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6 Tuesday June 16 2015 ENVIRONMENT FOREST HEALTH It is Spring clean up time in Fort Smith. Take your refuse to the curb call Town Hall 872-8400 and municipal crews will come to take it away for you - for free If you want to haul loads of refuse or garbage to the dump all tipping fees have been waived. In addition to cleaning up our community this special program is offered to encourage fire abatement. We are entering another severe fire season. This is your chance to Fire Smart your yard. Remove any flammable debris Take away any brush and small trees if you are close to the forest edge Remember the hazards are extreme. Contact Town Hall to see if burning is allowed. Be careful with cigarettes butts. Help make our community safer Find details on evacuation routes procedures directions check lists and preparedness on the first page of the Town of Fort Smith website under Emergency Info. www.fortsmith.ca For more information and advice on how to Firesmart your yard so your home is safer Call ENR district Mgr Daniel Allaire at 872-6425. LETS CLEAN UP OUR ACT As a post-secondary institution situated on the land of the Aboriginal Peoples of the NWT Aurora College strives to offer programs rooted in indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing. This Aboriginal Day join us in celebrating the vital contribution of Aboriginal Elders educators leaders and community members in ensuring that our students can create better a future through success in education. www.auroracollege.nt.ca Aboriginal Day 2014 Celebrating the Role of Traditional Knowledge in Education As a post-secondary institution situated on the land of the Aboriginal Peoples of the NWT Aurora College strives to offer programs rooted in indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing. ThisAboriginalDayjoinusincelebratingthevitalcontributionof Aboriginal Elders educators leaders and community members in ensuring that our students can create better a future through success in education. Aboriginal Day 2015 Celebrating the Role of Traditional Knowledge in Education www.auroracollege.nt.ca S ulphur nitrogen in f orest soils linked to oilsand s B y M E AG AN W O H L B E R G TheWoodBuffaloEnvironmentalAssociation WBEA hasreleasedthefirstreportassessing the health of forests in the Athabasca oilsands regionmakingalinkbetweensulphurandni- trogen in the forest and oilsands upgraders. The report summarizes 15 years of results from the WBEAs terrestrial environmental effects monitoring program for forest health in the oilsands region. Themainfindingsofthereportindicatethat the highest concentrations of sulphur diox- ide SO2 nitrogen dioxide NO2 ammonia NH3 and nitric acid HNO3 - all key com- ponents of acid rain - were found closer to oil- sands operations. The report confirms that more than 97 per centofSO2emissionsresultfromoilsandsup- grading operations. Bothair ualityanddepositionmeasurements showed that sulphur and nitrogen concentra- tions and deposition amounts were enhanced within 30 km of oilsands operations and de- clined with increasing distance from them. Thoseconcentrations depositionlevelswere highertotheeastofminingandupgradingop- erations than to the west. At 40 to 50 km away from main oilsands emissions sources sulphur and nitrogen con- centrationsreachedverylowbackgroundlevels. Trace elements and heavy metal concentra- tions in vegetation also generally followed the same spatial distribution patterns. Ozoneconcentrationsasexpectedincreased with distance from oilsands operations. TheWBEAbeganitsforesthealthmonitoring in1998withmeasuringandsamplingatanet- work of 11 ack pine stands. n 2004 the mea- surementandsamplingofsoilsandvegetations occurredat13plotsandin2011-12anenhanced networkof25interior ackpinestandplotsand 25 forest edge plots was sampled along with data from six meteorological towers and pas- sive active monitoring analyzers. Accordingtothereportthelevelsofsulphur andnitrogenin ackpinefoliageroseatsixplots from 1998 to 2012. Whilesulphurinthesoilwascorrelatedwith modeleddepositionratesneithernitrogennor pH matched predicted levels. The nitrogen is thought to be taken up by the vegetation as a nutrient and is therefore not accumulating in the soils and acidity is being neutralized by base cations deposited by the atmosphere. Acid deposition levels were not enough to exceed the trigger established by the Cumula- tive Environmental Management Association CEMA which includes a NOx-SO2 Manage- ment Working roup in the Regional Munici- pality of Wood Buffalo. WBEA executive director evin Percy said the reports findings support a need for long- term baseline environmental monitoring in the oilsands region. Environmental monitoring must never remain complacent and must always be in- novative adaptive and responsive as is dem- onstrated in this report he said. We hope science-based monitoring continues to be re- sponsiveandadaptabletocontinuingoilsands development and will be fully supported and ade uately funded going forward. S uncor s oilsands facility and tailings ponds line the Athab asca R iv er north of F ort M cM urray. PhotoGlobalForestWatch