2017–2018 Annual Report TABLE OF CONTENTS

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE ...... 4

GENERAL MANAGER’S MESSAGE...... 4

2017–2018 BOARD OF DIRECTORS...... 5

PARTNERS...... 6

THE MOVE ...... 8

A CARIBOU SAGA IN THE CHINCHAGA...... 10

NEW PROJECT TAKES FLIGHT ...... 12

WHAT MAY STOP THE BEETLE...... 14 photo credit: Amy Stenhouse credit: photo

photo credit: Bill Tinge Written by Ben Williamson, fRI Research Designed by BubbleUp Marketing

2 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report CARIBOU TOOLS MIGRATING ONLINE...... 16

THE EBM DIALOGUE SESSIONS...... 18

COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT OF HISTORIC RESEARCH TRIALS...... 20

MIXED WOOD GROWTH MODEL...... 21

MAKING HISTORY ...... 22

HISTORY PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS ...... 24

LOGGING IN THE WHIRLPOOL MUSEUM EXHIBIT ...... 24

LANDSCAPES IN MOTION ...... 26

ADAPTING TO BEETLE ...... 28

REMOVING AN IMPEDIMENT TO REDUCING EXCESS SEDIMENT ...... 30

AN AWARD-WINNING PARTNERSHIP ...... 32

RAMPING UP ...... 34

CARIBOU PATROL: SEASON SIX...... 35

THE PATCHED QUILT ...... 36

A RENEWED PARTNERSHIP ...... 38

CONNECTIONS...... 39

SPLITTING HAIRS ...... 40

SUMMARY OF 2017–2018 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ...... 42

www.fRIresearch.ca 3 PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Jesse Kirillo organization as a whole continues to be a Alberta is a busy landscape and and focused on reaching the strategic leader in applied research that provides those of us who are entrenched in the goals, and I couldn’t be prouder of the practical value to our partners . everyday workings of that landscape hard work being done—in the field and in rely on outcomes of the programs and the office—to realize these goals for our associations at fRI Research . Here at partners . fRI Research we recognize our role in The challenges for funding continued producing that critical knowledge, and we to mount in 2017–2018 but the board work hard to make sure the best available has recognized this and as part of our information gets to the people working on 5-year business plan we have made it this ever-changing landscape . a priority . We will look at alternative This is first year of implementing the funding strategies and innovative ways 5-year business strategy that will take us to ensure the continued success of forward and keep this organization and its the organization, and, as always, the research leading the way . The staff and uninterrupted research outcomes We thank the board of directors remain dedicated expected by our partners . The you GENERAL for your continued support . MANAGER’S This year we worked towards protecting MESSAGE our critical assets . We have taken major steps to secure the digital information Ryan Tew fRI Research has been collecting and “If fRI Research didn’t exist, someone building for the past 25 years . We have would have to invent it”- Bob Bott also made our safety program more robust, protecting our greatest assets: I agree wholeheartedly with this to the new 2017–2022 Strategic Plan . our people . The fRI Research team is our statement from the soon-to-be-released Building on the successes of the past most important resource and I admire book about the 25 year history of fRI while looking boldly into the future, the their continued focus, dedication, and Research: Learning from the Landscape - plan enables us to be confident in our passion for the work they carry out . the fRI Research Story . fRI Research fills approach to the next five years . There a niche for industry and government, We appreciate the continued support are five goals and associated objectives providing sound, practical science to of our partners, in the form of funding, to work towards, thoughtfully and with inform land and resource management . information, and their willingness to dedication . The road map has been expand the scope of research . Together For many organizations, “busy” is the defined—all we need now are the tools we will continue to fill information gaps, norm; our team is no different . The most and support to follow it . I encourage you leading to more informed decision-making . important question that I keep my eye on to review our Strategic Plan on the fRI is: are we focusing our “busy” in all the Research website . I hope you enjoy this look at the right places? The answer is yes thanks highlights of our past year!

4 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report Jesse Kirillo (Board President): Repsol Oil & Gas Canada Inc . Bruce Mayer (Board Chair): Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Erica Sivell (Treasurer, Non-voting): Hinton Wood Products, West Fraser Mills Ltd . Mark Boulton: Suncor Energy Richard Briand: West Fraser Mills Ltd . Paul McLauchlin: Rural Municipalities of Alberta Shawn Cardiff: Jasper National Park, Parks Canada Mark Cookson: Blue Ridge Lumber Inc ,. West Fraser Mills Ltd . Wendy Crosina: Canadian Timberlands, Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd . Garth Davis: Cenovus Energy Julienne Morissette: Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service Alan Fehr: Jasper National Park, Parks Canada Ken Greenway: Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Dawna Harden: Alberta 2017–2018 Board of Directors 2017–2018 Indigenous Relations Stan Holmes: Alberta Timberlands, Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd . Dr. Ellen Macdonald: Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta Fred Radersma: Norbord Inc . Travis Ripley: Alberta Environment and Parks Gordon Sanders: West Fraser Mills Ltd . Darren Tapp: Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Jon Taszlikowicz: Alberta Fibre, Canadian Forest Products Ltd . Noel Roberts: Woodlands Alberta, Norbord Inc . (alternate) Dwight Weeks: Canadian Forest Products Ltd . (alternate) photo credit Amy Senhouse credit photo

www.fRIresearch.ca 5 PARTNERS Partnerships are the foundation and lifeblood of fRI Research . Through the contributions and actions of partners, issues are identified and analyzed, resources are assembled, and new knowledge is created, transferred, and integrated into land and resource management in Alberta and beyond . The strength of the fRI Research organization would not be what it is today without partners’ commitment, and fRI Research is honoured to have their contributions in any form . fRI Research offers and supports flexible and inclusive partnership structures and opportunities that are broadly described by the categories listed below . These are not exclusive, and many partners find a role for themselves in more than one category . Shareholders

Under Alberta legislation, shareholders are legally responsible for directing the affairs of the non-profit fRI Research . Shareholders provide stable core funding and in-kind contributions to support the overall operation of fRI Research . The 2017–2018 shareholders of fRI Research are Alberta Agriculture and Forestry; ConocoPhillips Canada*; Parks Canada, Jasper National Park; Norbord Inc .; Repsol Oil & Gas Canada Inc .*; Suncor Energy Inc .*; Hinton Wood Products, a division of West Fraser Mills Ltd .; Canfor Corporation; and Weyerhaeuser Company .

* Companies are shareholders through the Foothills Energy Partners

Program and Association Partners These partners provide funding and/or in- Alberta Labour Blue Ridge Lumber, a division of West Fraser kind contributions to directly support fRI Alberta Newsprint Company Mills Ltd . Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc . Borealis Ecology Wildlife Research Research programs and/or associations, or Alberta Plywood, a division of West Fraser Bow River Basin Council collaborate on projects or other matters of Mills Ltd . Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers mutual interest . Many of these partners are Alberta Professional Planners Institute Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement also responsible for land, resource, or forest Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society Canadian Institute of Forestry management, and are interested in using Alberta Upstream Petroleum Canadian Natural Resources Limited fRI Research knowledge and tools in their Research Fund Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative businesses . Apache Canada Ltd . Cenovus Energy Inc . Alberta Indigenous Relations Arctos Ecological Consulting City of Grande Prairie Alberta Agriculture and Forestry Aseniwuche Winewak Nation of Canada Colleges and Institutes Canada Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute Athabasca Watershed Council Conservation Ecology Lab Alberta Conservation Association Bandaloop Landscape-Ecosystem Services County of Grande Prairie No . 1 Alberta Energy Regulator Battle River Watershed Alliance Craig International Alberta Environment and Parks BC Oil and Gas Commission Cumulative Environmental Management Alberta Fish & Game Association BC Oil and Gas Research and Association Alberta Institute of Agrologists Innovation Society Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd . Alberta Innovates Beaver River Watershed Alliance Denali National Park

