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In the past decade, a large volume of peer‐reviewed papers has examined the potential impacts of oil and gas resource extraction in the Canadian oil sands (OS). A large proportion focuses on terrestrial biology: wildlife, birds, and vegetation. We provide a qualitative synthesis of the condition of the environment in the oil sands region (OSR) from 2009 to 2020 to identify gaps and progress cumulative effects assessments. Our objectives were to (1) qualitatively synthesize and critically review knowledge from the OSR; (2) identify consistent trends and generalizable conclusions; and (3) pinpoint gaps in need of greater monitoring or research effort. We visualize knowledge and terrestrial monitoring foci by allocating papers to a conceptual model for the OS. Despite a recent increase in publications, focus has remained concentrated on a few key stressors, especially landscape disturbance, and a few taxa of interest. Stressor and response monitoring is well represented, but direct monitoring of pathways (linkages between stressors and responses) is limited. Important knowledge gaps include understanding effects at multiple spatial scales, mammal health effects monitoring, focused monitoring of local resources important to Indigenous communities, and geospatial coverage and availability, including higher attribute resolution in human footprint, comprehensive land cover mapping, and up‐to‐date LiDAR coverage. Causal attribution based on spatial proximity to operations or spatial orientation of monitoring in the region is common but may be limited in the strength of inference that it provides. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:388–406. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC). KEY POINTS: We provide a qualitative synthesis of the condition of the environment in the Canadian oil sands region (OSR) in northeastern Alberta from 2009 to 2020 to identify gaps and progress cumulative effects assessments. Despite a recent increase in publications, focus has remained concentrated on a few key stressors and a few taxa of interest, for which monitoring is well represented, though direct monitoring of pathways (linkages between stressors and responses) is limited. Important gaps include a lack of understanding of effects at multiple spatial scales, a lack of focused monitoring of local resources important to Indigenous communities, and geospatial data resolution and availability. Causal attribution based on spatial proximity to oil sands operations or spatial orientation of monitoring in the OSR is common but may be limited in the strength of inference that it provides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of school reforms to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples provides an opportunity to explore what Canadians think is important in framing their identities and values. This paper draws on data from a survey of public perspectives on education for reconciliation activities in two Canadian provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan. We consider the broader community context within which schools are located. By examining public perspectives, we are able to assess how curricular initiatives related to reconciliation are understood by community members, both as a priority in itself and in relation to other key curricular areas. Informed by critical race theory, our findings suggest that reconciliation is restricted to activities that do not involve extensive change to existing curricular and ideational frameworks. These perspectives exist alongside extensive opposition to reconciliation justified by claims that Indigenous experiences and perspectives are receiving undue attention relative to more pressing educational priorities. Our findings suggest that aims to transform dominant understandings about Canadian history and identity remain far from being fulfilled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This paper outlines the transformation of youth mental health services in Edmonton, Alberta, a large city in Western Canada. We describe the processes and challenges involved in restructuring how services and care are delivered to youth (11‐25 years old) with mental health needs based on the objectives of the pan‐Canadian ACCESS Open Minds network. Methods: We provide a narrative review of how youth mental health services have developed since our engagement with the ACCESS Open Minds initiative, based on its five central objectives of early identification, rapid access, appropriate care, continuity of care, and youth and family engagement. Results: Building on an initial community mapping exercise, a service network has been developed; teams that were previously age‐oriented have been integrated together to seamlessly cover the age 11 to 25 range; early identification has thus far focused on high‐school populations; and an actual drop‐in space facilitates rapid access and linkages to appropriate care within the 30‐day benchmark. Conclusions: Initial aspects of the transformation have relied on restructuring and partnerships that have generated early successes. However, further transformation over the longer term will depend on data demonstrating how this has impacted clinical outcomes and service utilization. Ultimately, sustainability in a large urban centre will likely involve scaling up to a network of similar