The Canadian oil sands industry is using collaboration to drive innovation and address challenges in oil sands development. An early innovator and leader of successful collaboration is the Oil Sands Leadership Initiative (OSLI). OSLI is a network of oil sands companies including ConocoPhillips Canada, Shell Canada, Statoil Canada, Suncor Energy Inc., Nexen Inc., and Total E&P Canada. Collectively, these companies are using technology to develop ways to better identify and address environmental values by building scenario analysis processes and tools that can measure management decision outcomes over time. This paper will review one of these processes, developed for the Athabasca Region of the Canadian Oil Sands, called Landscape Ecological Assessment and Planning (LEAP). LEAP is a four part process involving; (1) the establishment of ecological objectives for the future landscape, (2) modeling and projecting ecosystem change, (3) on-the-ground restoration project implementation and (4) a rigorous monitoring program to measure ecological objectives. The outcome of this process is a full-scale assessment of optimal scenarios that relate current management decisions to future landscape level ecological outcomes. OSLI has initiated the LEAP project across 56,915 ha of boreal forest in Alberta, Canada, where the restoration of linear disturbances is the focus for improving late seral stage conditions and habitat quality for multiple wildlife species. This paper provides a case study for demonstrating the validity of the LEAP process as a socially and scientifically defensible approach to land stewardship.

Innovative Environmental Scenario Analysis and Management Tools in Canada's Oil Sands Region: Landscape Ecological Assessment and Planning (LEAP).