6 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report Devon Energy Corporation North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance Alignment Partners Ducks Unlimited Canada Northern Rockies Museum of Culture & These partners do not provide direct financial Edson Forest Products, a division of West Heritage or in-kind support to fRI Research, but they Fraser Mills Ltd . Norwegian University of Life Sciences have specifically expressed their support for, Encana Corporation Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research and alignment with, our vision and goals . Environment and Climate Change Canada Oldman Watershed Council Explorers and Producers Association of Paramount Resources Ltd . Alberta Chamber of Resources Canada Pembina Pipeline Corporation Alberta Forest Products Association Fisheries and Oceans Canada Peregrine Helicopters Alberta Forest Genetic Resources Council Followit Sweden AB . Peter J . Murphy Forest Consulting Ltd . Alberta Society of Professional Biologists Foothills Forest Products Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada Alberta Trappers’ Association FORCORP Prairie Mines & Royalty ULC Association of Alberta Forest Management Forest Products Association of Canada Red Deer River Watershed Alliance Professionals Forest Resource Improvement Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park & Zoo Banff National Park British Columbia Institute of Technology Association of Alberta Scandinavian Brown Bear Research Project Brock University Forest Stewardship Council Seven Generations Energy Ltd . Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance Forsite Consultants Ltd . Shell Canada Limited Canadian Land Reclamation Association, Fuse Consulting Ltd . South East Alberta Watershed Alliance Alberta Chapter Golder Associates Spray Lake Sawmills Carleton University Government of British Columbia (Ministry of St’at’imc Government Services City of Dawson Creek, British Columbia Environment; Ministry of Forests, Lands Sundre Forest Products, a division of West Conservation Biology Institute and Natural Resource Operations) Fraser Mills Ltd . Council of Forest Industries Government of Northwest Territories (Ministry Sustainable Forestry Initiative Inc . Defenders of Wildlife Canada of Environment and Natural Resources) TAQA North Ltd . EMEND (Ecosystem Management Emulating Government of Saskatchewan (Ministry of Teck Resources Limited Natural Disturbance) Project Environment) (Cardinal River Operations) Ember Research Services Ltd . F .C . Pollett Inc . Grande Cache Coal Corporation TerrainWorks Forest History Association of Alberta Greenlink Forestry Inc . Timberworks Inc . Forest Products Association of Canada Hammerhead Resources Inc . Tolko Industries Ltd . FP Innovations (Wildfire Operations Research) High Prairie Forest Products, a division of Tom Peterson Hinton Fish & Game Association West Fraser Mills Ltd . Toronto Zoo International Model Forest Network Hinton and District Chamber of Commerce Tourmaline Oil Corp . KBM Resources Group Husky Energy Inc . Town of Grande Cache Land Stewardship Centre (Alberta Inside Education Town of Hinton Stewardship Network) Integrated Ecological Research TransCanada Corporation McCarthy Tétrault LLP Jasper National Park Trout Unlimited Canada Millenium EMS Solutions Ltd . Jasper-Yellowhead Museum & Archives United States Department of Agriculture Municipality of Jasper NAIT Boreal Research Institute Joss Wind Power Inc . University of Alberta Nature Conservancy of Canada Jupiter Resources University of British Columbia NatureServe Canada Lesser Slave Watershed Council University of Calgary Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Louisiana-Pacific Corporation Université Laval Forestry Manning Forest Products, a division of West University of Oslo Palisades Stewardship Education Centre Fraser Mills Ltd . University of Saskatchewan Silvacom Métis Settlement General Council University of Victoria Tourism Jasper Mighty Peace Watershed Alliance Washington State University Town of Edson Millar Western Forest Products Ltd . Vanderwell Contractors (1971) Ltd . University of Guelph Milk River Watershed Council Canada Westmoreland Coal Company (Coal Valley Mine) University of Montana Mistik Management Ltd . Wild Year Productions Ltd . University of New Brunswick Mitacs Woodland Operations Learning Foundation University of Waterloo Vilhelmina Model Forest Natural Sciences and Engineering Research XTO Energy Inc . Western Boreal Aspen Corporation Council of Canada Yellowhead County Western University Natural Resources Canada, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative Wildlife Habitat Canada Canadian Forest Service Wilfred Laurier University Northland Forest Products Ltd . World Wildlife Fund Canada

www.fRIresearch.ca 7 One question leads to another . It was 2015 and we had just finished a massive effort to THE find out how many grizzly bears are living in a sprawling area of Alberta called BMA MOVE 3 to answer the question: is the population stable, going up, or going down? The headline result was that the population in BMA 3 has doubled from about 36 to 74 in the 10 years since the first census was done . That’s an unusually large increase for grizzly bears, so we then had to figure out why .

It would be great news for bears if efforts since 2006 to reduce human-caused grizzly bear mortalities had simply lowered grizzly bear deaths across the province enough that there was a true recovery underway . But we couldn’t rule out another explanation that complicates the picture .

8 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report For decades, the Government of Alberta and how much was from more grizzly collect a suite of samples and health has been dealing with conflict, or bear births and fewer deaths . information about the bear . Finally, we THE “problem” bears that cause trouble fit the bear with a GPS collar to track its To find out, Sarah Milligan, one of the because, for example, they have taken to movement for the next year or two . Grizzly Bear Program biologists, went killing livestock or hanging around towns MOVE digging through the province’s grizzly Now that we’re tracking what for the easy meals we leave in garbage bear translocation files . She found happens to conflict bears much more bins . When things like public education, records of over 500 translocations going comprehensively, we can start to get electric fences, bear-proof bins, and even back as far as 1974 . Once compiled and answers on questions about whether active deterrents are not enough, officers merged with our long-term database, translocation affects a bear’s behaviour: either have to kill the bear or move it . our team was able to check if any how it moves, what habitat it selects, Moving, when possible, is preferred . of the bears we detected during our when and where it dens in the winter, and We knew from working with Alberta Fish 2014 inventory had been translocated a big one: the survival rate . and Wildlife on translocations—that’s into the area . What we found was that From just the first year of data, the early what wildlife managers call moving a approximately 30% of the population pattern we’re seeing is that translocated bear to a new BMA—that some bears increase was a result of moving bears bears have very large home ranges—they were being moved into BMA 3 . So the into this BMA over the decade prior . just move around a lot more, although next thing to figure out is how much of Milligan also looked at what successful they still seem to rest and roam at the the population increase that we found in moves have in common . She found that usual hours . The sample size is too BMA 3 was just a result of translocation, translocation failed 77 times out of the small to know anything for certain yet, 110 cases for which she could determine but with a few more seasons and our the outcome because the bear died, it ever-improving methods for monitoring returned to the area it was captured in, or grizzly bears, we are set up to gather it kept causing trouble . For the 33 cases insights that can make a difference in that succeeded, there are specific things management decisions . that wildlife managers can do right now to 2018 is a big year for grizzly bear improve the odds of success: releasing the management in Alberta . We will bear in an area with fewer roads and near be surveying two more grizzly bear a river, moving the bear at least 100km populations: BMA 4 and BMA 7 . BMA 7 away from where it was captured, and has never had a population inventory, doing translocations earlier in the year . and this will be the first inventory of BMA We’ve now partnered with Alberta 4 since 2005, which will allow us to find Environment and Parks, whose Fish out if that population has been changing and Wildlife officers carry out the too . And just like BMA 3, we’ll be able to translocations . Beginning in 2017, they check to see if translocation is a factor notify us as soon as they start mobilizing there . This information will be very for a potential grizzly bear translocation . valuable for grizzly bear conservation, but We drop what we’re doing and drive there we’re just as excited about all the new immediately to assist with handling and questions for us to understand .

www.fRIresearch.ca 9 of the Chinchaga range 17% had a high probability of overlap between caribou and wolves photo credit: Adam Sprott credit: photo photo credit: Adam Sprott credit: photo

10 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report as far away as caribou did, and even A CARIBOU SAGA preferred areas near moderate-activity well sites with only regular but brief visits by people . They also selected areas IN THE CHINCHAGA near low-activity wells during the winter season—the same time that caribou are Though the caribou in the Chinchaga actions require answers to much more also near . herd don’t know it, the Alberta-BC border specific questions . The team studied pipelines too . Using cuts invisibly through the middle of their First, as activity on wells ramps down GPS-tracked caribou and wolves, range . A FRIAA-funded project by the from construction to production to they created the first interprovincial Caribou Program had examined how reclamation, does the effect on caribou maps of caribou and wolf habitat use, oil and gas development on the Alberta and wolf behaviour also change? In broken down by season, across the side was affecting caribou behaviour, but other words, the actual footprint of the entire Chinchaga range . Next, our field that was only ever half the story . In 2017, disturbance might be the same, but crews went out and visited hundreds the team, supported by the BC Oil and maybe a well pad has a higher impact of sites in both provinces to document Gas Research and Innovation Society, during the initial construction phase . We the fine-scale features of the pipelines completed the tale for the BC half, and got well site activity and pipeline data and surrounding forests . They looked in the process set some inter-provincial from both provincial regulators, and for direct signs—tracks and scat—of firsts in caribou conservation . compared that with the locations of GPS- predators and alternative prey like Boreal caribou generally avoid tracked wolves and caribou . moose, deer, and elk, as well as foods disturbance on the landscape: roads, that would attract them . As expected, caribou avoided all high- cutblocks, seismic lines, well pads, you and moderate-activity well sites during The goal was to discover which pipelines name it . While these generalities are all seasons, but the more active the well, are likely to be visited by both caribou well established, specific management the further away was the habitat that and those other species, because such they selected . They avoided low-activity pipelines raise the risk of caribou well pads overall, but during winter, they predation, making them a logical target actually selected for areas near these for conservation actions . What we found sites . Wolves were less averse to well was that pipelines with gentle slopes were pads; they didn’t select habitat quite used by predators and alternative prey, and moose specifically liked pipelines running through broadleaf forests .

