Linear Deactivation Project

The LiDEA (Linear Deactivation) project, led by Cenovus, is designed to accelerate the recovery of linear disturbances—such as seismic lines—by restoring them to the structure and function of the surrounding forest. Initiated through pilot work from 2008–2011 and expanded to landscape-scale operations from 2012 onward, the project uses intensive silvicultural treatments like site preparation, planting, and stand modification. These efforts aim to increase conifer growth, reduce line visibility and accessibility, and restore species distribution, all within an adaptive management framework. This work is important because linear disturbances fragment woodland caribou habitat, facilitating predator access and contributing to caribou population declines.

This report contains monitoring components that included discussed results. Seedling measurements – The report presents only first-year seedling measurements, covering less than half of the planted lines, so the statistical results are not rigorous. Mounded sites showed lower browsing rates, possibly because the elevated position of mounded trees increases predation risk for browsers. However, when mounding was combined with higher cover in a coarse woody debris (CWD) treatment, browsing rates increased. Small mammal surveys – Untreated lines in all moisture classes had lower usage compared to surrounding residual forest. CWD treatments supported similar numbers of small mammals to the surrounding forest. Mounding alone also increased small mammal use, though not as effectively as CWD. Mounding for Treed Peatlands- Mounding improved the growth and survival of larch and black spruce. Ingress of volunteer woody species also did better on mounded microsites.