Projects |
Historical Vegetation Mapping of the Oldman River Valley
Work CompletedIn 2012 Iris Environmental and Harmony Walker Ltd. contracted Tannas Conservation Services (TCS) to partner in the historical mapping of the Oldman River valley on the Piikani Nation territory. This project was commissioned to determine the long term impact of the Oldman Dam on the river valley ecosystem and allow for appropriate mitigations to be placed. Within this project TCS personnel mapped each unique plant community polygon, completed a detailed field assessment, and assessed the changes in each polygon over the past 60 years. In addition the health of each plant community was assessed and ecological problems were identified. From this assessment Iris, TCS, and its partners were able to determine the impacts of the dam on the river valley.
The project complexity involved approximately 1000 polygons that had to be mapped with the previous maps being so poorly completed that they could not be used and paper copies had to be digitized and then updated. These limitations forced the team to complete a significant amount of additional work but still maintain the integrity of the budget. In addition, field access was limited by the access points to the river valley. Within this work the TCS team had to work within the access limitations to fulfill the assessment. While conducting the survey incidental rare species surveys were completed and a detailed assessment of the plant communities and health of them was completed. Historical flooding and condition of each wetland was assessed within the field ground trothing portion of the work.
Piikani Cottonwood Study of the Oldman River Valley
Work Completed |
Staff assigned to this project included, Clare Tannas (rangeland ecologist), Kathy Tannas (plant taxonomist), Steven Tannas (rangeland ecologist), Eileen Tannas (plant taxonomist). Steven was responsible for all mapping and historical comparisons between the plant communities over the past 60 years while the rest of the TCS team was responsible for the field assessments to ground truth the plant communities and assess their health.
| Project Name: Ephemeral Mapping Project |
| Study Area: City of Calgary (Entire City and City Limits) |
| Client: City of Calgary |
| Partners: AMEC Foster Wheeler (Prime Consultant) |
Work Completed
TCS partnered with AMEC Foster Wheeler to provide the city of Calgary with a comprehensive mapping program to identify, delineate and classify each ephemeral and intermittent watercourse within the city limits. In addition to current watercourses an assessment of historical watercourses was additionally undertaken. TCS personnel led the field assessment (soils and vegetation), classification, and writing of the technical report while AMEC provided project management, hydrological analysis, leadership on setbacks, technical writing support and GIS modelling support. This project was completed over a year and has been submitted under budget and on time.
Classification of Ephemeral Watercourses:
TCS created a methodology to assess ephemeral watercourses based on soil and vegetation indicators allowing for the effective ground truthing of each watercourse to determine the long term permanency of water flow within the stream channel. The technique used was based on the wetland Alberta Wetland classification system and set indicators up for overland flow and temporary flow within ephemearl watercourses. Intermittent watercourses were divided into seasonal and semi-permanent flow. Indicators in vegetation and soil were correlated to each permanency classification in such a way that consistent classification on the ground and in imagery was possible in all habitat types and disturbance regimes.
Mappping and Digital Classification:
These ground trothed indicators (vegetation species, and soil mottling and gleying) were then associated with visible vegetation indicators within airphoto imagery and over 90 years of imagery, color infrared imagery and a DEM were used to create a model that successfully located each watercourse within the city limits. Once located the imagery was used to correct errors in watercourse alignment and classify each watercourse based on the visible vegetation indicators that determined its permanency. Ground truthing of watercourses occurred with detailed vegetation plots as well as visual confirmation from roads.
Reporting:
Once mapped a technical discipline report was created outlining the methodology for the assessment and making recommendations on prioritization of watercourses for protection and formulas to determine the appropriate setbacks for each watercourse that would protect ecological diversity, site stability and watercourse integrity into the future. In addition a second policy report was produced to support the technical assessment report and provide guidance on new polices for development of ephemeral watercourses within the city.
Roles and Responsibilities of Key Personnel
• Steven Tannas PhD. P.Ag.: ecological land classification, vegetation assessments, field truthing and technical writing.
• Ashley Easton P.Ag.: ecological land classification, soil assessments, field truthing and technical writing.