Between the well sites and pipelines, the team identified 17% of the entire Chinchaga range that had a high probability of overlap between caribou and wolves . These results will allow our partners to take specific, coordinated action in both provinces . All the details of the project and its findings were released in a final report in the fall of 2017 .

www.fRIresearch.ca 11 12 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report In December 2016, migratory bird summarize the science for all the experts flocked to Alberta for a workshop relevant bird species in, for example NEW hosted by fRI Research . We asked that a deciduous forest in Alberta . Finally, they bring their knowledge, but also their Pyper and Odsen wrote a landscape-level PROJECT questions to help identify knowledge summary . gaps in bird conservation in western “The idea is to make it easy for forest Canada . The group determined that there TAKES managers to consider migratory birds were high-level resources at the national when planning at a variety of scales,” level available to forest managers, says Pyper . “For example, some FLIGHT and the scientific literature had robust bird species rely on burned patches, information about the biology of many so a forest manager could look for individual species . But that information opportunities to preserve some of those had not been synthesized and made habitats during their planning ”. accessible to forest managers so that it could actually be applied on the ground, Pyper and Odsen were helped throughout in a cutblock, for different bird species . the project by a forest management advisory group that included biologists Matthew Pyper and Sonya Odsen of Fuse from West Fraser Mills, Weyerhaeuser, Consulting put in a proposal to remedy Canfor, and former fRI Research this . With the support of FRIAA funding, president Rick Bonar, who got a doctorate they began a literature review in the studying an important bird species, the summer of 2017 . Since then, they have pileated woodpecker . produced fact sheets for 40 different species, such as the Canada Warbler . In Pyper and Odsen are now working with one or two pages, each sheet distills the partners to determine what they can do key scientific facts about a migratory bird next to maximize the utility of the project . fRI Research relevant to forestry . One idea is to embed the products into the GIS layers that forestry planners use, The team also put together a further so as they are designing cutblocks, they partnered with seven habitat-level accounts to can easily reference the information .

Fuse Consulting

on the FRIAA-

funded Migratory

Bird Project .

www.fRIresearch.ca 13 WHAT MAY STOP THE BEETLE

"When they mass attack, they produce a cloud . Farmers in Alberta said they heard the beetles raining down on their tin roofs . Tingtingting .”

Jordan Lewis Burke, a post-doc at UBC, is describing this new kind of bad weather for Alberta’s forests because he’s trying to forecast what’s next . A project of the Mountain Pine Beetle Ecology Program asks: will the mountain pine beetle front continue east through Canada’s boreal forest, or will it dry up? photo credit: B . O Sweeney credit: photo

"When they mass attack, they produce a cloud . Farmers in Alberta said they heard the beetles raining down on their tin roofs . Tingtingting .” -Jordan Burke

14 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report In BC, where MPB is endemic, we know lab, he put out jack and lodgepole This means that there are fewer trees that it would periodically explode into an pine logs and found that MPB actually to sustain an epidemic of mountain pine epidemic state, maybe every 40 years or so . preferred the jack pine . Nadir Erbilgin’s beetles in a given area . lab at the U of A found a likely reason “The records are kind of limited, but First Second, a new host tree species comes why: When a female beetle lands on a Nations knew about it and Lori Daniels’ with its own bark beetles, and the MPB tree she converts one of the tree’s own Tree Ring Lab can pick up the signature newcomers do not stand much of a chance . organic compounds into trans-verbenol, of beetle attack going back more than MPB don’t finish developing into adults and a pheromone that guides other MPB 100 years,” says Burke . “But now they’ve fly from their host tree until much later in in the area towards this tree, starting breached the Rockies into Alberta, where the year than many other beetle species . a mass attack . Erbilgin found that jack they’ve never really been except for small This means that they will miss out on the pine had 5–10 times the concentration patches far in the south .” best trees, of which there are fewer in the of the organic precursors, allowing the less dense jack stands . And it’s no good As with the uptick in extreme weather beetles to produce twice as much of the letting the other bark beetles do the hard events, this new natural disaster is pheromone . In Burke’s experiment, he work of actually killing the trees and then almost certainly because of climate found that the jack pine logs attracted flying over later to join the feast . change . Milder winters are allowing the double the beetles . beetle to survive in areas that were once “The other beetles have like two-inch “But there was a discrepancy,” says too cold . As Canada continues to warm, larvae,” says Burke . “They just shred the Burke . “You’d expect jack pine to just be it’s a safe bet that MPB will creep further dying trees . In 6 months, there is nothing wiped out . But they weren’t .” and further north . But the situation to the left under the bark . They eat everything east is a bit more complicated . In the eastern zones, the beetles would including other beetles ”. successfully attack and kill jack pine, The presence of these other big, juicy their larvae would develop, but the beetles is also a big draw for woodpeckers, outbreak would fizzle out there . They which will not turn down MPB if they didn’t emerge in ever-larger clouds the happen on them . This combination of fewer next summer and keep spreading . trees, being outcompeted by other beetles, To understand the fate of MPB in Alberta, and beset by woodpeckers makes jack pine UBC researchers from Dr . Burke’s lab went stands a pretty dangerous place for MPB out to the eastern edge of the invasion to to try to invade . It’s possible that some see what’s actually happening in the forest . combination of these factors will explain They surveyed 12 five-hectare areas of why MPB aren’t having the same success lodgepole and jack pine in Alberta, and as they were in previous outbreaks, and “The Alberta boreal flattens out from the looked at every single tree to try to find with this information, Burke and his foothills into a gradual transition to jack out what was slowing down the expansion . colleagues will be able to predict what pine, which is a prominent pine species They had a few hypotheses to test . happens next . in the boreal and extends even into the First, lodgepole pine grows very densely Until the results are in, Burke offers his Maritimes . So that’s a big concern . If in BC and western Alberta, but as you hunch . “They seem to have hit a wall . My the beetle does well in jack pine,” says move east into poorer, drier sites, there’s guess is they won’t march across Canada Burke, “then uh oh .” a gradual transition to hybrid stands, because the problems MPB will face will Burke’s research indicated that this and then eventually pure jack stands, just get worse . If they get to Manitoba or concern was well placed . In his UBC and these tend to be much less dense . Ontario, it will be by truck .”

www.fRIresearch.ca 15 caribou RSF The Caribou Webtools have been rigorously tested and wolf RSF were released in the cougar RSF spring of 2018 caribou connectivity Tools available: Tools

16 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report accessible by combining them with CARIBOU TOOLS internet technology .” Anyone with an internet connection can MIGRATING ONLINE log on and run the model directly in their browser . Everything is already on a server—the data, the software, and the code that runs the model—so the user “I have to let the model run overnight .” computer’s resources, and requiring doesn’t have to have any of that . No more expensive GIS software with a specific thumb drives in the mail, and because We hear this a lot around the office . configuration of extensions . the server is doing all the calculations, These days, spatial models are powerful, the user can continue working on their essential tools for ecologists and For years, the GIS Program has computer, completely unaffected by the resource planners alike . But they can be collaborated with our research programs model running in the cloud . monstrous: often querying huge datasets to build these tools . When it’s time that are not easily shared, taking hours to deliver, all the necessary parts are “At the end of the day, we want it to be to run even while devouring all of a loaded onto thumb drives and mailed used,” says Wismer . “If our partners to partners . This process works, but are using these tools in their planning clearly has its limits . Mailing hard drives process—that would be a huge success ”. is not very efficient, many smaller This goes to another advantage to putting organizations might not have access to the model into the cloud . Not only does the software needed to run the models, it make it more accessible (and therefore and there may be agreements preventing hopefully used more often and more us from handing over all the data used by widely), but we can also track its use to get the models . a better idea of what impact it is having . This year, the GIS Program put their The models take minutes to run, and heads in the cloud and saw a better way . there can be multiple runs at the same Our GIS analyst Dan Wismer is working time, making it a compelling product for with the Caribou Program to build their land managers who want to compare a tools in the programming language R bunch of scenarios to get a preliminary so it can be offered online . The Caribou sense of what the options will mean Webtools suite allows users to upload for wildlife . At the same time, the different scenarios, such as adding outputs are all grounded in the Caribou roads and a cutblock, or restoring Program’s peer reviewed science, seismic lines . This lets planners see how and are precise enough to guide final different options affect habitat quality decisions by government and industry, or and connectivity for caribou and their to be used by academic partners in their predators . own research .

