Government of Saskatchewan

Abstract Understanding how anthropogenic disturbances compound with natural stressors to influence wildlife survival, particularly during vulnerable life stages, is critical for conserving biodiversity and informing management decisions. Juveniles can be sensitive to disturbances, which possibly reduce their survival and lead to population declines. We monitored survival of 180 juvenile moose Alces alces from capture (7–8 months old) to recruitment at 18 months old in two anthropogenically disturbed systems in western Canada, where population declines coincided with extensive salvage logging following an insect outbreak. We investigated how juvenile use of forest harvest features influenced their mortality risk, and whether this risk was modified by body condition, long‐term use of forest harvest features, forage availability, weather or predation risk from wolves Canis lupus and black bears Ursus americanus . Juvenile survivorship was 0.59 (95% CI = 0.51–0.67). Wolf predation accounted for 55.1% of mortalities, followed by bears (14.5%), humans (14.5%), health‐related (10.1%) and cougars ( Puma concolor ) (5.8%). Juvenile moose use of forest harvest features—new cutblocks (0–8 years since harvest; hazard ratio [HR] = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.02–1.64) and higher road densities (HR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.06–1.95)—reduced their survival, presumably from increased predator and hunter efficiency in these habitats. Older cutblocks did not impact juvenile survival (HR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.69–1.09). Forest harvest appears inherently risky, regardless of predation risk, forage, weather, juvenile condition and long‐term use. However, juveniles with more winter ticks, Dermacentor albipictus (HR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.08–1.73), and yearlings with lower weights at capture (HR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.18–0.61) had heightened mortality risk, likely from increased vulnerability to predation. Synthesis and applications . Anthropogenic disturbances, such as forest harvest, create risky landscapes for juveniles by increasing their vulnerability to predation and hunting, and when combined with natural stressors like parasitism, likely drive population declines. Managing landscapes with a species‐centric approach that addresses the cumulative effects of human and natural stressors is essential to mitigate adverse impacts from resource extraction and support wildlife populations.

Increasing frequency and intensification of flooding pose significant threats to critical structures, such as dams and levees. Failure of these structures can lead to substantial economic losses and significant adverse environmental and social consequences. Improving the resilience of these structures against climate-related impacts is important to avoid future risks of failure due to the potential intensification of flooding. National-level guidance on integrating resilience-based frameworks and addressing climate risks and uncertainties in existing design flood estimation methodologies for dams and levees are lacking. To address these gaps, this study first reviews projected climate change patterns for Canada and then discusses regional vulnerabilities of dams by considering significant historical floods and their consequences. Subsequently, a review of existing design flood estimation procedures, with a focus on frequency- and probable maximum flood-based approaches, is conducted to identify areas where climate change-related aspects can be integrated. By examining the challenges associated with various stages of design flood estimation procedures, the review discusses a framework for enhancing climate resiliency of dams and levees considering four pillars of resilience. Furthermore, Canadian design flood estimation practices are compared with international practices to identify areas that require attention. The study highlights the importance of a resilience-based framework in providing design and operation guidance to ensure that dams and levees are resilient to climate impacts. Policymakers and engineers can prioritize consideration of climate-resilience in the design and operation of these structures in order to safeguard communities and infrastructure from the growing risks of future floods associated with climate change.

Predator search efficiency can be enhanced by anthropogenic landscape change, leading to increased predator–prey encounters and subsequent prey population declines. Logging increases early successional vegetation, providing ungulate forage. This increased forage, however, is accompanied by linear feature networks that increase predator hunting efficiency by facilitating predator movement and increasing prey vulnerability. We used integrated step selection analyses to weigh support for multiple hypotheses representing the combined impact of logging features (cutblocks and linear features) on wolf (Canis lupus) movement and habitat selection in interior British Columbia. Further, we examine the relationship between logging and wolf kill-sites of moose (Alces alces) identified using spatiotemporal wolf location cluster analysis. Wolves selected for linear features, which increased their movement rates. New (0–8 years since harvest) cutblocks were selected by wolves. Moose kill-sites had a higher probability of occurring in areas with higher proportions of new and regenerating (9–24 years since harvest) cutblocks. The combined selection and movement responses by wolves to logging features, coupled with increased moose mortality sites associated with cutblocks, indicate that landscape change increases risk for moose. Cumulative effects of landscape change contribute to moose population declines, stressing the importance of cohesive management and restoration of anthropogenic features.

