2007 Annual Report - Institute for Environmental Monitoring and ...

P a g e 1 8 I n s t i t u t e f o r E n v i r o n m e n t a l M o n i t o r i n g a n d R e s e a r c h 2 0 0 7 A n n u a l R e p o r tProject Component Issues11. The panel recommended that thelocation of a second practice targetarea be assessed by the Institute beforeNewfoundland and Labrador governmentapproval of the site is requested.Appendix A:Follow-Up on Panel Recommendations and Government DecisionsPANEL RECOMMENDATIONS GOVERNMENT DECISIONS INSTITUTE RESPONSESocial Impacts22. The panel recommended that theInstitute undertake studies to determinethe extent of resource harvesting activityon the land and the impact that low-levelflying might have on Aboriginal andnon-Aboriginal resource harvesting.Health Impacts25. The panel recommended that studiesof hydrocarbon concentrations in fueldumping areas include the behaviourof petroleum hydrocarbons in aquaticsystems.Labrador OutportThe Government accepted thisrecommendation and it wasreferred to the Institute.Government accepted thisrecommendation and referred itto the Institute.Government accepted thisrecommendation with anexplanatory comment. “TheDepartment of National Defencewill continue its current workon hydrocarbon concentrationsin fuel dumping areas and willrefer the research on thebehaviour of petroleumhydrocarbons in aquaticsystems to the Institute”.In the event that DND confirms a requirement for areconfigured or a second PTA at a future date, theInstitute will undertake an assessment and present itsrecommendations to the appropriate authorities.In 2006, the IEMR collated background informationwhich could be used to assess the location of futuresites.There were no additional discussions on the locationof additional practice sites in 2007.The IEMR and the Western Newfoundland ModelForest have agreed to:a) Continue a cost-sharing program to purchaseIkonos data for the LLTA.b) Partner with the Innu Nation to develop a forestbasedhabitat analysis of the forested lands withinthe LLTA.c) Explore the possibilities of sharing the Ikonos datawith the Innu Nation. This aspect will focus on theidentification of critical caribou habitat.d) Explore future funding arrangements to identify theimpact of logging on critical caribou habitat.The IEMR continues to partner with Canadian ForestService with the development of a revised forestclassification using the IKONOS data purchased byIEMR.The IEMR will continue to purchase additional IKONOSdata in the coming year in order to support theclassification of the RWMCH.The IEMR has requested that DND provide an annualreport on the frequency and location of major fueldumps. This report should include the volume of fueljettisoned.The IEMR has requested that DND provide anup-to-date digital map set of all fuel dumps. Thisdigital data should be made available for review bythe Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.The IEMR has collaborated with the LabradorContaminants Working Group for the completion of acontaminants database for Labrador which isaccessible at www.lcwg.ca.The IEMR did not support any initiatives regardinghydrocarbon concentration during 2007.