“This is a new service that the GIS The Caribou Webtools have been Program is providing,” says Wismer . rigorously tested and were released in “We’re making our models more the spring of 2018 .

www.fRIresearch.ca 17 2017 the program hosted dialogue sessions in Athabasca, Grande Prairie, Calgary, and Edmonton

18 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report The Healthy Landscapes Program has, government, the forest industry, and THE EBM through reports, papers, conference environmental groups, as well as presentations and all the other usual valuable representation from indigenous scientific channels, advanced ecosystem- organizations, academia, other DIALOGUE based management for more than a industries, and a range of community decade . This is the concept of managing groups . for the entire landscape, not just for SESSIONS The attendees were surveyed before and individual and often conflicting values, after their session . The first question the in an effort to avoid harmful cumulative team looked at was simply how likely effects . But despite a growing body of people were to recommend ecosystem- evidence that points to the potential of based management . Going in, attendees the idea, there are still barriers for some were strongly in favour of the concept— stakeholders . no one was less than a five out of ten . To help translate science into action, After the session, views were much less the Healthy Landscapes Program has uniform . There were still many people added more outreach activities . In 2017, highly likely to recommend ecosystem- the program hosted dialogue sessions in based management, but some had Athabasca, Grande Prairie, Calgary, and become less sure . Edmonton . As the name implies, the goal Perhaps surprisingly, the team is proud was to facilitate a genuine conversation of this result because it shows that a between government, industry, real conversation took place . The goal environmental groups, landowners, and wasn’t to give people the hard sell; it scientists . Instead of debating positions, was to increase trust in the science, the team was interested in discussing the and between the different stakeholder deeper interests, beliefs, and values from groups . By that metric, the surveys had which people’s positions arise . The goal more good news . 72% of attendees said was for everyone to better understand they gained an appreciation of other each other, increase trust, and find perspectives . More specifically, the only common ground . statistically significant distrust between “We went to those communities and groups going in—between environmental provided people with a forum to tell groups and the forest industry— us what they think ecosystem-based disappeared by the end . management is and what they think the Science is always ahead of practice . It barriers to implementation are,” says takes time for new ideas to be embraced Matthew Pyper, who helped organize the by regulators, and to become accepted events . by the public . But by building trust and For the four sessions, 81 people signed genuinely listening, the team hopes up to share their views with the team to bridge the gap between scientific and the other participants . This included advances and a healthier landscape . strong turnouts from the provincial

www.fRIresearch.ca 19 COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT OF HISTORIC RESEARCH TRIALS When this study began, there were no began, the Foothills Growth and Yield foresters, the results from these trials computer models of growth and yield . Association (FGYA) was formed, and will assist in timing stand treatments, as No computers at all, actually . No one had in 2001, the FGYA, the CFS, and the well as knowing which densities might studied a tree’s genome or even figured Government of Alberta visited the yield the fastest growth and highest out that genomes are written in DNA . But trial sites . Growth and yield research volumes . Re-measuring growth in the even in the 1930s, silviculturalists wanted is a patient pursuit, but even by those coming decades could also improve other to know the same thing as they want to standards, it was immediately clear that planning tools that foresters use . know today: what they should do to get this long term study was something more wood fibre of higher quality . special . The next year, the FGYA had signed on to manage the trials, along So the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) These projects are with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry and started a study of lodgepole pine stands the CFS . This will ensure the trials will coordinated by FGrOW, regrowing after forest fires . For the next continue for decades . 50-odd years, they watched the trees the Forest Growth grow . At some stands they fertilized, at The CFS uses the data to understand Organization of Western others they thinned the trees to different and model the relationships between densities early or midway in a stand’s tree growth and wood fibre properties, Canada . lifespan, and in some trials, they both and the influence of site and silviculture fertilized and thinned . Every so often treatments . Their models of these someone would go out to measure them relationships have been integrated or apply some part of the treatment . with the Mixedwood Growth Model . For

By the late 1980s, the original researchers having retired, the trials began to lapse . The pine trees kept growing, but for a time, went unwatched . Meanwhile, the model forest program

20 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report Mixedwood Growth Model (MGM) is an several major improvements that extend MIXED individual tree model for the boreal what MGM can do . forest developed by University of Alberta Previously, MGM was robust for white researchers to grow and kill individual WOOD spruce, lodgepole pine, and aspen, but trees within a stand based on their size recent enhancements have significantly relative to other trees nearby and how GROWTH improved the ability to add jack pine and each species responds to competition . By black spruce to the mix . The MGM team taking this approach, MGM can simulate MODEL has also added the 2009 Government of the effects of events like thinning Alberta site index equations to the model . treatments, and is generally more Combined with good documentation realistic about complex stand structures that makes MGM more transparent to than stand-level models . regulators and users . Forest companies want to use MGM The team is also giving MGM the for forest management planning, ability to accept measurements from which requires approval for use by permanent sample plots from around the Government of Alberta but the the province, to better calibrate model government’s stand-level Growth and runs with real-world data . They are also Yield Project System (GYPSY) model is adding the ability for users to factor tree the only one approved for use in forest improvement into their model forecasts . management planning . The Western Boreal Growth and Yield team is making MGM will not replace other models like GYPSY, but it will provide foresters with a tool that can do things GYPSY was never designed for . And because the models are different, using both will provide excellent validation, giving the province and industry greater confidence that Alberta’s forests are well managed .

www.fRIresearch.ca 21 programs . The idea took root, and Udell study of adaptive management on the pitched the idea to Weldwood as a 40th large protected areas within the now- MAKING anniversary project for the company . expanded model forest: Jasper National Forestry professor Peter Murphy, writer Park, Willmore Wilderness, and Switzer HISTORY Bob Bott, and historian Bob Stevenson Provincial Parks . enlisted to help with the project, and after These two early projects only served to producing “Living Legacy” for Weldwood, After the grey and white beard, the whet the appetite within the program they began expanding the story and the most noticeable thing about Bob Udell team—as well as the fRI Research Board geographic scope to encompass the is his voice: a resonant bass that rolls of Directors—for more work on the forest crown lands and industrial forest of the and rumbles through his vast collection and landscape history of west-central entire original model forest research of stories: stories of the forests, of the Alberta . As the program grew, it branched landbase . Thus began the Adaptive Forest people working on the land, and lately of into topics besides adaptive forest Management/ History Program and its the organization, fRI Research, he helped management, and the original (rather first book Learning from the Forest . To found in 1992 . Udell would lead that specific) name was eventually generalized research this book, the team interviewed organization until 2005, growing it from many key players in both industry, the a small team researching forest values public, and government . We have shared east of Jasper to a full-fledged research several of these on our website . institute with over 100 partners and many projects across western Canada . Even as the team was working on that project, Murphy and Professor Marty But long before all that came to be—back Luckert, along with grad student in 1995 in fact—Udell presented a paper Michael den Otter, proposed a parallel showing how growth and yield research photo credit: DFB Photo, 1912 had contributed to a steadily increasing allowable cut on Weldwood’s Hinton forest . A pointed question from professor Les Reed of UBC’s forestry faculty planted a seed in Udell’s mind . Reed wanted to know why no one had documented the remarkable story of one of Canada’s most celebrated industrial forest management

22 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report to the Forest History Program . management questions of the day, in the long run, understanding how old “I really enjoyed working on the Forest approaches have succeeded or come up History Program,” says Udell . “It allowed short provides invaluable perspective and me to work on projects with old colleagues a starting point for moving into the future . such as Pete Murphy, Bob Stevenson, Steve Ferdinand, and Fred Pollett, as well “It’s been heartening to have had as developing new associates like Bob such strong support from the Board Bott and Tom Peterson .” and in particular the Assistant Deputy Ministers Cliff Henderson and Bruce Hinton historian Tom Peterson joined Mayer,” says Udell . Udell, Murphy, and others on a deeper history of the area, completed in 2007, Now retired and moved away west over The 25 Year History of fRI Research called A Hard Road to Travel that reached the mountains and down to the sea, Bob is the 2-man effort of Bob Bott, back 10,000 years . Soon after, retired Udell is winding down the Forest History who was a lead writer on the first Program . In the last year, Murphy’s Forest History Program book, logging history of the Whirlpool River has and Bob Udell, who has been been exhibited at the Jasper Yellowhead hardwired to the organization Museum . Murphy is also putting the from day one . The chapters, finishing touches on his work to relocate based on the Canadian Council and map the historic Columbia Trail of Forest Ministers’ “Criteria and through Jasper National Park, which was Indicators of Sustainable Forest used by first peoples and fur traders to Management,” tell the story of fRI cross the Rocky Mountains, and later by Research programs from their

