We Have a Reclamation Certificate, But is it Good Enough?

In just under 50 years, from 1963 to 2012, over 350,000 wellsites have been drilled in Alberta, which contributes to the industrial footprint on the landscape. The Alberta Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development (AESRD) requires that all upstream oil and gas sites(1) on both public and private lands must be reclaimed when they are [...]

A Few Crossings Go a Long Way: Caribou Report Available

Oil sands extraction is booming in the province of Alberta. Much of the province’s oil sands resource, however, lies in the province’s northeast–territory that the boreal woodland caribou depends on for survival. Environment Canada recently released a recovery strategy for boreal woodland caribou, which are designated as “threatened” under the Canadian Species at Risk Act­­­­. [...]

From a Bird’s-Eye View: Expanding ABMI perspectives with Remote Sensing and Geospatial Technologies

As he saw the image materialize on his computer screen, Dr. Guillermo Castilla’s exhilaration grew. “I felt like I was looking at an open book telling the history of Alberta’s landscape of the last ten years,” says Castilla, a Remote Sensing Scientist with the ABMI’s Remote Sensing Group. “If there is a picture worth a [...]

Splendour in the Grass – Reflections of ABMI Summer Field Technicians

Working for the ABMI as field technicians, crews of young scientists experience Alberta’s great landscape, hoping to unearth even its tiniest treasures. Some of its larger treasures, they found, are black and furry and love pasta. Here are some of their stories. At two in the morning the damp, cool and moist air clings to [...]

Weathering the Storm: Alberta’s Ferruginous Hawks in a Changing Climate

ABMI Releases New Video Not only does Alberta’s changing climate pose challenges for us humans, it does so for lots of other creatures as well. For a species like the Ferruginous Hawk, which already faces a variety of threats, climate change could have disastrous consequences for its survival in Alberta. So, how will climate change [...]

ABMI Releases First Ever Comprehensive Report on Biodiversity in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area

Today, Thursday December 5, 2013, the ABMI released the report: The Status of Biodiversity in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area. This report contains the first ever comprehensive analysis on the status of Alberta’s species in the Athabasca Oil Sands Area (AOSA). With a range of intensive activities occurring on the AOSA land base – from [...]

First Annual Speaker Series Showcases ABMI’s Diversity of Research Projects

Vimeo videos of the ABMI’s inaugural speaker’s series presentations are now available! Find links below on topics ranging from biodiversity management and climate change adaptation to ecological recovery monitoring of reclaimed lands… The ABMI’s Application Centre develops products and services that build on ABMI’s core capacity to monitor long-term broad-scale changes in biodiversity. These applications [...]