The Amoco Road restoration site is a legacy oil and gas road that stretches from valley bottom to the alpine in the Klinse-Za caribou herd in northeastern BC. Twenty-two years after the road was installed, the site is still dominated by non-native grass species, which has prevented naturally re-seeded seedlings from establishing and growing. As a result, the road remains a large scar on the landscape and fragments the mature forest ecosystem. The road also creates an easy travel route for predators to access critical caribou habitat in the alpine, and large stretches of open road also enable predators to spot caribou further away, improving their hunting efficiency. Use of the road by snowmobiles during the winter allows wolves easy travel along the packed trails into the alpine, increasing risk of predation on caribou. To speed up forest recovery and reduce the use of the road by predators, the Nîkanêse Wah tzee Stewardship Society has undertaken steps to restore the road to a forested ecosystem, thereby restoring critical caribou habitat. Restoration activities such as the planting of seedlings and juvenile trees along the road and the falling of dead trees across the road surface were completed in Summer 2020. These restoration activities will speed up natural forest regeneration and limit the ability of predators to use the corridor to access critical caribou habitat. Moving forward, activities, such as tree regeneration surveys and wildlife use monitoring, will be continued to determine the success of the restoration activities.

This Caribou Habitat Restoration Fund project was undertaken with the financial support of the Province of British Columbia and the Government of Canada through the federal Department of Environment and Climate Change.

Juvenile hybrid spruce and lodgepole pine trees being transported onto Amoco Road restoration site, Summer 2020.

Crews planting juvenile hybrid spruce and lodgepole pine trees on Amoco Road restoration site, Summer 2020.

Juvenile hybrid spruce and lodgepole pine trees planted in theatre-style spacing on one of the seven planting sites on Amoco Road restoration site, Summer 2020.

Caribou detected on a camera trap on Amoco Road restoration site, Summer 2020.

Grizzly bear detected on a camera trap on Amoco Road restoration site, Fall 2020.

The Kotcho Lake Caribou Habitat Restoration Fund project is focused on restoring legacy seismic lines in core boreal caribou habitat located in the Snake Sahtenah range. Fort Nelson First Nation (FNFN) identified this area as a high priority for restoration due to the cultural importance of the area, the value of the area for caribou and other species, and the very high density of old seismic lines, which were not recovering on their own. Restoration work is conducted in the late summer, using light machinery to access intersections of old seismic lines and transplant “donor” mounds from areas beside the seismic lines. Donor mounds are then transplanted with black spruce seedlings, and trees are felled around the transplanted sites to block the lines until the mounds can establish. By treating in the summer, FNFN believe that restored sites will more closely resemble natural sites than areas treated in the winter. Summer treatments may also prove less expensive than winter work, which is currently the industry standard for restoring these sites. FNFN’s hypothesis is that the donor mounds will quickly establish on seismic lines and accelerate ecological recovery. By treating line intersections, they anticipate seeing reduced use of the untreated areas between the intersections by wolves and other predators. Overall, FNFN hope this approach (treating in the summer; hummock transplants and tree falling; focusing on intersections; and selecting key access routes) can result in effective restoration over a large area of the landscape. Monitoring of the vegetation response, the wildlife use of treated and untreated areas, and the overall cost of the treatments in comparison to winter work is ongoing to determine treatment effectiveness. You can read the full Year 2 technical report about this project here.

Katherine and Susan monitoring restoration works

Tree growing in a transplanted hummock.

Woody vascular species also appear to be growing well on the hummocks.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development for making this project possible.