Appendix A
Statement of Task
The Committee shall perform an independent review of the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River reports in the following areas: wetlands science and species at risk, the Flood Erosion and Prediction System (FEPS), the Integrated Ecological Response Models (IERM), and the Shared Vision Model (SVM). The level of emphasis for these various areas shall be approximately as follows: wetlands 15%, species at risk 15%, FEPS 10%, IERM 20%, SVM 40%, and reflect the International Joint Commission’s (IJC) determination of its priorities in this effort.
The overarching charge shall be to evaluate the appropriateness and sufficiency of the studies and models used to inform decisions related to regulation plan options. Recommendations shall be limited to those deriving from this overarching charge and shall not address management or policy issues.
The Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River program science, as represented in the reports and model documentation provided (items in articles 11K and 11L), shall be reviewed by the Committee in terms of the degree to which:
-
the models and reports are sufficient and appropriate to evaluate the various regulation plan options (RPOs) and impacts of changes in water levels and flows;
-
the studies reflect reasonable scientific methods, assumptions and supported findings;
-
the models sufficiently and appropriately integrate and display the key information needed for a comprehensive evaluation and understanding of the tradeoffs for selecting among the candidate RPOs.
The review shall be limited to critical evaluation and decision components of the topics listed that relate directly to the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River regulation plan options. This requirement shall further be interpreted to restrict the review to the impact of changing regulation levels and flows, within the limits that these two factors can be managed using the currently existing control structures and the hydrology/hydraulic characteristics of the system. The review shall neither compare regulation plan options nor provide advice on the preference of one regulation plan option over another, as these actions fall directly within the decision-making responsibilities of the Commission.
Documents to be Reviewed
The following Government owned reports, compute models, and developed data are considered essential to the successful performance under this contract and shall be provided to the Committee by the United States Section of the Interna-
tional Joint Commission.
Wetlands, and Species at Risk – SAR
LOWER ST. LAWRENCE SPECIES AT RISK Sylvain Giguere and Pierre Laporte, Reports 2003-2004, & Mar. 2005 pending.
SELECTED PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP (LOWER ST. LAWRENCE). Jean Morin et al., October 2004.
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF LAKE ONTARIO WATER LEVEL REGULATION ON WETLAND PLANT COMMUNITY ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION Joel Ingram, Nancy Patterson et al., Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada, Ontario Region
MODELS FOR SUBMERGED VEGETATION AND RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES INDUCED BY DISCHARGE (WATER LEVEL) VARIATIONS IN THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER (QUÉBEC) Christiane Hudon, Pierre Gagnon et al. St. Lawrence Centre, Environment Canada, Montreal, December 2003
HISTORICAL CHANGES IN HERBACEOUS WETLAND DISTRIBUTION AND BIOMASS : EFFECTS OF HYDROLOGY ON FAUNAL HABITATS IN LAKE ST. PIERRE (ST. LAWRENCE RIVER, QUEBEC, CANADA) Christiane Hudon, Pierre Gagnon et al., Environment Canada, St. Lawrence Centre, Montreal
Context reference already published Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2004
Hudon, Christiane, SHIFT IN WETLAND COMPOSITION AND BIOMASS FOLLOWING LOW-LEVEL EPISODES IN THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER: LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LAKE ONTARIO WATER LEVELS AND WETLANDS, U.S. YEAR 3 REPORT FOR THE WETLAND HABITAT QUANTITY PERFORMANCE INDICATOR STUDY. Douglas A. Wilcox, Kurt P. Kowalski, and Martha L. Carlson. (200 page report: 45 pages of text, tables and figures, remainder is appendices with detailed tabular plant quadrat sampling results. Analysis includes all 32 study sites, including data from 16 CND sites).
EVALUATION OF WATER LEVEL REGULATION INFLUENCES ON LAKE ONTARIO AND UPPER ST. LAWRENCE RIVER COASTAL WETLAND PLANT COMMUNITIES ––FINAL PROJECT REPORT Douglas Wilcox, Joel Ingram, Kurt Kowalski Martha Carlson, Greg Grabas, Krista Holmes and Nancy Patterson. 100+ pages, Multi-year, binational report on all wetland work completed during the study.
Giguère, S. et P. Laporte (2003) LES ESPÈCES EN PÉRIL INFLUENCÉES PAR LA GESTION DES NIVEAUX D’’EAU DU SAINT-LAURENT FLUVIAL (CORNWALL –– TROIS RIVIÈRES). Rapport annuel déposé à la CMI (2002-2003). Environnement Canada, Région du Québec, Service canadien de la faune, 179 p.
Giguère, S, J. Morin, P. Laporte and Mingelbier, M. (2005) Évaluation des impacts des fluctuations hydrologiques sur les espèces en péril. Tronçon fluvial du Saint-Laurent (Cornwall –– Pointe-du-Lac). Rapport final déposé à CMI (2002 - 2005). Environnement Canada, Région du Québec, Service canadien de la faune, 100 p. + appendix (litterature review = 100 p.)
Species At Risk Performance Indicator Documents
(aa) Black Tern
(ab) Least Bittern
(ac) Lower St. Lawrence River Bridle Shiner
(ad) Lower St. Lawrence River Eastern Sand Darter
(ae) Lower St. Lawrence Softshell Turtle
(af) Lake Ontario Meadow Marsh
(ag) King Rail and Yellow Rail
The following documents will become available at the end of March 2005 or shortly thereafter:
(baa) Lower river wetlands report (vegetation PI)
(bb) Least Bittern (Lake Ontario) and Least bittern (Lower River, Lake St. Louis to Trois Rivières) reproductive index
(bc) Fish SARs report (supplement to overall SAR report)
(bd) Bird SARs report supplement to overall SAR report
(be) Black Tern Reproductive Index. Drolet, Ingram and DesGranges.
(bf) Least Bittern Reproductive Index. Giguèère, Ingram, Drolet, DesGranges & Laporte
(bg) Lower St Lawrence River SAR 2002-2003 Report (explains which species were looked at, which species were selected to focus on, and reasons leading to these choices) (in French)
(bh) 2003-2004 Report, (includes literature reviews for all selected species, reasons why some of these species were discarded from the study, all work that supports developed performance indicators) (in French)
(bi) SAR report for Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River (will include discussion of all work over the last 2 years; including basic information on birds and fish, which we expect will be detailed in additional reports (in French)
(bj) General introduction and overview of ETWG study and ETWG Contextual Narrative
IERM (Integrated Ecological Response Model)
A version of the IERM model (to enable reviews to gain hands-on experience,
and see how information is displayed).
Summary Documentation and Users’ Manual for IERM (contains a listing of all key performance indicators and the Plan Formulation and Evaluation Group’s template).
FEPS (Flood Erosion Prediction System)
A version of the FEPS model (to enable reviewers to gain hands-on experience and see how information is displayed.)
Automated Lake- wide Flooding Predictions and Economic Damages on Lake Ontario Peter J. Zuzek, MES, P.Geo. and Dr. Robert B. Nairn, P.Eng. (10 pages)
Automated Lake- wide Erosion Predictions and Economic Damages on Lake
Ontario Dr. Robert B. Nairn, P.Eng. and Peter J. Zuzek, (10 pages)
SVM (Shared Vision Model)
A version of the SVM (to enable reviewers to gain hands-on experience and see how the information is displayed.)
