SFU
School of Resource and
Environmentalanagement
Thomas Rodengen
Understanding carbon dynamics and storage in lacustrine systems in western
Canadian national parks
PhD Research Proposal
Last Revised: 11/09/11
Background
Human-induced climate change is expected to manifest itself in many different ways
across Canada, creating a wide range of environmental, social and economic effects
(NRCan, 2008). The average annual cost of climate change for Canada has recently been
projected to be $5 billion in 2020 to between $21 and $43 billion by 2050 (NRTEE,
2011). Any efforts to stabilize greenhouse gases and cope with climate change are likely
to involve a portfolio of adaptation, mitigation, and geo-engineering strategies (Socolow
and Pacala, 2006).
Mitigation efforts through international political agreements have been slow to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions (Rogelj et al., 2010). While Canada is one of the 191 states
that has signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol (UNFCC, 2011), no federal level climate
change strategy has been created to honor this pledge (NRTEE, 2008). In contrast, at
provincial levels of government, provinces such as British Columbia, Ontario, and
Newfoundland-Labrador have taken action on climate change through legislation. For
example, British Columbia implemented a carbon tax on the purchase or use of fuels
aimed at helping to meet British Columbia’s emission reduction targets (BC MoE, 2011).
Other initiatives have emerged in the private sector, municipalities, and nongovernment organizations, such as the Climate SMART program in Halifax designed to
support a range of adaptation and mitigation goals (e.g., greenhouse gas emission
reduction) (Halifax Regional Municipality, 2011). However, federal programs and
legislation have remained elusive.
Climate change mitigation is beginning to be addressed through other international
avenues. In some cases, climate change mitigation is being incorporated within agencies
that have traditionally focused on conservation. Programs like the United Nations
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries
(UN-REDD) were developed to reduce emissions from forested lands in developing
countries while at the same time encouraging conservation and sustainable forest
management practices (UN-REDD, 2009). The International Union for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN) is also developing new policy initiatives such as the “Blue Carbon
Policy”, which will focus on marine conservation in coastal areas such as mangroves, salt
marshes, and sea grasses (IUCN, 2011). Both of these programs establish a means of
collaboration between governments, research institutions, non-government
organizations, and agencies. However, development of policies for climate change
mitigation within conservation agencies is in its infancy, and to date these policies are
operating with no mandate or mechanism for enforcement.
This thesis focuses on the development of climate change mitigation within Parks
Canada, a Canadian federal government conservation agency. In response to a growing
concern over the impacts of climate change from the federal government (Environment
Canada, 2010), Parks Canada has recognized a responsibility to mitigate and adapt to
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climate change. Specifically, Parks Canada has identified the need to quantify carbon (C)
in its parks as a necessary step towards understanding the potential role of national
parks in climate change mitigation. In addition to understanding C dynamics in national
parks, C storage and flux in lake systems was also deemed as a priority research area
(RFP 5P429-10-032, 2011).
Parks Canada holds approximately 2.2% of the total area of Canada (NRCan, 2009),
making it a potentially important component of the national C budget. Quantifying this
capacity requires a better understanding of several factors. First, it involves assessing
the level of understanding of climate change mitigation and “buy-in” within the Parks
Canada managers. Second, it involves evaluating which management practices currently
used by Parks Canada might enhance C uptake and storage while remaining consistent
with the primary mandate of maintaining ecological integrity (National Parks Act of
Canada, 2000). Third, it involves the estimation of C within national parks, and ensuring
that the modeling tools used to evaluate C budgets are including all relevant processes
that can significantly affect the annual uptake of C.
The overall goal of this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the capacity
of Parks Canada to implement a C mitigation plan and to evaluate the potentially
underrepresented contribution of lake systems to the overall C budget within national
parks. I plan to address this goal through three objectives, which will serve as the
chapters to my thesis. These objectives are to:
1. Undertake a gap analysis concerning the level of understanding by protected
area practitioners and their ability to address issues pertaining to climate
change mitigation practices.
2. Quantify the contributions of lake C burial to the total C budget in Canada’s
Cordilleran national parks, and their response to regional disturbances.
3. Quantify the contributions of lake C burial to the total C budget in Riding
Mountain National Park, MB and the Little Saskatchewan River drainage
basin, and their response to surrounding land use changes.
The results generated in the pursuit of these objectives will be brought together with
current national park management practices and policy to advise Parks Canada in how
to approach climate change mitigation as it relates to C dynamics in national parks. This
research represents interdisciplinary work in that it combines environmental science
research on changes in C storage in lake systems with the integrative area of
management where both economics and policy influence decision-making.