services to cover the entire population of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim The spatial extent of western Canada’s current epidemic of mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae), is increasing. The roles of the various dispersal processes acting as drivers of range expansion are poorly understood for most species. The aim of this paper is to characterize the movement patterns of the mountain pine beetle in areas where range expansion is occurring, in order to describe the fine-scale spatial dynamics of processes associated with mountain pine beetle range expansion. Location Three regions of Canada’s Rocky Mountains: Kicking Horse Pass, Yellowhead Pass and Pine Pass. Methods Data on locations of mountain pine beetle-attacked trees of predominantly lodgepole pine ( Pinus contorta var. latifolia) were obtained from annual fixed-wing aircraft surveys of forest health and helicopter-based GPS surveys of mountain pine beetle-damaged areas in British Columbia and Alberta. The annual (1999–2005) spatial extents of outbreak ranges were delineated from these data. Spatial analysis was conducted using the spatial–temporal analysis of moving polygons (STAMP), a recently developed pattern-based approach. Results We found that distant dispersal patterns (spot infestations) were most often associated with marginal increases in the areal size of mountain pine beetle range polygons. When the mountain pine beetle range size increased rapidly relative to the years examined, local dispersal patterns (adjacent infestation) were more common. In Pine Pass, long-range dispersal (> 2 km) markedly extended the north-east border of the mountain pine beetle range. In Yellowhead Pass and Kicking Horse Pass, the extension of the range occurred incrementally via ground-based spread. Main conclusions Dispersal of mountain pine beetle varies with geography as well as with host and beetle population dynamics. Although colonization is mediated by habitat connectivity, during periods of low overall habitat expansion, dispersal to new distant locations is common, whereas during periods of rapid invasion, locally connected spread is the dominant mode of dispersal. The propensity for long-range transport to establish new beetle populations, and thus to be considered a driver of range expansion, is likely to be determined by regional weather patterns, and influenced by local topography. We conclude that STAMP appears to be a useful approach for examining changes in biogeograpical ranges, with the potential to reveal both fine- and large-scale patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of drought characteristics often depends on drought indices, geographic location, hydro‐climatic condition, and timescale. In this study, we examined the spatiotemporal characteristics of drought events using the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and the Multivariate Standardized Drought Index (MSDI). We developed a novel framework using hydro‐climatic variables from a high‐resolution process‐based hydrologic model to understand factors that alter drought indices at various timescales, and their impact on crop yields in a large agricultural region of western Canada. These indices were used to quantify droughts for each month of the year by examining 1–12‐month drought timescales in 2255 sub‐basins, simulated in 17 main river basins across Alberta, for 1981–2017. Temporal variations of the Standardized Yield Residuals Series (SYRS) of three major cereal crops (spring wheat, barley, and canola) were analysed for 1981–2017. Drought characteristics resulting from two indices varied due to differences in the input variables and timescales. The MSDI‐based results showed more frequent droughts during the fall and winter for shorter timescales, while the SPEI‐based results showed more during spring and summer. Comparing drought frequencies at the decadal scale, we found more droughts during 1996–2005 than during 1986–1995 and 2006–2015. The spatial evolution of drought events based on the MSDI showed more sub‐basins with increasing dryness during the study period than did results from the SPEI. The relationship between detrended drought indices and the SYRS varied depending on timescale, geographic location, and growth stage of crops. Overall, both indices performed similarly for agricultural impact assessment; however, the MSDI performed better early in the growing season for wheat and barley, indicating high crop production sensitivity to soil moisture deficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into the potential use of microalgae to produce biofuels is receiving significant attention. In the cold climates of countries like Canada, algae cultivation in open raceway pond (ORP) systems is limited to a short period of the year when pond surface water temperatures and ambient light conditions enable optimal culture growth. In this study we develop techno‐economic assessment models to predict, evaluate, and compare the techno‐economic results from three autotrophic algae cultivation scenarios to produce algae biomass. The first is a modeled ORP site located in the southern USA, which has a minimum biomass selling price (MBSP) for algae of $541 tonne−1 (T−1). The second scenario models an identical ORP system co‐located at a site near Fort Saskatchewan, a northern city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The resulting MBSP is $1288 T−1. A third scenario models a photobioreactor (PBR) cultivation system co‐located at the same northern Alberta site and shows algae production with an MBSP of $550 T−1. Each system is scaled to produce 2000 T day−1 ash‐free dry weight (AFDE) algae biomass. The study concludes that PBR systems deployed at this scale have the potential to reduce production costs significantly ($ T−1) compared to similarly sited ORP systems in Canada, despite climatic factors and high initial capital costs associated with PBR construction. Furthermore, the modeled PBR system required 0.3% of the water required by the ORP cultivation platforms (153 × 103 versus 59 527 × 103 m3) and 0.04% of the land (32 versus. 