Hallstrom Associates Environmental

Examples of reports and projects prepared by staff of Hallstrom Associates include:

Infrastructure

• Highway 1 - Bridge across South Saskatchewan River - turbidity, fish, rare plants
• Highway 13 - Environmental monitoring during upgrade - birds, wetlands, fish, aquatics
• Town of Didsbury - Stormwater Management Facility - biophysical, wetland and fisheries/aquatic assessment 
• Saddle Hills County - wetland and watercourse/fisheries assessments
• County of Grande Prairie - Clairmont Area Structure Plan
• MD of Greenview - biophysical inventory for SML and SME
• Kneehills Regional Waterline - Wildlife and Species at Risk Inventory, wetlands
• Highway 54 - realignment at east bank of Red Deer River - nesting bird surveys
• Highway 630/830 realignment - biophysical assessment
• Columbia Power Corp (BCHydro) - environmental monitoring of powerline construction

Mining, Oil and Gas and Industrial Facilities

• NWP Coal - baseline water quality and water quantity assessment
• Teck Coal - water quality monitoring, invasive weeds, vegetation reclamation, wildlife use
• Spectra Energy - Grizzly Loop pipeline twinning/replacement - fish surveys and salvage
• KinderMorgan - TransMountain pipeline - bird nest monitoring
• BC Hydro - Energy Storage Facilities - environmental monitoring, birds, soils, vegetation 
• Statoil/Hydro Kai Kos Deseh Oilsands - CEAA Application
• OPTI/Nexen Long Lake South Oilsands - CEAA Application
• Hazco Bruderheim Sulphur Facility - CEAA Comprehensive report
• Luscar Coal - Genesee expansion project
• Swan Hills Hazardous Wastes Facility - biological/toxicological monitoring
• Pembina Hazardous Wastes Landfill - biological/toxicological monitoring

Wildlife Research

• Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program - Lewis' woodpecker SAR nest habitat surveys
• Columbia Basin Trust - Invasive weeds - assess dispersal of biocontrol agents
• Banff National Park - Trans-Canada Highway wildlife fencing Project
• Banff National Park - Tritrophic wolf-elk-vegetation interactions in the Rocky mountains
• Alberta Conservation Association - Bighorn sheep habitat use, Nordegg, AB
• Simon Fraser University - Marbled murrlet nesting habitat selection in coastal BC forests
• University of Alberta - Effects of invasive weeds on butterfly habitat in Garry oak meadows

Renewable Energy

• BC Hydro DDMMON-14 - Assess Impacts to wildlife habitat in reservoir drawdown area
• BC Hydro CLBMON-59 - Assessment of wetland impacts from upgrades to Mica dam
• Run-of-River Upper Pitt River and Mamquam River Small Hydropower - BCEAO Studies
• EarthFirst Dokie Ridge and Wartenbe Ridge Windfarm - BC EIA Assessment
• ADM, Lloydminster, AB Biodiesel Facility - CEAA Screening report
• Biostreet, Vegreville,AB Biodiesel Facility - CEAA Screening report

Biophysical assessments vary in focus and level of detail depending on the scope and potential impacts of each project. Hallstrom Associates has performed federally and provinciallly legislated environmental assessments in order to comply with legal obligations and meet regulatory approval  Our projects have included pipeline installations and highway infrastructure upgrades to industrial land developments, hydropower projects and large-scale mining and oilsands operations. These operations may involve terrestrial or aquatic impacts and our assessment methodologies can be tailored to target specific concerns such as fisheries, water quality, wetlands, weeds, birds, bats, other wildlife and habitat connectivity, in any and all seasons. Our staff can help to design appropriate compensation and mitigation plans tailored to the specific needs of each project.

Hallstrom Associates Environmental has performed:

• Federal CEAA Comprehensive Environmental Assessments
• Federal CEAA Environmental Screening Assessments
• Provincial Environmental Impact Assessments (AB and BC)
• Project-specific Biological Resource Assessments
• Species at Risk Assessments
• Caribou Management plans 
• Wetland Value and Function Assessments
• Wetland compensation proposals and Water Act applications
• Fisheries Populations and Inventory Assessments
• Fish Salvage Operations
• Erosion and Sediment Control Plans
• Water Quality Monitoring Reports

Developments invariably impact wildlife in some manner through habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation. Our staff biologists have substantial experience in assessing potential impacts from a proposed project using a variety of means ranging from simple inventory methods to wildlife capture and monitoring, and complex habitat suitability and population modelling routines.