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Chapter 1: Parks Canada and climate change mitigation
Parks Canada’s primary mandate is to protect areas of ecological integrity with the
objective of conserving biodiversity (National Parks Act of Canada, 2000), but has also
recognized the substantial value placed in maintaining ecosystem services including
climate change mitigation through C storage (RFP 5P429-10-032, 2011). 2011 has
marked the beginning of discussions on climate change mitigation in future planning for
national parks in Canada (Canadian Council on Ecological Areas, 2011; Burr, 2011). In a
sense, Parks Canada is in a similar position as international conservation agencies (e.g.,
IUCN) in that it needs to juxtapose existing conservation mandates with climate change
mitigation solutions.
Because the development of climate change mitigation is new for Parks Canada, I can
assume that this agency is still in the “agenda-setting” stage of the policy cycle as
defined by Howlett and Ramesh (2003). At this stage, recognition and mapping of
relevant knowledge about the agency context in which climate change mitigation would
be developed is crucial for framing appropriate polices and solutions.
The goals of this chapter are to:
1. Assess and increase the level of understanding of climate change mitigation
amongst Parks Canada practitioners.
2. Provide Parks Canada manager’s perspectives on various climate change
mitigation strategies.
3. Outline several management strategies that may assist Parks Canada in
developing climate change mitigation.
Methodology
A panel discussion for national park and other protected area (e.g., provincial park)
managers will be undertaken at the British Columbia Protected Area Research Forum
(BCPARF) December 5th-7th, 2011. The panel discussion aims to analyze gaps in the
current state of climate change mitigation knowledge amongst protected area managers
and understand the potential role of climate change mitigation in protected areas. My
supervisors Dr. Marlow Pellatt (Research Scientist, Parks Canada), Dr. Wolfgang Haider
(REM, SFU), another Parks Canada representative, one BC Parks representative, one
non-government representative, and myself will form the panel. The remainder of my
methodological approach is tenable on the knowledge level of protected area managers
on climate change mitigation displayed in the panel discussion.
It is expected that the panel discussion will provide insights into the current overall level
of climate change mitigation knowledge possessed by protected area managers and
4
identify the potential role(s) of protected area agencies in climate change mitigation.
Given the novelty of the topic, one can expect that the knowledge level about climate
change mitigation will be low. In this case, an appropriate subsequent step will be to
increase climate change mitigation knowledge amongst protected area managers, as
suggested in the first goal. This type of knowledge transfer usually takes place in a
workshop or webinar. Following the workshop or webinar, protected area manager’s
preferences of candidate climate change mitigation strategies will be surveyed. A
potential survey may include closed-ended questions on climate change mitigation
preferences and may also entail a stated preference component. A stated preference
component will determine the importance of specific climate change mitigation
attributes (possibly including cost) and prioritize the various climate change mitigation
strategies, as outlined in the second goal (Merino-Castelló, 2003). To provide Parks
Canada managers with the information they need to compare the impacts of the various
climate change mitigation strategies, a decision support system (DSS) will be created
where the attributes of the strategies can be varied and the impact of changing one, or
a combination, of attributes can be examined (Louviere, 2000). In line with the third
goal, the DSS and a document will be generated discussing Parks Canada managers’
perspectives on various climate change mitigation strategies. The methodology
described here is illustrated in Figure 1.
Chapter 2: Forest disturbances types and their influence on lake carbon burial in the
Cordilleran national parks and surrounding area
Implementing C storage within national parks requires quantification of the amount of C
stored in these areas and how various processes might affect the annual uptake of C.
Tools developed to meet these needs typically require a significant modeling
component for generating estimates as it would not be cost effective to obtain these
estimates through measurements alone and there will never be enough field
measurements to characterize all forests under all conditions (Running et al., 1999). A
dynamic that is notably lacking in the current generation of C models is the role of
inland aquatic systems (Cole et al., 2007). Specifically, lakes provide a large C storage
function due to their disproportionately long sediment preservation rate. An improved
understanding of the role of lakes in C models is therefore essential for more accurate
future C estimates which guide the design and implementation of C mitigation
strategies.
The Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3 v2.1) is a
landscape-level forest ecosystem model used to calculate forest C storage and changes
in C uptake, and could be used to simulate impacts of various forest management
practices and disturbance types on C budgets within national parks and protected areas.