CFS Director General of Science Pollett loggers supplying timber for railroad ties inception until today . This structure joined the team to develop the Northern in the early 1920s . was chosen because it gives clear narratives to each topic, shows Rockies highway guidebook, which pulled The program has released e-book the relevance of the program to together the geology, ecology, and of versions of some of their publications, Canada’s sustainability objectives, course, the history of the landscape of and issued corrections and updates to and provides a sense of the impact Jasper and its neighbours to the east others . But the biggest loose end to tie our contribution has had on each and west . This was the latest publication off is a final book, about an organization subject . in the TransCanada Ecotours series, that has become part of the history of originally created by the Canadian Forest the area; Learning from the Landscape is The outsize impact our small Service and now overseen by Pollett . something of a memoir recounting the organization has had on so many

That a history program can thrive in a first 25 years of our organization, and subjects—from caribou to climate, research institute that is constantly asked elements of the last 25 years of Udell’s from wildfire to watersheds—is urgent scientific questions speaks to the career in the foothills . reflected in a word count of over 150,000, including four long-term mindset of the fRI Research With a quarter-century of sound, useful appendices . 26 maps and nearly management, and in particular, its research to our name, it’s time we 170 historical photos have been Board . They understand that although shared our remarkable contributions to assembled to help tell the story of the program might not serve up quick land management, even as we continue this organization . Publication is on easy answers for the pressing land making history . story from the Landscape: fRI Research Learning track for fall 2018 .

www.fRIresearch.ca 23 HIGHLIGHTS 1996 2007 Bob Udell A Hard Road to Travel follows up Learning from starts a history the Forest by reaching back not 50 years, but program . 10,000, to trace the geological, ecological and anthropogenic history of the upper Athabasca, a pivotal area in Canada’s history .

The Resilient Forest revisits the sites that were the focus of a 2003 highly-publicized and vitriolic anti-forestry campaign in 1971 . The Learning from the Forest: a fifty-year journey publication examines the dire predictions of that campaign and towards sustainable forest management traces the compares them—including before and after images—to how the evolution of forest management from the narrow sites actually developed in the ensuing 35 years . concern for timber supply in the 1950s to a far more holistic approach to managing all the forest values from biodiversity to recreation . 2008 From 1920 to 1945, Jack Glen Sr . was a forest ranger for the aptly community of 2004 Entrance, the eastern gateway through In 2004, the Canadian Institute of Forestry and the Society of the Rocky Mountains . His memoir, American Foresters hosted a joint conference in Edmonton with Mountain Trails, was adapted and about 1,500 delegates . The Forest History Program organized on of enhanced by the Forest History Program, only two plenary sessions, entitled "The Roots of the Present are and tells the stories of adventure and Buried Deep in the Past" with five distinguished speakers including colourful characters that filled his days our own Peter Murphy . These presentations were recorded and can with the Dominion Forest Branch and, be found on our website . after 1930, Alberta Forest Service .

Logging in the Whirlpool Museum Exhibit

The project began, fittingly, where those without a deep knowledge of park entire story over the course of the next it ended: in the Jasper-Yellowhead history: timber limits . few years, including many field visits to Museum & Archives . Pete Murphy of the Athabasca and Whirlpool Rivers . They “It was kind of a well-kept secret,” says the Forest History Program was sifting found the overgrown ruins of the logging Rob Hubick, the manager of the JYMA . through records from the park’s infancy camps and sawmill sites, the remnants of a “Even the locals—I don’t think a lot of when local archivist Karen Byers showed boom anchor used to catch the logs floated people were aware that there was logging him a remarkable map from 1919 . It downriver by the logging crews, and even a in the park until the exhibit launched ”. was of the Whirlpool Valley, which the half-buried railroad tie at an old tie-piling voyageurs used to cross over the Rocky With the help of his friend and local ground along the Whirlpool River that the Mountains via the Athabasca Pass (now historian Tom Peterson, along with river drivers missed one spring . a National Historic Site) in the 1800s, Parks Canada historian Mike Dillon, Murphy, Peterson, and Dillon worked and it showed a surprising thing for Murphy was able to piece together the

24 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report 2013 2014 Lavishly illustrated and deeply The Hinton Forest: A Case Study in Adaptive Forest Management researched, and combining information 1955–2000 is an ebook which provides a more in-depth review of the from previous work as well as new remarkable industry-led forestry program begun by Des Crossley in investigations, the Northern Rockies 1955, and how it developed on the industrial forest that was the core Highway Guide serves as a reference of the original Foothills Model Forest . for hundreds of historical, ecological, and geological points of interest along highways in the foothills and mountains 2017 of west-central Alberta and west to After years of trips up the Whirlpool Valemount . Valley (and some help from our GIS Program), it was time for Pete Murphy to tell the story of the tie logging operation A 50-year History of Silviculture on the Hinton Forest 1955–2005 . in Jasper National Park in the 1920s . This ebook provides insight into the science, philosophy and What better place to tell it than in the practice of silviculture as it evolved under an adaptive forest museum in Jasper itself? management framework . 2018

The Forest History Program wraps up with the publication of the 25-year history of fRI Research, which will chronicle the impact of our research on how the landscape is managed .

with Val Delille of the JYMA on the exhibit in the spring of 2017 . When the doors opened, visitors were treated to genuine artefacts from the logging operation, photographs, and the hand-hewn tie log that Murphy and Dillon retrieved from the river . The centerpiece was an image, produced by our friendly GIS Program, of the Whirlpool Valley stretching across an “We had a huge positive response from people who live here and had no idea .” entire wall, about 20 feet long, showing all our visitors, and especially the locals,” the locations of the camps, the old fur The exhibit ran in the JYMA Showcase says Hubick . “The tourists found it trading trail, and of course, the timber Gallery from June 9 until November 12, interesting, but it was quite amazing for limits from the 1919 map . 2017 .

www.fRIresearch.ca 25 In some ways, Landscapes in Motion builds on another Healthy Landscapes project that sought to understand the historical fire regime of a region in Alberta’s Rockies, but about 400km north, in Jasper . That effort was also led by Daniels, as well as Raphael Chavardes, and was

The Fires of Jasper published in the fall of 2017 . They found that climate was the main factor in determining photo credit: Cameron Naficy Cameron credit: photo whether there would be a fire in any given year . But then about a century ago, that changed . Fire suppression policies superseded climate as the main control and that had profound implications for the landscape .

26 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report LANDSCAPES IN MOTION

peaks to take a new picture from the precise places where the surveyors of old stood, capturing in a glance 100 years of landscape change .

The third team brings to bear the awesome power of spatially discrete modeling to understand how factors like fire size, climate, and fuels all interact with each other . The modeling team is headed by Eliot McIntire of the Canadian Forest Service, who co-created the SpaDES modeling platform and the The Healthy Landscapes Program has all the way to Canmore, from the BC LandWeb suite of models . By working never been accused of thinking too border on the west to highway 2 on the with the first two teams, the modellers small, and a new project in southwestern east . This is a rugged and remote 20,000 will be able to piece together the what, Alberta is no exception: landscape-scale square kilometers to study, and the topic where, when, and why of historical fires science peering far back in time, and an is nearly as sprawling . An extraordinary in the area . interdisciplinary team trying to answer team is needed; this project has three . the fundamental question of why the And there’s one more really important To learn about past fire regimes, the gold landscape is what it is . element to the project: local engagement . standards for evidence are the physical This is a region of Alberta well known for We know that in the past, a major objects that fire has carved its story its passionate people who care about the force that sculpted the landscape were into—the scorched and scarred snags, land . Other research projects in the area large fires that basically replaced an stumps, and tree cores . The Fire Regime have run into controversy by not talking entire swath of older forest, resetting Team is led by Lori Daniels who directs with the people who live there . We’ve the fuel levels and the stand age . But the Tree Ring Lab at UBC . Her team will been engaging from the beginning . We increasingly, we’ve been finding evidence be collecting and analyzing samples that reached out to local groups to explain around the Canadian boreal of low-and reveal when and how often fires passed what we are trying to achieve, and we moderate-severity fires that leave many through, and how severe they were . launched landscapesinmotion ca. where trees scorched but alive, as well as some There is a unique opportunity to follow we post regular updates on this project . patches entirely untouched . The result is another line of evidence, afforded by the In response, the Crowsnest Conservation a forest mosaic providing rich diversity of fact that the peaks overlooking much Society invited our project lead David habitat for animals . of this landscape were surveyed and Andison to their annual meeting . This is a Now the Healthy Landscapes Program photographed a century ago . Eric Higgs big project tackling big questions on a big has assembled a team to investigate directs the extraordinary Mountain scale, but we have to keep in mind that the landscape stretching from the US- Legacy Project at the University of this is most important for the people of Canada border up the continent’s spine Victoria, where his team returns to those the region, and that’s no small concern .

