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Regulatory and environmental requirements for public infrastructure projects have become increasingly complex. At Associated, we respond to these challenges by collaborating with our clients and stakeholders to truly understand issues and complexities, and then developing value-added, effective solutions that address our clients' goals, respond to the needs of stakeholders and the community, and protect the environment. Two recent projects in Alberta highlight our approach.
Edmonton/Strathcona County Footbridge
This new bridge over the North Saskatchewan River will connect the City of Edmonton and Strathcona County. Associated Engineering was engaged to undertake the concept planning, feasibility, preliminary design, detailed design, construction, and post-construction services, including all environmental assessments and permits.
Sarina Loots, Specialist, Regulatory Advisor, explains, "We knew the project would require major federal, provincial and municipal environmental permits. Thus, we took a proactive approach and started on the assessments, reporting, and communications with regulatory agencies two years before construction began."
A large fish habitat offsetting area was required (three times the berm footprint, a 3:10 compensation). The in-river berms required a temporary footprint of 7,000 square metres; therefore, the project was required to offset (plant/enhance/build/develop) an area of over 20,000 square metres.
This was due to increased requirements under the Fisheries Act from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), and the future expectation that Lake Sturgeon would be listed as threatened or endangered under the Species At Risk Act.
Suitable on-site habitat restoration areas were not available on the scale required. We partnered with Trout Unlimited (now Freshwater Conservation Canada) on offsetting planning and selected a site over 200 metres away from Edmonton.
Habitat within the restoration areas lack woody debris and consisted of simplified homogenous habitat, due to floodplain constriction at road crossings and channel incising. The area was selected due to the anticipated positive impact to bull trout.
"The offsetting included livestock/horse exclusion and several low-tech process-based restoration (LTPBR) treatments to increase the diversity of habitat types."
The work included the installation of exclusion fence and 40 LTPBR structures, comprised of post-assisted log structures (PALs) and beaver dam analogues (BDAs).
LPTBR work sites are chosen due to the likelihood of the area supporting beavers in the future. The LPTBR techniques are used to promote beaver activity in the affected streams.
PALs and BDAs are hand built, nature-based, beaver mimicry techniques that can restore eroded streams. PALs mimic log jams in the channel and following high-flow events, result in more meandering channels. BDAs mimic beaver dams and result in a pool upstream of the BDA.
DFO was keen on this creative and innovative approach for fish habitat offsetting for a municipal infrastructure project. Edmonton/Strathcona County municipalities received a high-value, cost-effective and efficient offsetting project to fund.
The BDAs and PALs were constructed in summer 2024, and beavers have already moved into the newly installed habitat (BDAs) at Radiant Creek! The hope is that the beaver family will colonize the area and further improve the natural assets that will contribute to build resilience for drought and climate change.
Calgary Stormwater Ponds: Beaver Management Plan
The City of Calgary manages 171 wet stormwater ponds. Associated is frequently involved in pond design, upgrades, and maintenance inspection projects and our environmental specialists directly advise on mitigating environmental risks on storm pond maintenance projects administered by the City's key maintenance contractor, KBL.
The City asked our environmental team to investigate all possible "coexistence" options for addressing beaver lodge conflicts at storm ponds and deliver a feasibility report to be used for decision support.
Sarina shares, "There is a growing desire to maintain storm ponds and preserve the infrastructure and downstream receiving environment. At the same time, being respectful of regional values around beaver welfare and making scientifically-defensible and informed decisions for beaver management at storm ponds."
The team gathered information through a facilitated workshop with public interest groups and nearby municipalities, literature reviews, and collaborations and engagement with NGOs. Several options emerged that will be considered in future adaptive management at storm ponds with beaver lodges, two new coexistence options were selected for testing at two ponds planned for maintenance in 2025.
"We are providing ongoing decision support to The City, reporting on the feasibility of key solutions, and developing (adaptive) best management practices that will be tested and validated during upcoming pond maintenance projects."
Today, many creative solutions are available that typically rely on intentional collaboration between biologists, hydrologists, engineers, and NGO partners. Projects with beaver conflicts should consider the full context of the issue and potential coexistence options for long-term sustainability.
The option of beaver relocation is also being actively studied and advocated by others in Alberta. Beaver relocation projects in Alberta are currently subject to some regulatory challenges and compliance inconsistencies. NGOs and beaver thought-leaders in the province are advocating for this option to be standardized, due to the restoration benefits that beavers provide.
Sarina tells us, "A hypothetical future might involve City of Calgary beavers relocated to a creek to support habitat restoration or a compensation project. If beavers colonize areas with establishedBDAs, they can continue to create ecological value, long after the manual human-maintenance schedule of installed structures."
Our key personnel on the Edmonton-Strathcona project and environmental tasks are Chris Pyra, Sarina Loots, Erica Graham, Dean Foster, Richard Simpson, Christine Head, Deanna Joly, Jessica Eaton, Krish Purohit, Robert Mitchell, Wallace La, Akinbola George, Arlette Fernandez, and Michael Paulsen.
On the Beaver Management Plan for the City of Calgary, our key personnel are Sarina Loots, Stephanie Findlay, Cole Burns, Keenan Rudichuk, Richard Simpson, Terri France, Krish Purohit, Robert Mitchell, Twyla Kowalczyk, and Anne Godlewski.
