Forest Watershed and Riparian Disturbance Project (FORWARD) III – Modelling to contribute to cumulative effects management in the Canadian Boreal Forest

The Forest Watershed and Riparian Disturbance Project (FORWARD) is a multi-sector research initiative focused on understanding how natural and human disturbances affect forest watersheds and aquatic ecosystems. The project develops soil and watershed assessment tools, bioindicators, and predictive models to guide reclamation strategies in forestry, energy, and mining sectors. FORWARD III specifically advances watershed load and contaminant fate modelling, establishes benchmarks for reclaimed and engineered soils, assesses vegetation recovery trajectories, and evaluates risks of toxicity to aquatic bioindicators. The project outcomes are designed to inform regulatory approaches, land reclamation practices, and long-term forest and aquatic ecosystem management.

The FORWARD III project built a network of reference and reclamation sites, generating long-term data on water, soils, vegetation, and biodiversity to improve watershed and forest growth modelling. Its program advanced predictive tools for the Athabasca River and boreal landscapes, including updated river and watershed models to assess cumulative land-use and reclamation outcomes. Research on soils, vegetation, and microbes identified strategies to improve ecosystem recovery, while toxicology studies revealed risks from oil sands contaminants to fish, amphibians, and invertebrates. Together, these results provide practical tools and science to guide reclamation and sustainable watershed management.