Effectiveness Monitoring for Ecosystem Restoration Projects
2022 Webinar #4
At this workshop participants will learn how to develop effective monitoring programs for evaluating their ecosystem restoration projects.
AIR DATE: Wednesday, February 23
PRESENTATION 1: Effectiveness Monitoring: Why it’s important and how to do it
PRESENTER: Dr. Michael Miller, Plant Ecologist, LGL Limited
DESCRIPTION: In Part 1 of this webinar, participants will learn why it is important to conduct effectiveness monitoring, and about the different forms monitoring can take; how to set quantifiable goals and objectives when designing a project; and how to identify the environmental indicators that can be used for measuring objectives. We will consider long-term versus rapid assessment methods, with interesting case studies from the Kootenays. Participants will also be presented with strategies for data management that will support the reporting of results.
PRESENTATION 2: Effectiveness Monitoring at Big Ranch in the Elk Valley
PRESENTER: Marc Trudeau, Registered Forest Technician/Coordinator, Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society
DESCRIPTION: In Part 2 of this webinar, participants will learn how the Big Ranch Ecosystem Enhancement Project in the Elk Valley is applying a simple effectiveness monitoring framework. Steps they took at the project idea, grant application and delivery stages. As well as documentation and tracking for report delivery and long-term monitoring and maintenance.
Dr. Michael Miller is a practising plant ecologist with over 20 years of experience studying community dynamics in both terrestrial and wetland environments. He has conducted long-term plot monitoring, wetland delineation and classification, botanical inventories, species-at-risk assessments, invasive species management, mitigation, and ecosystem restoration. For the past 13 years, he has conducted effectiveness monitoring for a range of BC Hydro restoration projects in Kinbasket and Arrow Reservoirs, including studies on the effectiveness of revegetation efforts to restore and enhance wildlife habitat, and has also been closely engaged with monitoring studies of reclaimed industrial sites in the Alberta oil sands region.
Marc Trudeau is a Registered Forest Technician with the Association of British Columbia Forest Professionals and is the Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Trench Natural Resources Society since June 2018. The Trench Society is a coalition of nine ranching, hunting, environmental and wildlife organizations working together to restore and conserve the grasslands and open forests in the East Kootenays.
