Athabasca Vegetation Case Study

344 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Soil erosion

With the loss of infiltration that follows the removal of vegetation, there will likely be an increase in runoff around sites that have been altered for forestry or oil and gas. Vegetation is also key for the prevention of erosion, as the roots anchor the soil in place. Without vegetation the deterioration of the soil organic matter is rapid, (R. L. Baumhardt et al). The soil becomes vulnerable to erosion. This can be of considerable concern in the Athabasca watershed, where many sites that are affected by resource exploration already contain naturally occurring contaminants, such as heavy metals and polycyclic hydrocarbons, (c. Boutin & D. J. Carpenter). Without vegetation to tie up these contaminants it is likely they will be introduced

Show More
Related

  • The Lowry Landfill Superfund Site

    2979 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Lowry Landfill Superfund Site is located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, approximately 2 miles east of Aurora. It consists of approximately 507 acres of waste disposal area and is operated by Waste Management of Colorado, Inc. The land surrounding the site consists of native prairie grass and a wetland located along a local creek. Sections around the site are zoned for agricultural use including cattle grazing and non-irrigated wheat farms. 1 The area is home to numerous endangered species including the bald eagle and peregrine falcon. Due to the large amounts of wastes disposed on the site between 1965 and 1980, it became extremely contaminated with a variety of inorganic and organic contaminants. From 1984 to 1993, the EPA oversaw remedial investigation and feasibility studies that were performed by all responsible parties. Since its listing as a superfund site in 1984, multiple remedial actions have been performed in order to rehabilitate the site. These include clay barrier walls around the site, a groundwater collection system, a soil cover for the main landfill, as well as a landfill gas collection system. Groundwater that is collected on the site is treated at an onsite water treatment facility. In 2007, construction began on an onsite gas to energy plant that utilizes the methane produced by the landfill site. The electricity produced by the plant is enough to power 3000 households. 1 Today, use of land and groundwater on and near the site is still restricted by the state of Colorado.1

    Read More

  • Canada´s Mixedwood Plains and Pollution

    727 Words  | 2 Pages

    Canada is a very large country, with areas of land in various climate regions, and land regions, thus having many ecozones that differentiate from another. The most populated ecozone in Canada is the Mixedwood Plains; the ecozone we are located in, named after the mixedwood forests that are native to the area. The Mixedwood Plains is one of the smallest of the Canadian ecozones, spanning only 175 963 kilometres squared. The Mixedwood Plains is bordered by three of the great lakes on the southern side of the ecozone, and comes up along the St Lawrence river to southern Quebec, and fills the tip of Ontario. It has rolling plains and small rock formations and escarpments. The Mixedwood Plains contains over half of the Canadian population as it contains some of Canada’s largest cities, including Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Windsor. The Mixedwood Plains has a relatively temperate climate with summers ranging an average temperature of 18o c – 22oc and winters ranging from -3oc - -110c.[2] Native mammals to the ecozone are black, brown and grizzly bears, grey wolves, coyotes and foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and other small mammals. Avian species include brown sparrow, hawks, crows, cardinals and bluejays. Fish are bass, trout, carp and pike. The Mixedwood Plains is made up of about 40% water, and contains over 20% of the worlds freshwater. One of the major problems in the world today is freshwater shortage. Because we have ample supply, we don’t notice, but much of the world is short on water. There are more water resources, but one of the largest is being quickly polluted and populated by invasive species .

    Read More

  • Preserve the Oak Ridges Moraine

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    We need to preserve natural resources, like water, trees, and headwaters in the Oak Ridges Moraine because they are vital to our everyday living.

    Read More

  • Environmental Issues In West Virginia

    1494 Words  | 3 Pages

    Removal of the mountaintops causes environmental impacts from blasting. The blasting has caused rocks to be deposited into valleys on the hillsides, burying almost 2,000 miles of streams which feed the Mississippi River. Slurry, the residue which is used to clean the coal can wash into groundwater and may contain arsenic, lead, manganese, iron, sodium, strontium, and sulfate. A recent research study is beginning to link these environmental impacts to the grave health concerns in the Appalachian communities. During most of the Mountaintop removal mining’s history coal industries have been able to obtain permits easily to operate, but once under the Obama administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) those permits now take more time to obtain. The permit process requires all applications to be reviewed before being given out to coal

    Read More

  • Intertidal Wetlands Essay

    2699 Words  | 6 Pages

    They also look after the quality of coastal waters by watering down, sifting, and settling deposits, left-over nutrients and contaminants. They are highly productive ecosystems and provide habitats and act as nurseries for all manner of life.