www.fRIresearch.ca 27

BC, Friberg is now working on a PhD is, down to individual factors like how ADAPTING on that relationship, and in particular, much neighbours help each other out . how communities can respond when Communities can strengthen social TO something happens to the forest . networks, volunteerism, leadership, government policies, the skills of the In past decades, rural communities local workforce, and relationships with commonly held the assumption of a BEETLE other levels of government that support stable, predictable supply of resources adaptation and foster collaboration so like timber or commercial fish stocks . that they are ready to take coordinated For Rob Friberg, people and forests have The potential for unpredictability and action when the time comes . a two-way relationship: we impact forests change was not at the forefront of the and they impact us—our economy, our way we think about resource-based With this as a foundation, Friberg water, our social values, and more . economies . This view is still relevant, is working with three Alberta forest Originally a professional forester in but, perhaps in parallel with our communities in the path of MPB— growing understanding of ecology, many Jasper, Hinton, and Grande Cache . He communities are realizing that we have is interviewing town managers, elected less ability than we first supposed to leaders, community stakeholders, and control nature and the supply of goods representatives from other levels of and services it provides us . Many government, to see which adaptation communities are beginning to think in strategies might be relevant in helping to terms of resilience, of adaptation, of deal with MPB . Based on the experience accepting uncertainty . of the communities themselves, Friberg hopes to help them identify the strategies This is increasingly the case in the that will make a tangible difference . face of mountain pine beetle . Now that climate change has opened the way The community meetings and interviews for MPB to breach the Rockies from are taking place during 2018 . Friberg Sundre to Grande Prairie, planners are will distill this information into practical deploying adaptations like changing summaries and a user-friendly forestry harvesting plans to reduce the “guidebook” for communities as they seek amount of timber that is susceptible to to implement the strategies appropriate MPB, salvaging MPB affected timber, and for their specific situation . While this is the removing dead and dying trees around immediately goal of Friberg’s research, towns to reduce the fire risk . he may also make contributions beyond resilience specifically to MPB . For all Friberg, in a project with the Mountain the uncertainties around the beetle, at Pine Beetle Ecology Program, has least land managers know what they’re developed a framework for assessing up against . But the future holds greater and strengthening community resilience unknowns; this research may help to events like mountain pine beetle . communities develop resilience more The framework looks at resilience broadly, so they can adapt to whatever features drawing on both the natural anticipated or unexpected disturbances and social science literature, from may come . how economically diverse the region

www.fRIresearch.ca 29 photo credit: Michael Wagner credit: photo photo credit: Michael Wagner credit: photo

Unpaved roads, with their loose surfaces, compacted adjacent soil, steep ditches, and reduced vegetation, photo credit: Erin Humeny can dramatically increase the amount of sediment that ends up in nearby streams if special care isn’t taken

30 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report REMOVING AN IMPEDIMENT TO REDUCING EXCESS SEDIMENT Each spring snow melt and every thereby showing where sediment travels . time it rains, water runs toward a This is exactly the information needed to watercourse; and as it travels, it carries identify and fix problem spots along roads . along sediment—particles of silt, “A lot of people are very keen to see sand, or gravel . Ordinarily this would what this tool can do,” says Spencer . be unremarkable, but unpaved roads, “Because of the timing, there’s potential with their loose surfaces, compacted to do something really positive for our adjacent soil, steep ditches, and reduced watersheds .” vegetation, can dramatically increase the amount of sediment that ends up in Wagner collected data on the roads and nearby streams if special care isn’t taken . drainage features throughout critical Bull When this happens, it can be bad news and Cutthroat Trout habitat during the for fish living in that stream, such as Bull summer of 2017 . That fall and winter, Lee Trout and Cutthroat trout, both classified Benda of TerrainWorks, who developed as species at risk in Alberta . the model, began doing runs for critical regions . The first to finish were the Old It’s a hot topic now; biologists with Man and Bow watersheds in southern government and industry recognize the Alberta . NetMap analyzed over 4,000 issue and are trying to pick places to kms of roads and identified 362 sections remediate . But there are many roads in that deliver sediment directly into Bull Alberta’s foothills and only at particular Trout habitat . By improving drainage at points do they cause enough extra just 7% of road segments, or improving sedimentation to warrant concern . This the road surface at 12%, it’s possible to makes a project, headed by Sheena significantly cut down on the amount of Spencer of the Water Program, very timely . sedimentation . Spencer is coordinating a team with Next up are the Red Deer and North Water Program Lead Axel Anderson and Saskatchewan watersheds, and later in Michael Wagner, a forest hydrologist for the summer of 2018, a Water Program the Government of Alberta, to deploy team will revisit those roads and streams a tool called NetMap that quantifies to “ground truth” the results to verify sediment sources in critical watersheds . and potentially improve NetMap . While NetMap uses Alberta’s excellent LiDAR the main objective of the project has data to model the terrain of a watershed . been conserving fish species of special It takes into account things like sediment concern, sedimentation can also affect types, road width, trails, cut lines, and municipal drinking water . If the tool the presence of culverts to simulate the helps improve the health of Alberta’s routes water will travel to form streams, watersheds, the benefits trickle down .

www.fRIresearch.ca 31 Canfor Cenovus Chevron Devon Hammerhead Resources Husky Energy Millar Western

FSCP Members Paramount Repsol Seven Generations Energy Shell Canada Strath Resources Taqa North West Fraser Weyerhaeuser

32 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report partnership itself—an inventory of stream AN AWARD-WINNING crossings at this scale, across competitive companies and industries, is absolutely PARTNERSHIP unprecedented . But it has fostered cooperation between crossing owners and the regulators, more stable funding for In 2017, the Foothills Stream Crossing rear young . This sort of disconnect in a remediation, and a proactive approach . Partnership won the Shared Footprint watershed can also genetically isolate fish Emerald Award for a decade of improving populations, hindering their conservation . The other key was a carefully designed Alberta’s watersheds one culvert at a time . inspection protocol that allows anyone The other major problem is when road at an organization, with just a few hours There are tens of thousands of places in material works its way down into a of training, to start collecting consistent, Alberta where a road crosses a stream . watercourse . This extra sediment can standardized data on their crossings . These crossings include everything cover spawning gravel, smother eggs, For that, the FSCP created an app with from a simple ford to a multi-span damage gills, fill overwintering pools, or a manual and all the inspection forms bridge . Many were built decades ago even kill the invertebrates that the fish pre-loaded . This allows inspectors to to lower standards than the Regulator rely on for food . efficiently gather stream crossing data requires today . Many crossings aren’t in To prioritize crossing repairs, the FSCP and seamlessly sync to the FSCP’s compliance and are potentially putting considers the environmental needs of state-of-the-art database . Inspections the watershed at risk . the whole watershed . On certain high are validated in the central database, This is where the FSCP comes in . At this priority crossings, the membership will crossing data is visible only to the scale, the only solution is collaboration, also work with other non-profits such as crossing owner, high priority issues are so a growing group of companies Trout Unlimited Canada . automatically emailed up the chain at (now up to 15) came together in 2005 the relevant company, and each crossing The results of all this work: over 200 to systematically inventory, inspect, automatically comes up for re-inspection stream crossings in Alberta have been prioritize, and fix stream crossings all after the correct length of time . repaired, and in 2017 alone, FSCP down the foothills of the Rockies . members inspected 1,173 crossings . But As the name implies, the partnership has Culverts are often a barrier to fish the Emerald Award wasn’t just for these so far focused on the foothills, but the passage . Over time, they erode the accomplishments . It’s also for how they FSCP is working with the Regulator to streambed at the end of the culvert did it . The key has been innovation at calibrate the protocol for boreal streams . and eventually they become “hanging” . every step of the way . Once the protocol is adapted, the FSCP These “hanging culverts” block fish from will be able to expand the partnership to The most important thing has been the habitat they use to overwinter, spawn, or include owners of the many thousands of crossings east of the foothills .

