National_Energy_Board_Report Page471

No.

Conditions with initial ﬁlings due prior to commencing construction, or prior to

commencing construction of speciﬁed Project component(s)

CPCN

OC2

OC49

Temp

Pump1

Pump2

Tanks

Deact

National Energy Board

452

Riparian Habitat Management Plan

Trans Mountain must ﬁle with the NEB for approval,

at least 3 months prior to

commencing construction

, a Riparian Habitat Management Plan that would apply

to all deﬁned watercourses crossed by the Project. The plan must be supported with

rationales and unambiguous criteria explaining under what circumstances each such

measure and strategy would apply, and must include the following.

a) a description of

the methods used to determine pre-construction functionality

(e.g., for ﬁsh, wildlife, and rare plants) of the riparian habitat, including a

justiﬁcation how such functionality is assessed;

b) a description of the mitigation measures and

the watercourse reclamation

strategies (reclamation method, reclamation measures, and application criteria)

for the range of deﬁned watercourses crossed by the Project;

c) a description of the generalized vegetation planting plans for the

range of

deﬁned watercourses crossed by the Project; that includes the diversity and

density of species to be planted,

planting locations, and application criteria;

d) clearly deﬁned measureable reclamation goals and targets

for years 1, 3, and 5,

post-construction, to determine whether riparian habitat has returned, or is on a

suﬃcient trajectory to return, to pre-construction functionality;

e) a discussion of how the mitigation measures, reclamation strategies, and

vegetation planting plans are anticipated to return riparian habitat to pre-

construction functionality, using the goals and targets provided in d);

f) a summary of the information in a)-d) for each deﬁned watercourse crossing,

that includes:

watercourse crossing ID;

ii)

a deﬁned riparian habitat buﬀer;

iii)

a catalogue of the pre-construction species diversity and density of the riparian

habitat;

iv)

classiﬁcation of riparian habitat functionality;

area of the riparian habitat to be impacted;

vi)

the mitigation measures, reclamation strategy, and vegetation planting plan to

be implemented; and

vii) the measureable goals and targets.

g) details of the post-construction monitoring plan for the ﬁrst ﬁve years of

operations, including evaluations of reclamation activities, and potential

corrective actions and enhancement measures that might be necessary and the

circumstances under which each such action would be taken;

h) a Preliminary Riparian Habitat Oﬀset Plan, that would apply to all deﬁned

watercourse crossings located in watersheds identiﬁed as being above the

riparian habitat disturbance threshold (>18 per cent of riparian habitat disturbed

in the watershed) or classiﬁed as High Sensitive ﬁsh-bearing by Trans Mountain

during the OH-001-2014 proceeding, and, where, after the ﬁfth complete

growing season, riparian habitat has not returned, or is not trending towards

suﬃcient pre-construction functionality.

The plan must include:

how the need for oﬀset measures will be determined, including oﬀset ratios;

ii) potential oﬀset measures, the process for selecting which will be implemented,

and an evaluation of the probability of their success; and

iii) how the eﬀectiveness of oﬀset measures will be assessed, monitored, and

reported on;