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British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium

Teck's recent experience in pursuing Net Positive Impact (NPI) for biodiversity at coal mines in BC and Alberta Franklin, C. W.; Hilts, S. R.; Gullison, R. E.

Abstract

In 2011, Teck Coal Limited (Teck) adopted an aspirational, long-term (2030) goal to achieve a Net Positive Impact (NPI) on biodiversity. This paper provides an overview of conceptual and technical advances as they relate to our NPI strategy and targets. Key learnings include: (i) The scope of our biodiversity commitment has proven possible to operationalize and has been generally supported by our communities of interest and First Nations (ii) Through the use of historical aerial photos and data, digital imagery, and predictive ecosystem mapping, we have developed credible pre-development baselines of ecosystems and wildlife habitat suitability for our operations, even though some are many decades old (iii) In order to support a quantitative accounting of our gains and losses to ecosystems, we have developed a measurement framework for assessing the condition or quality of ecosystems based on the BC provincial Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (BEC) and database of benchmark data. We still face some challenges, including the lack of a landscape conservation plan for the Elk Valley region and knowledge of specific reclamation techniques that will allow us to restore the full range of ecosystems that existed at our operations prior to disturbance.

Item Metadata

Title
Teck's recent experience in pursuing Net Positive Impact (NPI) for biodiversity at coal mines in BC and Alberta
Creator
Franklin, C. W.; Hilts, S. R.; Gullison, R. E.
Contributor
British Columbia Mine Reclamation Symposium; University of British Columbia. Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering
Date Issued
2018
Description
In 2011, Teck Coal Limited (Teck) adopted an aspirational, long-term (2030) goal to achieve a Net Positive Impact (NPI) on biodiversity. This paper provides an overview of conceptual and technical advances as they relate to our NPI strategy and targets. Key learnings include: (i) The scope of our biodiversity commitment has proven possible to operationalize and has been generally supported by our communities of interest and First Nations (ii) Through the use of historical aerial photos and data, digital imagery, and predictive ecosystem mapping, we have developed credible pre-development baselines of ecosystems and wildlife habitat suitability for our operations, even though some are many decades old (iii) In order to support a quantitative accounting of our gains and losses to ecosystems, we have developed a measurement framework for assessing the condition or quality of ecosystems based on the BC provincial Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification (BEC) and database of benchmark data. We still face some challenges, including the lack of a landscape conservation plan for the Elk Valley region and knowledge of specific reclamation techniques that will allow us to restore the full range of ecosystems that existed at our operations prior to disturbance.
Subject
Biodiversity management; Biodiversity mitigation hierarchy; Biodiversity offset; Habitat; Reclamation
Genre
Conference Paper
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2018-12-03
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI
10.14288/1.0374924
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/67928
Affiliation
Non UBC
Peer Review Status
Unreviewed
Scholarly Level
Other
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International