Cenovus Energy Inc. (Cenovus) retained AJM to conduct a bathymetric survey of five waterbodies located at the Foster Creek Thermal Project (FCTP). Cenovus operates the FCTP steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) scheme for the recovery of bitumen, consisting of well pads, pipelines, a central processing facility, and associated infrastructure. The project was completed to assist Cenovus with a revised thermal screening to meet the Directive for the Assessment of Thermally-Mobilized Constituents in Groundwater for the Assessment of Thermal In Situ Operations.

The scope of work included the following:  

• Site selection and methodology development; 

• Field data collection; and 

• Data analysis and reporting.  

AJM successfully proposed the development of a mobile fish habitat application for the Water Strategy Department at Teck Coal Ltd (Teck). The app is intended for Teck personnel and contractors collecting field data related to aquatic habitat and riparian vegetation. Key features of the app include GPS integration, photo capture, customizable forms, offline data collection, offline maps, collaboration and sharing, data export and reporting, and user management. The app is being developed by AJM’s programming team for iOS and Android for broad utilization. The app will integrate with ESRI’s ArcGIS Survey123 and Field Maps apps. The project's overriding objective is to provide Teck with a mobile app that enables efficient and accurate data collection in the field, alongside real-time monitoring and data visualization through a custom dashboard.

AJM Environmental Inc. was retained by a major exploration & production company to assess whether satellite-derived image analysis could be used to enable the early detection of tree stress caused by infrastructure within two of their steam-assisted gravity drainage projects. The critical deliverable for this project was a report that detailed:

• An analysis of the benefits and limitations of different analysis frameworks (indices and classification analyses);

• An assessment of the benefits and limitations of different sources of imagery;

• An assessment of the predictive accuracy of different image analysis techniques; and

• Recommendation for ongoing analysis.

AJM was contracted by the City of Calgary’s Parks and Open Spaces Unit to produce a ten-year Habitat Management Plan for Douglasdale Natural Environment Park, a 47ha park located adjacent to the Bow River in southeast Calgary. The primary objective of a Habitat Management Plan is to outline a clear strategy and timeline for the management of the ecological health and function of the park, and to ensure that biodiversity and climate resilience outcomes can be achieved more effectively. 

The scope of work included reconnaissance site visits to the park and a thorough desktop review of background data, including ecological surveys, health assessments, biophysical impact assessments, historical aerial photos, and GIS data. AJM worked in collaboration with the City of Calgary to incorporate contributor engagement from various stakeholders, including public park users.

Trout Unlimited Canada hired AJM to assess the Upper Trout Creek watershed for reclamation planning of aquatic and riparian habitats. Recommendations by Qualified Aquatic Environmental Specialists (QAES) focused on bank reconstruction, vegetation, erosion control, and channel re-alignment to mitigate impacts on fish habitats from human activities (e.g., OHV trails, cattle grazing) and natural events (e.g., flooding, bank erosion).

The purpose of the project was to develop a way to better prioritize and track vegetation treatment at oil sands facilities. AJM combined in-house biophysical and software development expertise to build a fit-for-purpose software application for field data collection and a database for data integration and management. The software component of the project consisted of: 1) development of a backend cloud database on AWS, 2) development of an iOS and Android mobile application for field data collection, and 3) development of a website where vegetation data can be visualized and managed.