Hunters in northern Alberta are helping scientists test how industrial noise from the oil sands affects moose hunting, a food source and cultural link for many rural communities and First Nations.
As forested landscapes are cleared for operations, elk habitat becomes more open, making the animals easier to spot but also exposing them to more predators.
For longtime elk hunter and enthusiast Kevin Adby, industrial development has changed the way he hunts in and around Conklin, about 155 kilometers south of Fort McMurray.
“Now you can see elk for miles, whereas before you couldn't see anything, you had to follow the trail and use different strategies,” he said.
In the new letter of mandate from Prime Minister Danielle Smith to Energy Secretary Brian JeanThe province is committed to increasing oil production.
But it's leading some community members to express concerns about how industrial noise is affecting traditional hunting methods.
This question led to the creation of the Call of the Moose pilot project, a collaboration between the Conklin Resource Development Advisory Committee, the University of Alberta and the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute.
The purpose of the study is to test whether noise from oil sands operations affects hunters' ability to call and locate elk.
“But moose, because they are so big and have such long legs, they have a much easier time moving across the landscape,” explained Peter Fortna, a sociologist involved in the project.
“As the landscape becomes more fragmented, it becomes more difficult for them because more predators can come and exist on the landscape.”
Community surveys have shown that industrial noise and landscape changes are believed to affect how people hunt and how successfully they call elk, Fortna said.
In a statement, a Ministry of Environment spokeswoman said they were not aware of any significant increase in noise from the oil sands.
“As part of their ongoing research, the Oil Sands Monitoring Program and Indigenous partners will be studying the effects of sound on moose and other wildlife in the area. We will keep Albertans informed of the results of this work,” the statement said.
Experiment
The study is being conducted at two sites – one quiet and one near industrial plants – to measure how sound travels through different environments.
The researchers placed five autonomous recording devices 80 meters apart in a straight line, and a fifth one 200 meters further away to record sound over a long distance.
Hunters emit traditional elk calls at points between the recorders, gradually moving away from the noise source.
On a noisy site, existing industrial sounds are used as processing. In a quiet location, researchers use speakers to play back the recorded noise of oil-bearing sites to simulate similar conditions.
The data will show at what distance elk calls can be detected in each environment, and how noise affects both the range of the call and the ability of hunters to hear the elk respond.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity to work with local communities,” said Alberto De Rosa, a research scientist in the Department of Bioacoustics at the University of Alberta.
“Where I come from, it's very rare for scientists and communities to actually communicate. I feel like we have a real connection, a communication where they're the experts on their side and we're the experts on our side, and bringing the two together kind of makes it possible.”
The project is funded through the Alberta Oil Sands Monitoring Program as part of the Community Monitoring stream. Results are expected in about a month after data collection and analysis is completed.
Community members told Fortney that hunting in the Conklin area is becoming increasingly difficult due to an increase in predators and ongoing habitat fragmentation.
Meanwhile, new roads have opened up remote areas to more outside hunters, causing declines in wildlife numbers and disruption of traditional hunting grounds.
“This means proving that the industry is causing more damage than they promised: more trees, more deforestation,” Adbi said.
“It used to be just a select few people in the traps, but now it's everyone and everyone… you're losing more animals than expected.”
