This project involves a technical evaluation of the use of electrokinetic (EK) technology to dewater sediments that built up behind the Orr Dam in Stratford, to facilitate their removal and the continuation of normal Dam activities. EK dewatering involves the use of an applied electric field to a mass of soil in order to facilitate the removal of water from the soil. When an electric field is applied, the water is moved from the anode (positively charged electrode) to the cathode (negatively charged electrode).

Tree species composition – in particular the ratio of coniferous to deciduous trees – is likely a major evolutionary force shaping biodiversity in the boreal ‘mixedwood’ forest. There are concerns that logging practices are resulting in declines in the amount of old mixedwood stands in Canada’s western boreal forest, which may be having a negative impact on species adapted to mixedwood stands.

The western conifer seed bug is an important seed orchard pest in southern interior British Columbia, where it is responsible for significant seed loss, particularly in lodge pole pine and Douglas‐fir. In order to develop an economic damage threshold, i.e., when it would be economically justifiable to apply a pesticide treatment to protect the seed crop, it is critical that a monitoring technique is developed that will allow an accurate assessment of the numbers of seed bugs present, and hence an estimate of the damage this population can inflict.

The central interior of British Columbia has experienced the largest mountain pine beetle epidemic in history and the government of BC is contemplating changes to silvicultural practices. As members of a collaborative group of government, industry and academia, the partner companies require research into two areas: forest productivity measures and economic performance measures.

Guayaki is an American tea company looking for areas to showcase their environmental restoration and conservation initiatives and attract potential investors. By assessing the ecosystem services they have been working to conserve, ecosystem marketplaces will be able interpret the economic value of Guayaki‟s environmental initiatives. The Canadian owned resource management group Spectrum Resource Group would like to explore the opportunity of expanding into the ecosystem service assessment area.

Climate models project that summers in the southwest Yukon will become increasingly warmer and drier, leading to more forest fires, a longer fire season and slower tree growth. This raises the question of how to manage forest resources sustainably so that they will continue to provide long-term benefits to local communities.

In light of the current crisis in our forests, there has been a general push towards ecosystem management, in which forests are managed for ecological as well as social and economic values. One way to accomplish this may be for management to emulate natural disturbance patterns, thus creating a forest similar to the natural forest. Unfortunately, industrial exploitation has been so extensive that it is often impossible to tell what the natural forest should look like without extensive research on natural disturbance patterns and historical forest composition.

Mining operations in the Oil Sands area can affect extensive areas of boreal forest. Those forested areas affected by mining are expected to be reclaimed by mining companies to re-establish their natural conditions after the exploitation ends. The long©term success of reclamation plans can be assessed with ecological models that simulate how different environmental factors affect tree growth and development. Climate is possibly the most important factor influencing plant growth.

Fair Trade Carbon Limited (FTC) and its subsidiary Fair Trade Carbon Uganda are companies founded by UBC graduate students, Canadian tree planters and Ugandan educators in an effort to develop forest carbon markets in both countries based on a for-profit, community direct investment model. FTC Uganda currently manages eight tree plantations and with water scarcity in some areas, the company desires to know the effect of tree plantations on local water resources.

Forest fires are a natural feature of the Canadian landscape, but they pose a threat to individuals and property. Being able to predict the behaviour of a given forest fire is an important element in successfully managing fire suppression resources. Alberta Department of Sustainable Resource Development is responsible for PROMETHEUS, Canada's foremost fire growth modeling tool. PROMETHEUS is a program which simulates the growth of a fire from a single ignition. Currently, it doesn't allow for any kind of randomness or uncertainty.