Collaboration with NGOs, government, and companies is essential to the success of the Boreal Water Futures project
NGOs
We will collaborate directly with FireSmart Canada by adding their shared Pelican Mountain fuel treatment site to our Boreal Observation Network (BON). Understanding how wildfire affects boreal ecohydrology will reduce uncertainties and examine the efficacy of better forest and fuel management and to understand the effects of drought conditions and fire frequency, severity and behaviour on quantity. We will take advantage of FireSmart Canada's advocacy to disseminate our deliverables directly to wildfire managers and practitioners.
Additionally, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is providing close to $1M in in-kind database inventory and, through collaboration with BWF researchers, will provide evidence-based science of peatland vulnerability to assist DUC in their development of industry best practices to boreal wetland conservation. Other partnerships include the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association, International Peat Society, and ICLR.
Additionally, Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) is providing close to $1M in in-kind database inventory and, through collaboration with BWF researchers, will provide evidence-based science of peatland vulnerability to assist DUC in their development of industry best practices to boreal wetland conservation. Other partnerships include the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association, International Peat Society, and ICLR.
Government
Through the Western Partnership for Wildland Fire Science we already have strong ties and multi-governmental collaboration with the Canadian Forest Service, Parks Canada, and Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. Through the support of Parks Canada we have initiated discussions to access planned prescribed burns to add more sites to our BON and test the efficacy of our HU-based modelling platform.
Companies
We have strong corporate support owing to long-term collaborations by our hydrology team with several of Canada's mining leaders. Both Syncrude Canada and CNRL will provide us with their mine closure plans, which we will use to test their hydrological sustainability using core GWF models combined with long-term data sets that have been collected on site as part of our industry-supported research programs. We will also work with a major oil sands consultant - O'Kane Consultants - to ensure that our findings make their way into consulting best practice.
