Robert C. Corry

Using Landscape Context to Guide Ecological Restoration: An Approach for Pits and Quarries in Ontario

The landscape has a dramatic effect on a site’s ecological and social function. Landscape context and pattern are important considerations in ecological restoration for their effects on rehabilitation design and ecological function. In Ontario, Canada, there are more than 5,300 active aggregate mining sites, equivalent to a total area of over 70 square kilometers. Rehabilitation of inactive pits is required by law, but rehabilitation efforts rarely attempt to restore ecological function to a site, and even more rarely consider the ecological implications of landscape context. The size, spatial extent, and nonrandom distribution of aggregate extraction sites in Ontario offer opportunities to restore ecological functions through cooperative rehabilitation, where landowners and licensed aggregate extractors try to achieve better ecological outcomes. In order to illustrate how landscape context can make a meaningful contribution to rehabilitation design and ecological restoration of pit and quarry sites in Ontario and in other settings, we review methods of assessing critical aspects of landscape context, including patterns of habitats (mosaics), interpatch movements and dispersal (connectivity and permeability), and the heterogeneity of microclimates (niche diversity). We illustrate the potential of this approach with the example of the Karner blue butterfly. The described project may inform restoration approaches for other land uses and landscape contexts.

Cultural Determinants of Spatial Heterogeneity in Forest Landscapes

Forests constitute fundamental parts of our living environment and provide a wide range of important benefits and services to society that go far beyond forest products. From a landscape ecological perspective forests can be approached as part of an overall landscape whose pattern affects ecological processes across dimensions of common time and space. Forest landscapes often consist of complex assemblages of forest and non-forest elements (patches, corridors, and matrix) whose arrangement reflects, in part, the magnitude, intensity, and type of human intervention and disturbance. This chapter describes some of the cultural patterns inherent in selected forest landscapes with examples from southern Italy and southern Ontario, Canada. We outline how cultural determinants, such as land tenure systems, forest tenure regimes, silviculture traditions, management plans and practices can affect the way forest landscapes are spatially-arranged and the intrinsic heterogeneity associated with them. We provide illustrative examples of cultural determinants of spatial heterogeneity and conclude by discussing ways for enhancing functional and cultural attributes of forest and non-forest landscape elements within a landscape ecological perspective.

Cultural acceptability of alternative pit and quarry rehabilitations

Pit and quarry sites from sand, gravel, and rock extraction must be rehabilitated by law in Ontario. Adjacent and nearby landscapes affect local residents’ perceptions of the success of rehabilitation in terms of how the former extraction site “fits” the landscape. Along with ecological imperatives, the ways in which rehabilitation is designed to fit a social landscape warrants investigation. It would benefit local people, the aggregates industry, rehabilitation designers, and policy makers to have more information about how rehabilitation projects can embrace local ecological and social contexts by considering how people might perceive the acceptability and cultural value of a rehabilitation. We explored this question in southern Ontario using an online questionnaire to gather responses to a series of photographs, some of which were simulated, showing a range of landscape conditions that might occur around pits and quarries. Respondents were considerably concerned with forest loss, and to a lesser degree with habitats like wetlands and streams. Though housing perceived to be suburban was disliked, housing clusters in a rural area did not suffer the same result. People did not consistently choose a single focus as most desirable. Instead they responded to attributes within the context in which the rehabilitation occurred.

Cost-effective targeting of riparian buffers to achieve water quality and wildlife habitat benefits

ABSTRACT This study develops an integrated economic, hydrologic, and ecological modelling framework to examine cost-effective targeting of riparian buffers to achieve water quality and wildlife habitat benefits. The framework is empirically applied to the Canagagigue Creek watershed in Ontario, Canada to compare the economic costs for establishing riparian buffers under three alternative environmental and ecological constraints: sediment abatement only, habitat improvement only, and riparian buffer acreage only. The results show that riparian buffers targeted for achieving sediment abatement goal are not effective in improving habitat quality. Similarly, riparian buffers identified through habitat improvement goal achieve less sediment abatement as compared to those targeted in the sediment abatement scenario. The trade-offs suggest that agricultural stewardship programmes with joint water quality and habitat improvement goals may need to allocate funds independently for targeting two pools of riparian buffers: for improving water quality only or for improving habitat only.

Testing the Microclimatic Habitat Design Framework in Abandoned Sand and Gravel Extraction Sites Using the Karner Blue Butterfly

Microclimatic planning is an important component in rehabilitating landscapes. Rehabilitation practices often simplify a landscape, reducing microclimatic complexity and decreasing the capacity of the land to support a variety of niche habitats. This study took a target-species approach to rehabilitation, applying the specific microclimatic requirements of the Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) using a microclimatic habitat design framework. Incident solar radiation was modeled for a range of slopes and aspects, and wind was modeled from different directions of flow. These results were applied to three aggregate (sand and gravel) extraction sites in Ontario, Canada. Microclimate units were mapped through a geographic information system, and the results were evaluated in terms of their capability for meeting the microclimatic habitat needs of the Karner blue butterfly. The framework provides a comprehensive rehabilitation planning framework that may be applied to a variety of focal species and climate regions.