    Read More

  • Owens Valley Tragedy

    1971 Words  | 4 Pages

    Time and time again it has been seen that human interaction with his/her environment and it’s ecosystems has shown to be increasingly arrogant and self-serving. These endless accounts are proven by the amount of important biological diversity that is being lost to the surrounding environment due to these threats of human development and population growth. There are two forms of these losses of diversity by human hand: direct and indirect. Direct losses would be the destruction of an area needed for human requirements be it social or economical. Examples of these losses would be housing, agriculture, and others. Indirect losses would be those caused by the destruction of an area also needed for the same requirements but the area’s commodities which are valued, water, food, land in general, is needed elsewhere. These losses are few in number compared with those of direct losses yet they are of the greatest importance. They are important because they involve the removal of resources of an area in which other inhabitants are dependent upon. A great example of this regrettable indirect expansion is the loss of the rich habitat of the area known as Owens Valley.

    Read More

  • Lake Tahoe and The Growing Importance for Environmental Preservation

    2263 Words  | 5 Pages

    This pristine environment also provided habitat for great diversity of plants and wildlife. Hundreds of species of native plants thrived in forest, marsh, and meadow. But now, in scarcely a century, an equilibrium that endured for thousands of years is rapidly being lost due to environmental degredation and resource values are steadily deteriorating because of human activities. While there is an appearent lose of wildlife and environment that exists in The Lake Tahoe Basin, there is also an insurgance of environmental conservation that has become increasingly powerful in the attempt at stopping these adverse affects on the environment from happening in the hope that the beauty of Lake Tahoe will continue to exist for generations and generations more.

    Read More

  • Great Lakes Directional Drilling

    998 Words  | 2 Pages

    We find ourselves in unique situation. A debate of whether it is right to dig up oil in the Great Lakes. The lakes are known to contain oil and natural gas, but what risk does that play to our environment? The two sides in this debate both have their valid points. It is right to preserve wildlife, but oil is also a highly valuable commodity in today’s market. People often stress that we must take care of our planet because it is the only one we have. Why then do we destroy thousands of square miles of rainforest for wood? Why is there so much emphasis on industrialization, and not enough on the preservation of our Earth? Why do we need to use so much, nevertheless waste so much? Our environment and world is declining at a rate at which we cannot afford. It will be sad to see our planet in another few hundred years. We need to start preserving our environment, and not drilling our Great Lakes for oil is a great place to start. If we drill for oil, we will lose much wildlife, destroy habitats, have possible oil spills, and in fact endanger ourselves in the long run.

    Read More

  • Vegetation Case Study

    300 Words  | 1 Pages

    How does the vegetation surface type affect the amount of runoff? Speculate why this happens.

    Read More

  • Essay On Eutrophication

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though the Midwestern United States produces the majority of the country’s agriculture to date, this immense agricultural activity in the Midwest region has not only degraded the land itself but also the water in the regional rivers and tributaries, which is all interconnected in the network known as the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (also referred to as MARB). The MARB (Figure 1) covers an extensive 1,245,000 square miles and drains out into the Gulf of Mexico, where over the years it has accumulated an increased and dangerous amount of agricultural runoff pollution, namely nitrogen and phosphorus. Over the years, researchers have identified and pointed to several human interactions that have contributed to the degrading and toxic ecological changes occurring in the Gulf of Mexico. However, only 3 human interactions have been chosen as part of the focus for this research project, all of which will be introduced later in the paper. In addition to the human interactions that accelerates the degradation of the water in the GoM, it also important to note that the continual increase and accumulation of excess nutrients resulting from runoff is defined as eutrophication and is a true real world problem that must be reduced before water becomes uninhabitable.

    Read More

  • We Must Protect Our Environment

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to World WildLife Fund, many ecosystems around the world are being destroyed, eliminating many plant and animal species that inhabit them (“Pollution”).

    Read More

  • Effects of Agriculture on the Environment

    2078 Words  | 5 Pages

    Agriculture also leads to soil erosion, both through rainfall and wind. This soil can damage the aquatic ecosystems it ends up in, an...

    Read More

  • Filling Station Case Study

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    A study done by Johnson and Lewis (2007) imparts that trees are of importance to the environment since they help anchor the soil; for this reason deforestation remains a burden to the natural environment. Due to deforestation there is likely to be habitat destruction; with the change in land use species tend to lose their habitats. Before constructing filling stations there is removal of the topsoil, this results in soil erosion at the construction

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Sustainable Forestry

    2048 Words  | 5 Pages

    For example, preservation of soil, air and water quality, flora and fauna and aquatic habitats (FAO, 2010).

    Read More

  • Effects Of Pollution Essay

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    Pollution can have an impact on our health, not only affecting people with impaired respiratory systems such as asthmatics, but very healthy adults and children too. Plants can be a benefit for pollution in the air, trees, bushes and other greenery growing in the concrete-and-glass canyons of cities can reduce levels of two of the most worrisome air pollutants by eight times more than previously believed. The more trees we can plant the less pollution we get and more air than just having a huge land and having abandoned buildings taking up space. To solve water pollution is to conserve soil, the best way to combat soil erosion is to keep the banks of waterways well-covered with soil-retaining plants.

    Read More

More about Athabasca Vegetation Case Study

Open Document