2013 YELLOW RAIL MONITORING PLAN FOR LOWER ATHABASCA PLANNING REGION Prepared by: Dr. Erin Bayne, Paul Knaga, Dr. Tyler Muhly, Lori Neufeld, and Tom Wiebe Contact Information: Dr. Erin Bayne Associate Professor Department of Biological Sciences University of Alberta Mail: CW 405 – Biological Sciences Centre Office: CCIS 1-275 Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9 Ph: 780-492-4165; Fax 780-492-9234 e-mail:
[email protected] web: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/erin_bayne/ P a g e | 2 Executive Summary 1) The Yellow Rail (Coturnicops noveboracensis) is a small secretive marsh bird. Concerns about the status of this species resulted in several oilsands mines in the Lower Athabasca planning region having an EPEA (Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act) clause to monitor Yellow Rail and mitigate impacts on this species. 2) A summary of previous monitoring done to date by the various companies is provided 3) A detailed overview of the steps taken by the EMCLA (Environmental Monitoring Committee of Lower Athabasca) to develop new automated recording technologies for cost-effectively monitoring Yellow Rails along with other species is discussed. 4) Yellow Rail are rare in the region in part because of the difficultly in surveying them and getting to the habitats that they seem to prefer (shrub swamp, shrub fen, graminoid fen, and meadow marshes). All known locations of Yellow Rail have been collated and models with limited predictive ability created. 5) Each company with an Environmental Protection & Enhancement Act (EPEA) Approval clause has already looked for Yellow Rails in their project footprints. In 2013 each company will survey a minimum of 30 locations within graminoid fen and marsh complexes within their project footprints.