Amphibious Restoration Equipment Efficacy Assessment

As restoration programs in woodland caribou ranges move from experimental to operational scales, there is interest in exploring new equipment to make restoration treatments more efficient and effective. Cenovus spearheaded a trial of alternative restoration equipment in fall 2016 during non-frozen conditions. The trial tested an amphibious excavator, a Nodwell excavator, a tree spade, and a tow-behind implement called a Shark Fin Drum. This monitoring project was designed to assess the performance of these restoration treatments three years after application. It looked at sites treated using a range of equipment: (1) lowland black spruce/tamarack site treated by amphibious excavator, (2) upland dry pine site treated by amphibious excavator, (3) upland mixed wood site treated by Nodwell excavator, (4) upland jack pine mixed wood site treated with tow-behind Shark Fin Drum, (5) lowland black spruce site treated with tree spade, and (6) lowland black spruce and upland pine site that served as controls.

Findings: (1) equipment performed as expected and set sites up for successful restoration over time. Upland amphibious excavator site did not perform well due to challenging site, not equipment. More tree spade trials should be done to improve survival/efficacy of treatments; stem bending at tree spade sites should be considered to address movement efficiency; (2) microsites created by Shark Fin Drum caused a significant flush of regeneration. Paired with tree tipping with Nodwell excavator, site performed better than expected; should trial further, especially on challenging sites like upland dry pine; (3) seed availability limited on some sites; especially low regen on upland dry jack pine site; seeding or higher planting density may be needed; (4) Poor species/microsite selection by planters in upland dry jack pine site – plated on mounds not divots, tamarack planted in a challenging site; heavy browsing also contributed to low survival; (5) Seeds germinated and established from seed pucks in lowland black spruce – may be effective way to introduce seeds; additional trials could confirm and evaluate cost/benefit of planting vs seeding vs pucks.