Forestry and Parks - Request for Proposal - Wildfire Reclamation McMurray Fire MWF-017

Alberta Forestry and Parks, in its mandate to prevent and suppress wildfires within the Province is required to reclaim disturbed forest land caused by wildfire suppression operations. These sites were essential for effective wildfire operations and include fireguards, creek crossings, pipeline crossings, and helipads. Wildfire reclamation is required to prevent or reduce the potential of soil erosion and ensure soil stabilization on or near the fire line. Reclamation of disturbances also promotes the recovery of the disturbed land base for wildlife habitat (i.e. caribou) and vegetative growth. Due to soil conditions, the reclamation work must be done when the ground conditions are in a frozen state. MWF-017 is in northeastern Alberta, approximately 13 South West of the Fort McMurray townsite. The cause of the fire has not been determined. The fire is only 4km west of highway 63 and can only be accessed for reclamation under frozen ground conditions (Figure 1). Access to work area’s 1 and 2 is possible along the Atco power RoW, via the Fort McMurray dump site or via and existing trail that starts at the Abasand staging area, highlighted in white on maps. Work area 3 can be accessed via the AOC hanging stone project. These wildfires are near the Forest Management Agreement with Alberta Pacific Forest Industries (ALPAC) and their quota holder Northlands Forest Products Limited (NFPL). Specifically, these fires and the reclamation required reside in the A15 Forest Management Unit (FMU). McMurray wildfire 17 grew to a size of 18,593ha, and was only accessible in certain areas to tightline the fires edge with heavy equipment. Contingency and Dozer guard were also cut along existing pipelines or powerlines to protect the Athabasca Oilsands site and to protect the McMurray townsite along ATCO transmission ROWs. Any disturbance made by heavy equipment will require both reclamation and rehabilitation. Majority of the reclamation work will be conducted on MWF-017 with this work being imperative to achieving Alberta Forestry and Parks Provincial Priorities and protection of: Watershed and Sensitive Soils and Natural Resources. The traditional means of reclamation will be provided in this document, however, new measures will be provided and recommended so that achieving our provincial priorities will continue to be achievable post incident. Overall, this document aims to be a supplement to the request for proposals that will be necessary to complete all outstanding work and provide suggestions for improving Forestry and Parks reclamation standards. The “pull back” on the side of the fire guard represents the height of debris and pushed out trees, piled when the fire guard was initially built. It requires mechanical labour to return it to a natural state. The fireguard travels through mainly spruce and mixed wood stand types, from spruce muskeg to mature spruce and mixed wood stands. The fire guard will have the soil and woody debris as well as the pushed out trees pulled back onto the grubbed fire guard. The trees are to be broken up mechanically or manually slashed so to be made to lie flat to the ground. Leaning or damaged trees that cannot be reached mechanically without causing significant additional damage to the forest, will be manually felled and/or bucked to lie flat to the ground. The majority of reclamation of the dozer guard on MWF-017 will need to occur during frozen ground conditions. The overburden and organics pushed up against the treeline should be rolled back and dispersed along the disturbed mineral soil. The dozer guard (including contingency guards) on MWF-017 is characterized as being on average 15-25m wide with a total of 63.5 km. In total, the area of guard that needs to be reclaimed is estimated at 132.5 ha (average of 20 m width). There has been 22 helipads constructed along the dozer guard totaling approximately 24.5ha. Total estimated area to be reclaimed on MWF-017 is 157 ha. There are 15 total crossings with 8 that have material that will need to be removed and mitigated. There are 3 separate work area’s of tightline dozer guard and contingency dozer guard included in the work area they can be seen in attached map. This includes the Horse river that will need to be crossed a minimum of once and the Hangingstone river that has 4 crossing’s. Majority of the guard has been created in spruce and aspen mixed wood stands, along previously existing right of ways, and in the regenerating young forest from the 2016 forest fire in the area Project Work Area Summary Estimated Total Dozer Guard Length 63.5 km Estimated Average Dozer Guard Width 15-25 m Estimated Area of Dozer Guard 132.5 ha Estimated Average Dozer Guard Berm Height 8 ft Number of Helipads 22 Estimated Area Helipad 24.5 ha Number of Stream/River Crossings 15 Crossings with Log Fill to be Removed 8 Crossings with Clear Channel 2 Horse River Crossings (Channel Clear) Min 1 Hanging Stone River Crossings (Channel Clear) 4