CBM-CFS3 currently serves as the core component of Canada’s National Forest C
Monitoring Accounting Reporting System (NFCMARS) (Kurz and Apps, 2006). A
partnership already exists between the CFS and Parks Canada that seeks to integrate
5
national park specific forest inventory data into the CBM-CFS3 to ascertain how
different forest management practices in national parks (Kootenay, Banff, Jasper, Yoho,
Glacier, Mt. Revelstoke) versus surrounding managed landscapes influence C fluxes and
stocks as a results of climate change (Stinson and Kurz, 2010).
One simplifying assumption within the CBM-CFS3 involves its treatment of dead organic
matter (DOM) dynamics within aquatic systems. Although lake systems have been
shown to serve as an important sink of C to the forest ecosystem (Molot and Dillion,
1996; Benoy et al., 2007; Cole et al., 2007), no data are available to parameterize the
processes controlling DOM once it reaches lake systems within the model. It is
therefore assumed that all of the DOM transfered to inland aquatic systems is released
directly to the atmosphere (Kurz et al., 1999).
This assumption can be tested by examining actual C burial rates and modeled DOM
imports in similar lakes that have experienced different disturbance types (e.g., insect
infestation vs. no insect infestation). If no difference exists between the different
disturbance types with regard to lake DOM import and C burial rate, then CBM-CFS3
estimates can continue to ignore the contribution of lakes when evaluating the
differences between protected and managed landscapes.
The goals of this chapter are to:
1. Test how different disturbance types impact actual C burial rates in lake
systems in the Cordilleran national parks and surrounding area.
2. Determine if C dynamics in lake systems should be included in the CBM-CFS3.
Methodology
The Cordilleran national parks of Kootenay, Banff, Jasper, Yoho, Glacier, and Mt.
Revelstoke (Figure 2) and surrounding area were chosen based on the Park’s proximity
to each other, extent of previous modeling and paleolimnological studies, the Park’s
contrast to the immediate surrounding managed landscape, large distribution of lakes in
the area, and ongoing partnership in the area between the CFS and Parks Canada.
Default disturbance types in the CBM-CFS3 will provide the forest disturbance types
(CFS, 2011). Disturbances in the Cordilleran national parks and surrounding area include,
fire, mountain pine beetle infestation, timber harvesting, thinning, roads and landings,
and planting. Lakes within the various disturbance types will be selected based on the
following criteria:



single closed lake system (i.e., hydrologically closed -no aquatic inflow and
outflow),
readily defined catchment area,
lake being accessible,
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



similarity to other lake(s) in a contrasting disturbance type,
ample forest inventory data,
minimal glacial influence, and
immediate area around the lake being undisturbed by human influence (e.g.,
road).
An estimated 20 short sediment cores will be collected on lakes identified using the
aforementioned criteria. Based on preliminary dating of cores from Dog Lake in
Kootenay National Park, each ~40cm core is expected to contain sediments of the last
~150 years. Pb-210 dating will provide age control analyzed out of house. Using %C
measured in the Climate, Oceans, and Paleo-Environments (COPE) Laboratory and a
well-defined age model, a C burial rate for the lake will be calculated. Also, overall C
storage of the lake can be calculated through knowledge of the C burial rate and
dimensions of the lake. Additional paleolimnological data (e.g., charcoal, pollen,
diatoms) may have already been collected or will need to be collected to help interpret
potential localized effects on C burial. A longer sediment record (~10,000 years) may be
warranted in locations that illustrate particularly complex C burial rates, or, where
disturbance types are assumed to have changed several times.
Expected Results
The results of C burial and storage will be interpreted using cluster or ordinal analysis to
ascertain whether different disturbance types have a statistically significant impact on C
burial within the Cordilleran national parks and surrounding area lake systems (e.g.,
Bigler et al., 2005). Quantification of the range and changes in C burial will allow us to
ascertain its importance relative to C budgets (specifically DOM pools) simulated by the
CBM-CFS3 model.
It is expected that this chapter will increase the understanding of the implications of
disturbance management on lake C burial for the purposes of national park
management. Also, this chapter aims to reveal the importance of evaluation of a
process that is not currently included in a standard modeling tool used by national park
managers.
Assumptions





That a portion of the selected lakes C burial originates from outside the lake.
-This assumption can be overcome by analyzing the sediments C/Nitrogen
ratio and or/ δ13C signature.
Organic C exists in the lake sediments.
A specific catchment area can be defined.
The CBM-CFS3 model can provide which DOM pools and at which rates, C is
being transferred into these lakes.
Instrument error in the field and laboratory are minimized.
