the separation of stressor effects, including contaminants and hydrological change.
- Linkage of mainstem and tributary biomonitoring activities within the oil sands region and downstream ecosystem status and trends, to support integration of results within the EC/Alberta Environment joint Oil Sands Monitoring Program and the Lower Athabasca Water Management Framework.
Specific Objectives:
Biological, WQ and Sediment sampling and associated hydrological analyses in PAD and Slave Delta.
Key Outcomes:
To provide information on reach specific and regional impacts of oil sands development on aquatic ecosystem health and to further develop a foundation for assessment of cumulative effects.
Geographic Scope:
Expanded Geographic Extent (EGE) (Peace-Athabasca Delta; Birch Delta; Slave River Drainage area)