Presentation @ CSTWS_CSEE Conference

Come see our work in action! Dee Patriquin is presenting on our Environmental Sensitivities mapping project for the City of Edmonton at the Joint Canadian Section of the Wildlife Society & Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution conference (May 7-11) in Victoria, British Columbia.

Dee is scheduled to give her talk “How did the chick(adee) cross the road? Mapping arboreal connectivity in urban landscapes” on Wednesday at 11:30. See the entire Schedule of Presentations here: http://www.csee2017.ca/uploads/8/0/5/8/80584114/csee_finalschedulemay01.pdf )

How did the chick(adee) cross the road? Mapping arboreal connectivity in urban landscapes

Land managers in a variety of contexts are concerned with identifying connective habitat for conservation planning. CircuitScape has recently emerged as a versatile option for mapping connective habitat at a landscape scale, to identify locations requiring conservation management (e.g., alternative pathways, pinch points). As part of an urban conservation project, we applied CircuitScape in a city landscape, using coyote and chickadee as indicators of terrestrial and arboreal movement, respectively. The chickadee model, one of the first applications for urban arboreal movement, highlighted issues not previously reported for terrestrial species, including an island effect at the neighbourhood level due to road networks. Through further application in a smaller urban landscape, supported by winter surveys, we have identified habitat features that appear to enhance arboreal connectivity in the urban context, and the resulting distribution of chickadees. Songbirds and other arboreal species are often overlooked in planning urban conservation efforts, yet provide a valued, and easily accessible wildlife viewing opportunity for urban residents. Results of this study can assist urban planners and ecologists in planning future development, and in maintaining and restoring habitat in already developed urban areas. Our work also suggests areas of future study for urban ecologists relative to fragmentation effects and urban connectivity.

Press Conference at the Solstice Building

Solstice was excited to host Minister Deron Bilous at our office when he announced a CARE grant for the Alberta Women Entrepreneurs at the Solstice building. Read Michelle’s statement about the impact Alberta Women Entrepreneurs has had on her business.

"Solstice Canada is a company of scientists and innovators that help industry, business and government address soil and water contamination. We help our clients strike the balance between doing what’s right for the environment and what’s right for their business or organization. This past year we celebrated 14 years of business in Alberta. 

I was fortunate to be a member of the AWE PeerSpark program for the past year, and I am currently a member of the PeerSpark Alumni program.  Through my involvement with AWE, Solstice Canada has received support and mentorship from AWE’s amazing network of staff, instructors, sponsors, and perhaps most importantly, the other like-minded business women that make up the PeerSpark program. 

The support and mentorship provided by the PeerSpark program encouraged Solstice Canada to move beyond our borders and explore the United States, and most recently China as a part of the Alberta Trade Mission this past November.

We have already received a positive response from the U.S. marketplace for our environmental sensitivity mapping expertise, which is one of Solstice’s unique products and points of differentiation. We are actively building new relationships and networks in China, offering our expertise in clean technologies. We are excited to head back to Beijing with Minister Bilous’ team later this month to pursue additional opportunities at the China International Petroleum Exhibition.

My warmest congratulations to AWE on receiving the CARE grant, and for continuing to support women’s progress in business and industry in Alberta. "

Listen to the whole press conference for new support for Alberta’s Women Entrepreneurs

Michelle Cotton & Solstice Canada were also featured on CTV on a segment about female entrepreneurs! 

Watch Michelle Cotton & Solstice Canada Featured on CTV

Learn more about Alberta’s Women Entrepreneurs!

Come Celebrate Wildlife and Winter

- General

Celebrate World Snow Day at Alberta’s newest Biosphere, designated on March 16, 2016 by UNESCO. The Beaver Hills BioBlitz is presented in partnership with the Beaver Hills Initiative, the Alberta Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Alberta Parks, Nature Kids - Nature Alberta, Solstice Canada, and Friends of Elk Island National Park.

Activities include

• S’mores and hot chocolate

• Start a spark with flint and steel

• Meet amphibians

• Lean about Beaver Hills and Canada 150

• Check out wildlife displays including gear, furs and skulls

• Tracking wildlife

Special presentations by biologists

• Wildlife Habitat, Dave Stepnisky

• Wildlife Cameras, Dragmoir Vujnovic

• Beavers, Dr. Glynnis Hood

• Explore Winter, Brian Eaton and Ian Brussels

• Meet an Owl, Gord Court

• Wildlife Aches and Pains, Margo Pybus

Regular trail pass and equipment rental fees are in effect. Event activities are free.