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Chapter 3: Landscape influences on lake carbon burial in Riding Mountain National
Park, MB and the Little Saskatchewan River drainage basin
The landscape of Canada is extremely diverse and covers a wide range of bioclimatic,
vegetation, and land cover types. Therefore, results describing the importance of C
burial from lakes in the Cordilleran national parks region likely cannot be generalized to
the rest of Canada (Tranvik et al., 2009). Thus, a logical next step in this research is to
test whether the relative importance of disturbance types on lake C burial varies from
region to region.
The goal of this chapter is to:
 Test if different disturbance types impact C burial on a regional basis.
Methodology
The study area that was chosen is Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) and the Little
Saskatchewan River drainage basin (Figure 3) on the basis of ongoing limnological and
paleolimnological work and contrast to the Cordilleran national parks and surrounding
area. Specifically, the RMNP and the Little Saskatchewan River drainage basin differs
from the Cordilleran national parks region in that it is lower in elevation, has a higher
proportion of lake cover, and a temperate climatic type. In addition, RMNP has more
lake focused recreation use and the Little Saskatchewan River drainage basin is more
densely populated and has more percent agricultural cover (while still being forested).
In light of these differences, RMNP and the Little Saskatchewan River drainage basin will
present two or three new disturbance types to be tested for impact on C burial rates.
The methodology of Chapter 2 will be replicated using an estimated eight short lake
sediment cores already taken from RMNP and the Little Saskatchewan River drainage
basin. Aside from calculating C burial rate and C storage, the ongoing limnological and
paleolimnological studies in RMNP and the Little Saskatchewan River drainage basin
provide additional insight into local processes that may aid in understanding the
disturbance types represented and their impact on C burial and storage. Of particular
note, the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorous, algae, and hydroecological studies
have already produced results that may complement C burial and storage understanding
on a lake by lake basis. It was found that the seasonality of shallow subsurface
groundwater that flowed into Clear Lake in RMNP determined the delivery of nutrients
(Neumann, 2011). Specifically, shortly after periods of high shallow subsurface
groundwater influx, co-precipitation of calcium with phosphorus increased phosphorous
storage in the lake sediments (Whitehouse, 2011). Precipitating phosphorous to the lake
bottom detracts a vital nutrient from the water column that algal blooms rely on. This
process adds an interesting dynamic to C accumulation in the lake sediments.
Understanding lake processes such as this helps to understand what types of
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disturbances (e.g., agriculture) affect C burial. The results of this chapter will be
published in a scientific journal.
Expected Results
It is expected that this chapter will increase the understanding of regional variability
between C burial with respect to different disturbance types. Also, through the use of
additional paleolimnological indicators, it is expected that how different disturbance
types impact C burial might be better realized. Ultimately, an advanced understanding
of the dynamics between disturbance types and C burial will add assurance to decision
makers and park managers that will need to explore C management alternatives in the
future.
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Timeline
Research Phase
1. Learn CBM-CFS3 Model and Run (Chapter 2)
2. Field Work of Chapter 2
3. Laboratory Analysis of Chapter 2 and 3
4. Interpretation of Chapter 2 and 3 Results
5. Workshop (if needed) (Chapter 1)
6. Preparation, Dispersal, and Interpretation of
Climate Change Mitigation Survey (Chapter 1)
7. Preparation of Individual Manuscripts
8. Synthesized Manuscript Preparation
9. Final Draft Edits
Total Estimated Time to Complete Research
Program
Time Requirement
5 months
5, 2-3 day trips over a 1 year
period
2 years
6 months
6 months
2 years
7 months each
1 month
3 months
3-4 years
Note: Schedule does not represent a wholly sequential order of events. In reality, multiple phases will be
undertaken simultaneously.
List of Requirements
Requirement
Purveyor
Acquired
Laboratory and Cold
Storage
Field Equipment
Data Storage
Software (e.g., Excel, SPSS,
LatentGold)
Lab Technician (2
semesters)
Dating Techniques 210Pb and
C14
COPE lab
Yes
Parks Canada
COPE lab
COPE lab/Tourism Lab
Yes
NSERC/Parks Canada
Yes
MyCore Scintific Inc (210Pb)
and University of
Saskatchewan (C14)
Parks Canada
MITACS? PICS?
Yes
Funding Years 1 and 2
Funding Years 2 and 3
Plan if not
Acquired
Yes
Yes
No
Apply for
external
funding
List of external approvals
SFU Office of Research Ethics Study Application not needed for research as presented.
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Figures
Figure 1: Flowchart of the methodology of Chapter 1.
11
Figure 2: Map of Cordilleran national parks and surrounding area (Explore America,
2011).
12
Figure 3: Map of Riding Mountain National Park and surrounding area (Parks Canada,
2009).
13
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