With this extension and the continued acceleration of crossing inspections and repairs, the FSCP is showing that daunting environmental challenges can be tackled with collaboration and innovation . Maybe in the end, that’s what the Emerald Award recognized .

www.fRIresearch.ca 33 asked if the RAMP could have less impact RAMPING “The need for coordinated on caribou than business as usual . The access planning has become answer was a clear yes . evident since the cumulative UP effects of high levels of access The pilot project showed that with development have resulted in better planning and deployment of the unintentional consequence new oil and gas technology, the same of poor landscape outcomes. resources could have been developed In December 2017, the Government of Individual resource companies with significantly fewer roads and other Alberta released its long-awaited draft can experience advantages disturbances, meeting targets for grizzly range plan for woodland caribou . Along through a collaborative bear and caribou conservation . with prescriptions on habitat restoration, approach to access planning predator control, maternal penning, With the benefits of integrated land and management.” and other measures, the plan took a management clearly demonstrated, the FLMF and government are embarking on hard look at current management of –Provincial Woodland Caribou Range plan, p 41 a landscape that has to support both phase two . They will create a roadmap communities and caribou . The Foothills Landscape Management to get there from the landscape we Forum is a group of forestry and energy have today, a landscape of unintended companies committed to doing just cumulative effects borne of decades that . Instead of each company planning of non-integrated, non-collaborative their operations in isolation, they all landscape and access planning . collaborate with the government and When the roadmap is completed, it use the latest science to create a single will have been more than a modeling Regional Access Management Plan exercise and it will do more than just (RAMP) for an entire caribou range . guide restoration and future industrial The effort began in April, with a pilot development . It will have proved that with project for the Little Smoky and A la collaboration, better land and resource Peche caribou ranges . This first phase management is possible .

Scenario with ILM Current Landscape and New Technology “By expanding on the findings of the pilot project, and applying these new capabilities to future access planning, we may be able to achieve significantly lower access footprint while minimizing constraints on resource extraction opportunities”

– Provincial Woodland Caribou Range plan, p 42

34 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report Imperial, the Caribou Patrol program was CARIBOU PATROL: able to purchase a truck, adding capacity for more patrols in the coming seasons . SEASON SIX In 2017, the program added new signs on Highway 40 at the migration path, including two large billboards to help The high slopes of the Rocky Mountains drivers understand that, contrary to offer summer refuge for many caribou in common misconception, caribou could Alberta, but winter drives the A La Peche cross anywhere along a 35 km stretch herd back down to the shelter and food of highway—they do not queue up right of the forest . This migration brings them beside the first hazard sign . across Highway 40, a major industrial corridor . The Aseniwuche Winewak The Patrol program also worked with Nation’s Caribou Patrol program, Alberta 511 to get a hazard icon added to operated in partnership with FLMF, is online maps during migration seasons, charged with preventing vehicle collisions as well as social media and email through public education, better road notifications . signs, and of course, patrols . As well as the local efforts on the The purpose of the patrols during caribou highway, the Caribou Patrol has wider migrations is to deter caribou from public awareness efforts . They have crossing at dangerous points and collect expanded this outreach thanks to new data on wildlife sightings . Thanks to an partnerships established in the previous additional $50,000 contribution from year . Parks Canada invited them to festivals in Jasper and Edmonton, where they handed out educational booklets and spoke to over 1500 people about caribou conservation .

Though the road is never without risk for caribou, we can hope that through more patrols and greater public awareness, the odds of a safe migration continue to improve .

the program added new signs on 2017 Highway 40 at the migration path Photo credit Michael Merriam credit Photo

www.fRIresearch.ca 35 THE PATCHED QUILT

The boreal forest is like a quilt of dark green conifers, undulating where the hills and valleys fold the land . But west towards the Rocky Mountains are patches of rust-red and ash-grey pine trees, no longer evergreens, increasing in numbers .

This is the mosaic of a landscape visited by mountain pine beetle . Carried on the wind from BC, clouds of adult beetles have been landing like embers among Alberta’s forests . Guided by smell, they swarm a lodgepole pine tree, burrow under its bark, and deposit their eggs and a fungus . In the fall, the eggs photo credit: Bill Tinge credit: photo

36 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report hatch and the larvae and fungus go to There is good information about what MPB the opened canopy allows wind down to work under the bark, destroying the does to a stand of trees, but there’s a big the ground to fan the flames . connection between roots and needles . gap in the research at the landscape level, Using data from the fires that followed By early summer, they have grown into and as often happens, that gap has been BC’s MPB outbreaks in the 90s and adults, and all at once fly up and away to filled with anecdote and simple narratives . early 2000s, Stockdale and McLoughlin repeat the cycle . Stockdale and McLoughlin are determined are modeling the fire risk for the whole to replace these with a quantitative, Meanwhile, the tree still stands as tall quilt, not just individual patches . By actionable measure of fire risk that takes and green as if nothing was wrong . But zooming out to the landscape scale into account nature’s complexity . it is already dead . Cut off from nutrients, and taking into account which stage of the needles turn red over the next couple The type of fuel changes from BC to attack a stand is at, they will be able to years, and finally fall to the ground, eastern Alberta; mixed in with Lodgepole give a more realistic estimate of how leaving only a dry grey trunk and creaking Pines, the Firs, Cedar Hemlock, fire could spread through a given area . outstretched branches until wind, root Ponderosa Pine, and Engleman Spruce For example, a stand-level model might rot, or fire bring them down . It’s the risk give way to Black and White Spruces, and suggest that an area that was passed of the latter that has foresters and town even the Lodgepole Pine itself gradually over by the beetle will be resistant to planners worried . transitions to Jack Pine . Then there are wildfire . However, wildfires are rarely the MPB outbreaks, some of which expand limited to single stands . Stockdale Chris Stockdale and Neal McLoughlin from a few trees to thousands, others and McLoughlin’s analysis will offer a know about the rumours that followed stop growing but seed new infestations better understanding of how the extent, the beetle over the Rockies . Wildfire kilometers away, and some just peter arrangement, and stage of the MPB experts for the governments of Canada out . The result is a lot of spatial variation patches affect fire risk across the quilt . and Alberta, respectively, they have heard across the landscape . Over time, new of the fires that burned through a beetle- Fire risk is dynamic and complex . patches are scattered across the quilt, but ravaged forest in BC so fiercely that they Displacing anecdotes with hard the patches themselves change too . created an ashen moonscape . Did they numbers, while not prescriptive, does burn so hot because of the beetle? Is that At first, the green-attack stage is not very give planners a benchmark to reference what’s coming for Alberta? different from non-infested stands . There for their situations . It can help them is plenty of fine fuel in the canopy, and plan evacuation timing and inform area it is still full of moisture, a major factor closure decisions to prevent ignitions that slows down wildfires . But after a few in places where a fire would spread years, the needles dry out and turn red . faster . It could also evaluate different If conditions are right, and the fire has mitigation strategies, such as logging, enough energy to develop a convection to avoid ineffective efforts . column, those needles, twigs, and cones Ultimately, this project of the Mountain can scatter as embers, creating a fire Pine Beetle Ecology Program will storm that sparks new ignitions far and provide a much needed landscape wide . But if no calamity comes to those perspective on fire risk through time . trees, eventually they reach the grey- The results might be reassuring in attack stage and the fine fuel falls to the some places, and in others, at least forest floor . The result is complicated . The there will be information to act on, decaying ground fuel doesn’t speed up a which sure beats helpless worry . fire’s spread much, but on the other hand,

www.fRIresearch.ca 37 be a place for planners across Alberta to A RENEWED share with their peers their experiences, advice, and solutions for implementing PARTNERSHIP the Regional Plans . Planning for the forum wrapped up at the In 2011, the Alberta Land Use Secretariat records, host two online courses and has end of 2017 and the web development chose fRI Research to create and recorded and released 1277 videos from was completed in the following February . administer the Land-use Knowledge conferences, to make sure that knowledge Network, a curated collection of shared at these events makes it out of the In preparation for a spring launch, the resources for land use practitioners room to everyone who needs it . community manager for the project, Jeff across the province . Since then, Wiehler, has been in conversation with The LuKN also improved the search landusekn .ca has grown steadily to planners from the Lower Athabasca and functionality on the site and began adding offer over 1900 carefully catalogued South Saskatchewan regions, where information specifically related to key regional plan implementation is furthest components of the regional plan . along . From these conversations, Wiehler is creating a series of articles to seed This follows the direction of the discussion when the site goes live . Secretariat, which in 2017 renewed the

mandate of the LuKN to serve as the hub “I hope it can inform land use decisions of land-use information, but focused on and be useful for implementation of the helping land managers implement the regional plans as the planners share Regional Plans . In order to allow land use stories from across the province,” says planners as much flexibility as possible Wiehler . “This really extends LuKN in implementing the regional plans, the by being a place where people can Secretariat is careful not to prescribe any comment, discuss, and share and go broad-brush requirements, and is instead beyond knowledge to actually doing .” seeking to foster collaboration between The seven Regional Plans, planners, to empower them to find their There are now a few years of experience based on Alberta’s major own, local solutions that work best for with the regional plans to draw on and watersheds, will provide their area . share, but the majority of regions have big picture guidance for not yet implemented a plan, making the To that end, landusekn .ca is building a forum a timely resource for proactive everyone from land owners new discussion forum . The Land Use managers as they prepare for their area’s to municipalities within each Planning Hub (www .landusehub .ca) will regional plan . region . The aim is to get more consistent decisions 2000 on land-use topics such 1500 as water management,

development, conservation, 1000 and air quality . 500 landusekn.ca Records youtube.com/landusekn Videos What Are the Regional Plans? What Are the Regional 0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