Activity schedule located here.  

http://www.strathcona.ca/files/files/at-rpc-world-snow-day-2017.pdf

Faster Forests Project

The landscape of northeastern Alberta is a perpetual hot topic. Dotted with wellsites, split by pipelines, criss-crossed with seismic lines, and reshaped by forest fires, not to mention the controversial oil sands. As contentious as it is, this area of Alberta is also a perpetual learning ground and a hotbed of research. A multitude of stakeholders and land uses generate cumulative impacts, but also generate valuable opportunities for collaboration and research opportunities. Solstice recently participated in just such a collaborative research project, managed by Circle T Consulting, Inc, in the area south of Fort McMurray. Member companies of the Canada Oil Sands Innovation Alliance in the region participate in an oil sands exploration (OSE) wellsite reclamation program called Faster Forests, which provides guidance on wellsite construction and also tree and shrub planting practices intended to accelerate forest recovery. For more information, check out the links below. This summer Solstice collected vegetation and soil data from a number of both planted and unplanted OSE wellsites in order to quantitatively assess the success of the Faster Forests program. The intent is to identify if and under what conditions tree and shrub planting is most valuable, in order to ensure the program is as cost effective and efficient as possible. The data collected was much like a detailed site assessment, but designed with the intention of assessing and improving the reclamation program as part of COSIA’s commitment to continuous improvements in environmental performance. In an area where forestry and oil and gas can overlap, the construction and reclamation practices of one company can directly impact the bottom line of another company. Historically, the impacts of various OSE wellsite construction and reclamation practices have been studied in the region which has highlighted the value of ice pads and proper woody debris handling practices (for more information, see the link below). The results of this research also highlighted the value of training and supervision by an environmental professional during construction and reclamation activities. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so to speak, particularly in areas of competing land uses. Solstice has the experience and skills to supervise and train construction and reclamation activities, and a commitment to collaboration to ensure the efficient and successful completion of projects with competing land uses. 

COSIA Faster Forests: http://www.cosia.ca/faster-forests

ConocoPhillips Faster Forests: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU7RLqz1Z3Q

Removing the Wellsite Footprint: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/stan_boutin/ilm/uploads/footprint/Upland%20Recommendations%20-%20Final%20Revised%20-%20Small%20File.pdf

Modelling the influence of well pads on toluene biogenesis in peatlands.

The appearance of toluene in organic soils, which is not consistent with an anthropogenic source, has recently garnered attention within the oil and gas industry. Previous research has shown toluene is a biogenic intermediary product of microbial fermentation in strongly anaerobic and cold conditions similar to the conditions in northern Alberta peatlands. This suggests there is a separate, perhaps biogenic, source of toluene that is not reflected in current soil and groundwater guidelines.

Higher concentrations of toluene are often found beneath the clay pad of abandoned wellsites built on peatlands and commonly peak at the interface between pad and peat materials with concentrations up to 30 parts per million. In a recent project, we suspected that elevated toluene was due to an interruption in gas diffusion from the clay pad, and higher microbial activity related to availability of an anaerobic electron acceptor (sulphate) in clay pads. These observations suggested the clay pad was producing an indirect effect which was increasing toluene levels under well pads.

Elevated toluene levels are of concern because toluene is toxic to receptors in all trophic levels of fresh water aquatic ecosystems in parts per BILLION. However, the relevancy of current species-specific benchmarks for use in peatland ecosystems are unclear. Reference species used in ecotoxicity studies, e.g. water fleas, leopard frogs, and rainbow trout, are uncharacteristic of these ecosystems. Further investigation of this indirect impact is required to develop best management practices.

The consistency of the on-site/background toluene pattern at our field site has provided a unique opportunity to gain understanding of this emerging issue. Statistical analysis of lab results may be able to identify a background toluene guideline, which can be used as a benchmark for reclamation.

Multi-response permutation procedure (MRPP) analysis showed similarities in toluene levels between two wellsite groups. This suggests toluene biogenesis is fairly consistent and a background-based toluene guideline for bog ecosystems could be applied regionally.

Preliminary analysis supports our hypothesis and shows a separation of on-site and background samples in bog ecosystems. Sulphate and toluene levels under well pads were generally higher than background levels. Statistical modeling indicates that on-site toluene levels are higher the background levels, with a confidence level of 80%. We believe this confidence level, coupled with the toxicity of toluene and the elevated toluene levels, supports the indirect impact caused by clay pads and represents a credible risk to the environment.

Unfortunately, preliminary analyses of our existing data was insufficient to determine if there was a significant difference between on-site and background levels in fen eco-sites. This suggests further data is required to reduce the error in this analysis.

Our client has agreed to share soil chemistry data from Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessments (ESA) within a broadened study area in northwestern Alberta for inclusion in further analysis. We are hopeful the increase in data will allow us to better understand the spatial distribution of biogenic toluene in fen ecosystems and increase our confidence levels for predictions for bog ecosystems. This could produce sufficient support for model predictions that could be used as background-based toluene guidelines for bogs and fens.

A background-based guideline could be used as a benchmark for comparison to occurrences of biogenic toluene. This will create a standard to determine if intrusive remediation is required and will reduce remediation-related disturbance in this sensitive ecosystem. Further, this would reduce the management costs to industry members, regulators, and land owners.

Solstice Canada Corp. has received funding from the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada (PTAC) via the Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund (AUPRF) to perform a meta-analyses using ESA data. Technical advice and support is being provided by various partners including Dee Patriquin (Adjunct Professor) and Anne McIntosh (Assistant Professor), of the University of Alberta, Augustana Campus.