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Framework for assessing the impact of human activities on the environment: the impact of forest harvesting and petroleum drilling on habitat of moose (Alces alces) and marten (Martens americana)

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Abstract

The environmental changes induced by projects occurring in an area are evaluated by cumulative impact assessments (CIA), which consider the consequences of multiple projects, each insignificant on its own, yet important when evaluated collectively. When future human activities are of interest, the proposed activities are included in CIA using an analytical platform that can supply precise predictions but with asymptotically null accuracy. To compensate for the lack of accuracy we propose a shift in the paradigm governing CIA. The paradigm shift advocates a change in the focus of CIA investigations from the detailed analysis of one unlikely future to the identification of patterns describing the future changes in the environment. To illustrate the paradigm shift, a set of 144 possible and equally likely futures were developed and used to identify the potential impacts of forest harvesting and petroleum drilling on the habitat of moose and marten. The univariate and multivariate analysis of two measures of habitat, namely average habitat suitability index (HSI) and surface of the stands with HSI >0.5, revealed at least three distinct periods in the next 100 years. Multivariate analysis also showed that habitat quality is of immediate importance and marten is sensitive during the first third of the century. Our findings indicate that the spatial and temporal arrangement of the human disturbances could be more important than the magnitude of the disturbance. The attributes associated with significant environmental changes are harvesting age and the investigated environmental elements of an ecosystem, in this case the species habitat.

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Acknowledgments

The research was funded by the Sustainable Forest Management Network, Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forestry, Louisiana Tech University, 1201 Reese Dr., Ruston, LA, 71272, USA

    Bogdan M. Strimbu

  2. Forest Research and Management Institute, Sos. Stefanesti 128, O77190, Voluntari, Romania

    Bogdan M. Strimbu

  3. Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    John L. Innes

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  1. Bogdan M. Strimbu
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Correspondence to Bogdan M. Strimbu.

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Strimbu, B.M., Innes, J.L. Framework for assessing the impact of human activities on the environment: the impact of forest harvesting and petroleum drilling on habitat of moose (Alces alces) and marten (Martens americana). Biodivers Conserv 21, 933–955 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-012-0228-z

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