82 038 ha). © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constitutional and institutional legacies were combined to create a very decentralized forest policy sector in Canada. Where coherent policy requires a national response-as is the case with adaptation to climate change-the critical challenge is to locate the relevant decentralized policy capacity and steer it toward meeting national objectives. While there is some evidence that significant policy capacity exists in provincial forest and resource management departments, climate change adaptation has led to an expansion of departmental mandates that is not being addressed by better coordination of the available policy capacity. The relevant federal agencies are not well represented in information networks and forest policy workers report lower levels of internal and external networking than workers in related policy subsectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SummaryA recently established population of Pterostichus melanarius Ill., a wing-dimorphic, introduced carabid beetle species, was studied over a 7-year period in Alberta, Canada. We monitored local colonization, and tested classical hypotheses about spatial and temporal changes in proportion of flight-wing morphs in the Carabidae. Between 1991 and 1997, a sizable population in a road verge (0.17 individuals/trap/day in 1991) expanded only slowly into an adjacent aspen-poplar forest: the catch of 0.005 ind./trap/day in the forest in 1997 was not significantly higher than that of 0.001 ind./trap/day in 1991. However, a significantly higher proportion of P. melanarius were macropterous, long-winged (LW) in the forest (80%) than in the road verge and at the forest edge (54%). This supports the hypothesis that newly established populations are characterized by a high proportion of LW individuals, and further indicates that dispersal from the road verge into the forest has taken place primarily through flight. The overall proportion of flightless, brachypterous individuals (SW) captured at the study site increased from 39% in 1991 and 1992 to 57% in 1997, supporting the hypothesis that the proportion of SW individuals will increase with time since establishment of a population. Captures of P. melanarius in the forest were patchy and concentrated in particular areas throughout the study. However, these bridgehead’ populations did not grow or expand obviously, suggesting that populations adapt to forest conditions or reach some threshold size before effective expansion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flooding patterns and variations in the composition and successional trends of riparian vegetation in the upper and lower Red Deer River in southern Alberta, Canada, were studied in order to establish which flood regimes were most important in the regeneration and maintenance of riparian vegetation communities, with a particular focus on riparian poplars. The dominant riparian tree in the upper river is Populus balsamifera with some Picea glauca and in the lower river Populus deltoides (the plains cottonwood). Dendrochronological studies of the poplars along the river show that major periods of regeneration correspond with major flood events during the record period. Extensive cottonwood regeneration occurred in the period 1900-20, corresponding with a series of floods, some as high as the 1 in 100-year event. In addition, just prior to and during this period there was a significant reduction in use of the floodplain by bison, clearance of forests and a higher incidence of fires in upper reaches of the river and a series of high rainfall years. A series of floods greater than the 1 in 10-year flood occurred in the 1950s and stimulated the most extensive regeneration of poplars experienced since the 1920s. Parts of the lower Red Deer floodplain are now at elevations well above the 1 in 100-year flood event. It is suggested that fringe replenishment of riparian poplars is currently the dominant form of regeneration and that the large stands of mature poplars found on the floodplain, initiated during the end of the last century and first decades of this century, are unlikely to be replaced unless large floods (>1 in 50-year events) occur again. Construction of the Dickson Dam above the city of Red Deer in 1983 has led to attenuation of floods and a reduced likelihood that extensive flooding and poplar regeneration will occur again. A number of recommendations are made regarding flow management to both retain the fringe regeneration of poplars currently occurring and to stimulate more widespread regeneration of poplars on the floodplain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]