38 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report And this brings us back to the crew on the CONNECTIONS hill, sent out to a high-residency habitat patch to see what the maps missed: The field crew knew roughly what the to us from the Alberta Conservation vegetation, lichen abundance, whether terrain would be like . Conifers on a fairly Association and the Sustainable Forestry there were good places for a caribou to steep slope with a small stream at the Initiative and our forestry partners, conceal itself from predators . With these bottom . Nearest road: about 500m . What who wanted to know exactly where the fine-scale factors, the researchers could they were there to find out was why a patches of high quality caribou habitat make much better predictions for which caribou from the Redrock-Prairie Creek are, and how caribou herds actually habitat patches are likely to be used by herd had slowly tacked back and forth travel between them, in order to guide caribou herds, and therefore which areas across this particular hill . conservation and restoration . could be prioritized for conservation, and also where and how to restore already- Since 1998, the forestry company In the fall of 2016, the Caribou Program disturbed patches that have potential to Weyerhaeuser and the Government began developing a method to find out once again be high quality caribou habitat . of Alberta have been fitting about 10 using the GPS collar locations . They caribou per year with GPS collars to track reasoned that in general, caribou spend But focussing exclusively on these high- their movements, as part of broader more time in good habitat than in bad . residency patches would be a mistake . conservation effort . When our Caribou So they tapped the GIS Program to Conserving them alone will not ensure Program started a little over five years create an algorithm that found all the the long-term conservation of a caribou ago, we began managing that dataset and clusters of points where caribou lingered, herd if that herd has no safe way to get using it to tackle research questions . The walking back and forth . By overlaying from one patch to another . So, back in question that led our crew to dozens of these patches of “high-residency” the office, the researchers are drawing areas around west-central Alberta came habitat on maps of geographic features, paths between the patches, tracing the the team were able to generalize what routes caribou have travelled for at least sort of terrain, soil, habitat type, level these past two decades . This information of disturbance, etc . these sites had in can also guide management . If too many common . This could then predict where roads and other disturbances sever the there might be other high-residency connections between patches, the entire patches that a collared caribou hadn’t network could collapse; if connectivity is happened to visit . These places would be prioritized in management plans, the risk important for conservation . to the herd may be reduced . photo credit: Laura Finnegan Laura credit: photo

www.fRIresearch.ca 39 We have a lot of grizzly bear hair . Like SPLITTING boxes and boxes of it . We’ve been collecting it for over a decade because the hair follicle HAIRS at the root of each hair contains the bear’s DNA . The lab techs extract it and check several specific short sections of the DNA that identify whether the hair is from a black or grizzly bear, which individual grizzly bear the hair is from, and even tell us about familial relationships—mother and cub, for example—because bears that share the same DNA sequences at many of those locations are probably more closely related than bears with different sequences . The DNA also tells us the sex of the bear .

This is what makes hair collection studies the gold standard for monitoring grizzly bear populations . It’s a non-invasive way to identify individual bears and with enough individuals, we can estimate the

While hair can be collected non- invasively and therefore much more easily than capturing whole bears, scat samples can also provide important genetic information to researchers and best of all: citizen scientists can help collect these samples . We’ve been collecting scat for years, and we’re working with wildlife laboratories in Norway to develop techniques for getting What about Scat? genetic and hormonal information from it, too . We’re already getting about as much information from the DNA in scat (actually, the gut cells that come out with the scat) as for hair—we can get 23 different genetic markers off scat, easily enough precision to ID an individual .

40 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report population in an area . We’ve put this had experienced during the hair growing profiles of all four hormones for immature method to use in a seven large scale cycle . The key point is that these values and adult bears of both sexes . In other surveys since 2004, including the first were not short term stress as one might words, we could theoretically test our hair ever repeat inventory of an area called see from a blood sample taken after samples to see if an individual bear had BMA 3 in 2014, allowing us to determine a bear had run from a another bear . reached sexual maturity . if the population is changing . With this new methodology in place, Theoretically, because this is early days we were then able to reanalyze the hair But there’s more that we want to know for this ground-breaking method . For the we had already collected from 10 years about grizzly bears than just their paper, we put our profiles to the test on of research to help us understand the numbers, and over the years, we’ve been 400 of our hair samples from bears, of stress levels of bears in different years able to pry more and more answers out which the age and sex we already knew . and in different areas of the province . of those boxes of hair . The results were very encouraging . We Building on our success with stress were right about whether male bears The first breakthrough came in 2010 hormones, we then investigated were adults or sub-adults 88% of the when Brian Macbeth at the University of reproductive hormones from hair time, and 77% of the time for females . Saskatchewan was able to extract hair samples . In a similar way, we can relate cortisol from grizzly bear hair samples . This method, once refined, will open the levels of the hormone progesterone The cortisol level in these samples up far more sophisticated population in the hair of adult female bears to their reflected chronic stress that the bear monitoring using just hair . Knowing the pregnancy status . This has some profound general age structure of a population— implications for population monitoring, how many adults vs how many cubs—is because we can, again, go back to our extremely useful for determining which hair stockpile and see what percentage of direction a population is trending . Or, females are reproducing at any given time since sub-adults generally expand out and place . This tells us the reproductive into new habitat first, age class can performance of the population and help determine whether individuals provides some answers to basic questions are establishing in a new area rather about grizzly bear biology in the wild . than just passing through, which would Then, in early 2018, we published a paper indicate a growing population . with our collaborators at Washington State Being able to get population numbers, University that took it one step further . age class, pregnancy status, and general Grizzly bears, like all other animals, grow health from a non-invasive method that and develop under the guidance of certain doesn’t involve tracking, darting, and steroid hormones like testosterone, sampling live bears greatly expands the progesterone, estradiol, and cortisol . questions that the Grizzly Bear Program As cubs grow up into adults and reach can tackle . And with years of stored sexual maturity, generally around age 3, bear hair, and more on the way from the levels of these hormones change . You upcoming population inventories, there see where this is going . We could already is an immense amount of information accurately get the concentrations of two of we can glean about grizzly bears in those hormones from hair samples . With Alberta . Better information will help land the help of our partners in Saskatchewan managers make better decisions as they and Norway, we determined the different work to conserve this threatened species .

www.fRIresearch.ca 41 SUMMARY OF 2017–2018 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Revenues $5,882,071

Government Agencies: Corporate: $1,889,909 $2,183,628

Universities: Other income: $129,191 $111,008 Interest income: $33,448

Non-profit entities: $1,534,887

Total Assets: $3,803,645

Capital Cash: Amounts due from Accounts receivable: $89,995 Assets: $227,398 related parties Prepaid expenses: $36,039 $119,786 $237,275

Short Term Investments: $3,093,152

42 fRI Research 2017-2018 Annual Report Expenses: $5,591,418

Sub-contracts: $2,790,173

Bank charges and interest: $5,831 Amortization: $36,854 Wages and employee benefits: General operating $1,722,588 expenses: $1,035,972

Liabilities: $351,948

Accounts payable and accrued liabilities: $332,321

Current portion of Fund Balance: $3,451,697 long-term debt: $8,184 Long-term debt: $11,443 Restricted: $3,379,530

Unrestricted: $72,154 Share capital: $13

www.fRIresearch.ca 43 Questions? Comments on this annual report? Please contact us at: 1176 Switzer Drive, Hinton, Alberta, Canada, T7V 1V3 Tel: 780 865. 8330. | www .fRIresearch .ca | info@friresearch ca.