Ecological functionality of landscapes with alternative rehabilitations of depleted aggregate sites

To explore the implications of surrounding landscape context on the ecological effects of rehabilitation, we assessed three alternative ways of rehabilitating depleted Ontario sites with measures of habitat patterns and cumulative costs (landscape resistance). Alternative rehabilitations focused on (a) economics, (b) biodiversity protection and (c) a compromise of economics and biodiversity. We measured the landscape effects of the different rehabilitations within a 10 km radius of several depleted aggregate sites. A cost-surface model showed that the biodiversity protection alternative achieved lower landscape resistance than the other alternatives, and importantly that this effect could extend well beyond the site. Measuring four attributes of landscape pattern the differences among alternatives showed that the biodiversity alternative offered the best habitat patterns over the economic alternative. Yet for some sites a compromise alternative could achieve similar ecological consequences while balancing competing interests. Broad inclusion of nearby landscape context when designing rehabilitation can substantially affect the ecological outcomes of rehabilitation, and the effects can be quite extensive.

Cultural Patterns As A Component Of Environmental Planning And Design

Rural landscapes are multi-functional systems. Environmental functions are influenced by both natural and cultural landscape patterns. Beyond the traditional productive functions, rural landscapes are increasingly being recognized as complementary sources of biodiversity and places for cultural identification. Rural landscapes can often be seen as a complex assemblage of structural elements (patches, corridors, and matrix) whose arrangement reflects the magnitude, intensity, and type of human intervention and influence. This chapter describes some of the cultural patterns inherent in selected rural landscapes. It outlines how cultural artifacts and remnant habitat patches can affect ecological functions in two contrasting landscapes: the relatively young agricultural landscapes of southern Ontario, Canada; and longer-established agricultural landscapes of the Apulia region in southern Italy. For these landscapes, we illustrate the effects of cultural settlement patterns on habitat patterns and discuss implications for enhancing ecological attributes through landscape planning and design

Landscapes of Intersecting Trade and Environmental Policies: Intensive Canadian and American Farmlands

Abstract Farming in Canada and the USA is dominated by row cropping concentrated in central regions. Using the Corn Belt of Iowa and the Lake Erie Lowlands of Ontario—sources of pollution affecting the Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes—as exemplary regions, this paper provides a retrospective review of the landscape effects of policies and practices related to environmental stewardship and agricultural trade. Conservation policies and typical farm practices are described and compared for the two regions with an emphasis on lasting beneficial environmental outcomes. Connections among land cover changes, environmental consequences, and changes in environmental and trade policies and programs are considered along with future changes in farm management, trade liberalisation, and farm revenue sources. The paper concludes with prospective ideas of how policies and practices can maintain or enhance environmental benefits within intensively farmed landscapes as best approaches for agriculture.

A case study on visual impact assessment for wind energy development

Wind energy development is expanding. Preparations for wind farms include environmental impact assessments, specifically with visual impact assessments (VIAs). Often using simulated photographs, VIAs depict the post-development landscape appearance with new wind energy structures. This Ontario case study compares simulated photographs submitted as part of a VIA with post-development conditions. Simulations were judged for accuracy in turbine number, height, diameter, and location, and adequacy in representation of built conditions. Simulations were partially representative of postdevelopment conditions, yet commonly under-represented turbine number and size in different locations than they were built. Simulation frames were too narrow to adequately represent human vision and simulations under-estimated how many wind turbines were visible from a single landscape position. Outcomes suggest that visual simulations can lack accuracy or representativeness, misleading the public. Adopting province-wide VIA criteria and increasing adherence to visual simulation guidance may be necessary to improve the accuracy and representativeness of VIA content.

Global and local policy forces for landscape perennialization in central North American agriculture

Abstract Farm production practices often focus on mitigating negative consequences of cropping – particularly annual crops like corn, cereals and oilseeds. Some of North America’s most-intensive farmlands are rapidly converting their remaining perennial cover to annual crops. While perennial cover like woodlands, grasslands and wetlands are valued for the many landscape services they provide, they are vulnerable to conversion to other cover types under drivers of landscape change. Conversions within farms constitute nuances rather than new land uses, yet landscape composition effects can be substantial when considering habitat, biodiversity, soil and water quality, carbon sequestration, and aesthetics. As the farm landscape becomes increasingly dominated by annual crop vegetation, the key drivers behind land cover types and management merit critical examination. This paper reviews recent studies on farmland composition and management in central Canada and the United States, identifying trajectories and magnitudes of landscape changes. To consider forces, both speculative examination of policies and information from farmer interviews help identify motivations for changes in perennial or annual proportions of farm landscapes. The paper concludes with forces that increase perennialization and existing or prospective pathways to improve the balance between annual and perennial vegetation.