The eastern Georgian Bay region is a diverse landscape of rock barrens, upland forests, and peatlands. These ecosystems are facing increased climate-mediated disturbances, such as wildfire, and land-use change. Development of green energy solutions are required to decarbonise energy supplies and reduce impacts of climate change. However, windfarm construction and operation must be assessed to ensure impacts on habitat biogeochemical and ecohydrological function and species are limited, and appropriate mitigation and restoration practices are in place.
In the heterogenous landscape of the eastern Georgian Bay region, differences in organic soil depth have been previously linked to burn severity, where the shallow soil on open rock barrens are more susceptible to fire than the deeper peat-filled depressions. A large wildfire burned > 11,000 ha, during 2018, while the Henvey Inlet Wind Energy Centre was under construction. This work will discuss vegetation community composition and indicator species following wildfire and windfarm development.