• Ron McNeil: Senior soils assessments
Special Areas Water Supply Project
| Project Name: Special Areas Water Supply Project |
| Study Area: South of Stettler to Oyen and North to Concert AB. |
| Client: Alberta Transportation |
| Partners: Klohn Crippen Berger (Prime Consultant), and Salix Resource Management |
Work Completed
In 2014 TCS was contracted by Klohn Krippen Berger to complete the vegetation, wetland, rare plant surveys and land use portion of the Special Areas Water Supply Project (SAWSP) EIA. The rest of the project (Wildlife, soils, and aquatics) was completed by Klohn Krippen Berger. This EIA is a unique project encompassing ~500km of stream channels in eastern Alberta with two reservoirs, and multiple diversion canals and constructed wetlands making 29 project components and 6 EIA’s. TCS was contracted to complete the vegetation assessment portion of this project. This included: rare plant surveys, plant community assessments, wetland assessments, desktop mapping, associated discipline reports and the 6 vegetation EIA’s for the project.
This project showcases the ability of TCS to complete large scale projects. The area covered by this project makes it one of the largest EIA’s in the province and highly complex due to the numerous wetlands, streams, lakes and reservoirs that exist within the project footprint. The 2014 field survey targeted completing 40% of the footprint, however TCS was able to survey 60% of the footprint and complete the survey one day early. This meant TCS came in slightly under budget for the field component of the project and completed a larger portion of it than was originally projected. All vegetation mapping was completed starting with no base information as none exists for this region of the province. TCS identified and mapped all wetlands ephemeral streams and all riparian and upland plant communities then classified them all down to plant community based on the field ground trothing data set.
Key Components of the Environmental Assessment Scope of Work:
Initial Project Review: Included a database search ( ACIMS, GVI, AGRISID…), initial mapping of the project footprint with known areas of environmentally sensitive vegetation, creation of land owner lists, contact with land owners to gain access to the land and mapping for access to the sites. After the first season complete mapping of all plant communities and wetlands was completed for the second field season and data collected during the first field season was used to inform the data collection in the 2015 field season to be started in July 2015.
Mapping of all habitat using imagery, identification of wetlands, identification of all critical habitat features, and a habitat assessment to determine required field surveys.
Environmental Assessment: In 2014 a field survey for vegetation and land use issues was initiated in late June and occurred over 10 days with 6 professionals. The two person crews walked areas to be impacted on stream channels, proposed bypass canals, and reservoirs. The 2014 survey completed a survey of 60% of the project footprint for early season rare plants, wetlands, and upland vegetation classification. The 2015 survey will add late season rare plants, wetlands and more upland vegetation classifications.
Discpline Report:The environmental report was submitted in the spring of 2016. All wetlands, upland plant communities and rare species have been mapped as well as land use features. Two complete reports were completed (Vegetation/wetlands and Landuse) by TCS personnel along with all baseline vegetation mapping. The report totalled over 600 pages excluding maps.
Environmental Impact Assessment: A 500 page environmental impact assessment was completed for the vegetation/wetland and land use compoents of the EIA by TCS personnel in February 2017.
Roles Responsibilities of key Personnel
• Steven Tannas PhD. P.Ag.: Rare Plant survey, wetland assessment, vegetation inventory, land use assessment, report writing, mapping
• Clare Tannas P.Ag.: Rare Plant survey, wetland assessment, vegetation inventory, land use assessment
• Kathy Tannas Honorary P.Ag.: Rare Plant survey, wetland assessment, vegetation inventory, land use assessment
• Joel Conrad P.Ag.: Rare Plant survey, wetland assessment, vegetation inventory, land use assessment
• Krista Bird PhD. P.Biol.: Report writing, editing, data compiling
• Jamie Piccin P.Biol. R.P. Bio – Geomatics
• Eileen Tannas BSc. – Rare Plant survey, wetland assessment, vegetation inventory, land use assessment
• Darin Sherritt MSc. BIT. AIT. – Mapping and Report WritingRoles and Responsibilities of Key Personnel
Invasive Species Survey of Jasper National Park Highways
| Project Name: Invasive Species Survey of Jasper National Park Highways |
| Study Area: Jasper National Park |
| Client: Jasper National Park |
Work Completed:
An audit of the invasive species management program on the highways of Jasper National Park was conducted by TCS in 2010. This survey included the survey of 25 5km segments of highway throughout the park. Each species was assessed for cover, density and distribution. The final analysis included an control priority list for each species and segment. In addition the cover of each invasive species throughout the park was quantified and broken down by road segment.