During our wildlife research, inventory, management, and monitoring studies we always use widely-accepted, standardized methodologies for sampling and assessing wildlife populations in order to comply with government regulations.
 

Our services include:

• Migratory bird nest survey
• Breeding bird inventory
• Call-playback surveys
• Species at Risk surveys
• Wildlife habitat assessments
• Habitat modelling
• Population modelling
• Cummulative effects assessment
• DNA hair snagging stations
• Remote camera trapping
• Small mammal trapping
• Large mammal trapping & handling
• Aerial and ground telemetry
• Pellet surveys
• Bat inventory and population surveys
• Amphibian surveys
• Snow tracking
• Wildlife corridor assessments
• Wetland classification and assessments
  

Biologists at Hallstrom Associates have a sound knowledge of aquatic and fisheries biology that they use to verify that all in-stream activities comply with the strict provincial and federal legislation governing aquatic works. Our team has experience with installation of culverts and pipelines, wetland restoration and compensation, water removals, and riparian streambank rehabilitation. with team members acting as Qualified Aquatic Environmental Specialists (QAES) and Professional Biologist (P.Biol.) as needed to meet regulatory requirements. In the event of unavoidable disturbance to in-stream aquatic habitats we make recommendations to our clients about how to mitigate or compensate for loss of aquatic habitat that results from project developments.

We perform the following aquatics-related tasks:

• Fish population inventory
• Fish habitat assessments  
• Fish salvage
• Fish habitat offsetting design and implementation
• Amphibian surveys and salvage
• Wetland and Riparian Assessments
• Watercourse classification
• Erosion and sediment control plans
• Water quality sampling
• Periphyton plate sampling
• Benthic invertebrate sampling
• Construction monitoring
• Legal Regulatory Permit Applications

Our experienced team of Qualified Wetland Science Practitioners (QWSPs) have been involved with a wide range of wetland and riparian work. Projects have covered a variety of issues including land development and infrastructure-related impacts to wetland restoration and related compensation, Water Act applications, riparian streambank rehabilitation, and mitigations of impacts to wildlife and wetlands relating to the project. In the event of unavoidable disturbance to aquatic habitats we make recommendations to our clients about how to mitigate or compensate for loss of aquatic habitat that results from project developments, and will deal with regulatory applications as required.

We perform the following aquatics-related tasks:

• Wetland and riparian inventory and delineation
• Wetland functional assessments
• Compensation negotiations
  
• Wildlife surveys and salvage
• Aquatic plant identification 
  
• Impact assessment
     
  Consulting Engineers of Alberta, 2012 Showcase Awards

          Didsbury North Industrial Stormwater Wetland



Conservation of native vegetation communities is important for the sake of the plants themselves and also because these plants for the habitat that many other species rely upon for survival. Without protection of the plant community there would be no place for the animals to live or migrate through, resulting in a double loss of biodiversity in both plant and animal species and a serious impact to the environment.  

Staff at Hallstrom Associates have experience with:

• Pre-development biophysical surveys
• Vegetation Inventory (VRI, AVI, CPNVI) 
• Ecological classification (BC and AB)  
• Air photo interpretation
• Weed surveys and control
• Impacts to Native vegetation
• Forest mensuration
• Rare plant surveys

GIS mapping has become an almost indespensible tool for many aspects of wildlife management. Members of our team have over 10 years of experience with creation of mapping products and development of new GIS tools for our clients. Some of our most commonly used products include:

• Mapping of survey locations 
• Connectivity models     
• Wildlife habitat models
• Functional planning multiple-scenario assessments
• drafting figures

Percent cover of weeds.             Functional planning of highway alignments.

Vegetation impacted by mine expansion.             Caribou habitat connectivity.