RESEARCH

SPECIES AT RISK HABITAT

Project:      HERP (Habitat Ecohydrology for Reptiles in Peat)

Funding:     Henvey Inlet Wind Energy Centre
                    Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry w/ Pattern Energy
                    NSERC CRD w/ OCE

Fieldwork:  Northern Ontario Barrens and Bog Ecosystems Landscape (NOBEL) (Georgian Bay, ON)

Keywords:  peat burn severity, wildland-society issues, ecosystem regime shifts, greenhouse gases,
                    mitigation and adaptation, boreal water futures

We are developing innovative approaches to rehabilitate and restore degraded moss dominated peatlands and vernal rock pools to functional ecosystems.  We have established a method for the re-establishment of Sphagnum mosses on degraded peatlands and open rock barrens. Our innovative method consists of re-establishing the hydrological regime of the impacted wetland, harvesting plants in a peatland and spreading them as fragments or peat blocks in the impacted sites, and covering them over with mulch to protect them. With this human intervention, a widespread moss cover can be obtained within three to five years on abandoned mined sites depending on local conditions. The goal of our restoration and reclamation is to restore the net carbon sink function of managed peatlands and to re-establish habitat for species at risk in vernal rock pools in Ontario rock barrens.

All photographed research personnel handled turtles under approved research permits.