Pierre River Mine Project

TERRESTRIAL AENV SIRS 44 – 78
Revised Response 383a
Section 13.1
In developing the Pierre River Mine Plan, Shell balanced the need to minimize
impacts to the Athabasca River wildlife corridor with the obligation to maximize
the recovery of bitumen resource for the province and its shareholders.
Consistent with Shell’s EIA, Shell believes that the 250-m setback provides this
balance, and is sufficient to allow the movement of wildlife along the Athabasca
River corridor. The corridor is predicted to maintain genetic connectivity because
a minimum of one and up to 10 effective migrants per generation of all wildlife
species (Mills and Allendorf 1996; Wang 2004) are likely to travel through.
Accordingly, Shell currently has no contingency plans to reflect a 400-m setback.
Volume 2. Section 23.1 Page 23-105 SIR 449d
Previous Request 449d Shell indicates it will provide for wildlife passage
under the Athabasca River bridge on both the east and west banks of the river.
i. Discuss wildlife movement criteria included in the design specifications for
the proposed Athabasca River bridge.
Revised Response 449d
i. Preliminary work has been completed on the design of the wildlife
passageways under the Athabasca River Bridge on both sides of the river. In
its current location, the bridge height will exceed 2.5 m (current plans exceed
10 m), and although the width of the wildlife passageway under the bridge
will vary seasonally, it will exceed 10 m throughout the year because the
escarpment is higher than the river at the current location and the bridge will
be built from escarpment to escarpment. Because of the width of the road
surface on the bridge and height above the passageway, the wildlife
passageway will be open and well-lit. Passageway landscaping will be
conducive to wildlife travel for a variety of species.
Detailed engineering specifications are considered part of activities planned
following project approval. EIA, Volume 5, Appendix 5-5, Section 4, page 7
describes the approach that will be used. The design of the bridge spanning
the Athabasca River, connecting Highway 63 with PRMA, will be high and
long to provide for wildlife passage under the bridge on both the east and
west banks (Figure 1). Long bridges allow for connectivity at the landscape
level for a wide array of species, and are among the most effective mitigation
measures for reducing road kill and for allowing for unhindered animal
movement (Huijser et al. 2007). The cited figure depicts a conceptual model
of the proposed bridge (see EIA, Volume 5, Appendix 5-5, Section 4, page
8). This design is expected to meet the wildlife movement criteria likely to
provide genetic connectivity (Mills and Allendorf 1996; Wang 2004) as
outlined in the EIA, Volume 5, Section 7.1.2.
April 2010 Shell Canada Limited 13-9
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