Abstract River rhythmicity refers to the periodic, recurrent phenomena of a riverscape that are synchronized with the rise and fall of river water, creating regimes of river time. River rhythmicity can serve as a lens into the temporal dimension of river formation and socio‐ecological dynamics that are of great interest to many disciplines. In this paper, we introduce river rhythmicity as a conceptual and analytical framework to unify riparian human communities, academic disciplines and water agencies in approaching research and management of rivers. We also explore how the disruptions to riverine rhythms that are experienced by river‐dwelling communities, and are often visible in river discharge data through time, reconfigure, hinder or sever relationships between people and rivers. To ground our discussion in practical, lived experience, we provide brief descriptions of regimes of river time to demonstrate how rhythmic patterns established with rivers in north‐central Canada and Amazonian Colombia shape the lives of two of our co‐authors. By prioritizing holistic accounts of river rhythms, we can elucidate a fuller range of phenomena and their dynamic interactions, revealing riverscape features that are highly valued by local communities yet not often visible to any one discipline. Rhythmicity provides a conceptual framework to help address several challenges facing river conservation and water allocation dilemmas. By emphasizing relationality, it serves to (a) move beyond a biophysical framing of human‐nature connectedness by demonstrating that dynamic processes and relationships are constitutive of rivers, not derivative of them; (b) enhance understanding of how the temporal dimensions of riverine relationships and river dwelling are experienced; (c) highlight the socio‐cultural consequences of changes to river time and (d) centre socially embedded relationships with rivers forged from generations of observations of care and reciprocity. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Anthropogenic activities may facilitate undesirable hybridization and genomic introgression between fish species. Walleye (Sander vitreus) and sauger (Sander canadensis) are economically valuable freshwater species that can spontaneously hybridize in areas of sympatry. Levels of genomic introgression between walleye and sauger may be increased by modifications to waterbodies (e.g., reservoir development) and inadvertent propagation of hybrids in stocking programs. We used genotyping by sequencing (GBS) to examine 217 fish from two large reservoirs with mixed populations of walleye and sauger in Saskatchewan, Canada (Lake Diefenbaker, Tobin Lake). Analyses with 20,038 (r90) and 478 (r100) single nucleotide polymorphisms clearly resolved walleye and sauger, and classified hybrids with high confidence. F1, F2, and multigeneration hybrids were detected in Lake Diefenbaker, indicating potentially high levels of genomic introgression. In contrast, only F1 hybrids were detected in Tobin Lake. Field classification of fish was unreliable; 7% of fish were misidentified based on broad species categories. Important for activities such as brood stock selection, 12 of 173 (7%) fish field identified as pure walleye, and one of 24 (4%) identified as pure sauger were actually hybrids. In addition, two of 15 (13%) field‐identified hybrids were actually pure walleye or sauger. We conclude that hybridization and introgression are occurring in Saskatchewan reservoirs and that caution is warranted when using these populations in stocking programs. GBS offers a powerful and flexible tool for examining hybridization without preidentification of informative loci, eliminating some of the key challenges associated with other marker types.

Contributing to the ongoing debate about policy feedback in comparative public policy research, this article examines the evolution of healthcare financing policy in Ghana. More specifically, this article investigates the shift in healthcare financing from full cost recovery, known as 'cash-and-carry', to a nation-wide public health insurance policy called the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). It argues that unintended, self-undermining feedback effects from the existing health policy constrained the menu of options available to reformers, while simultaneously opening a window of opportunity for transformative policy change. The study advances the current public policy scholarship by showing how the interaction between policy feedbacks and other factors-particularly ideas and electoral pressures-can bring about path-departing policy change. Given the dearth of scholarship on self-undermining policy feedback effects in the Global South, this contribution's originality lies in its application of the novel theory to the sub-Saharan African context.

The Athabasca Basin in northern Saskatchewan is host to many world-class uranium deposits associated with the unconformity between the Paleoproterozoic sandstone of the basin and the underlying crystalline basement (Jefferson et al., 2007). While the style and tonnage of these deposits vary, the current genetic model for unconformity-related uranium deposits has been a practical tool for exploration in the Athabasca Basin. However, the factors which control the location and formation of these deposits is still not fully understood. A paragenetic and petrographic study of mineralization along the Midwest Trend, located on the northeastern margin of the Athabasca Basin, aims to refine the current model and to address the general problem: What are the factors which control mineralization and non-mineralization? The Midwest Trend will be used as a "modèle réduit" for uranium mineralization, as it displays many features characteristic of unconformity type deposits. The Midwest Trend comprises three mineral leases that encompass two uranium deposits, the Midwest Main and Midwest A (Allen et al., 2017a, b). Mineralization occurs along a NE-trending graphitic structure, and is hosted by the sandstone, at the unconformity, and in much lesser amounts in the underlying basement rocks. Petrographic observations aided by the use of RAMAN spectroscopy and SEM-EDS, have been used to create a paragenetic sequence of mineralization (Fig.1). Future work will focus on fluid inclusion studies using microthermometry, LA-ICP-MS, and mass spectrometry of contained gases.

It is well-established that Indigenous Peoples continue to experience a lower level of health than non-Indigenous Peoples in Canada. For many health leaders, finding practical strategies to close the gap in health disparities remains elusive. In this retrospective study, we will illustrate our own experience of transformational change using design and systems thinking tools toward a primary outcome of multi-stakeholder alignment. Using this approach enabled three Indigenous Provincial/Territorial Organizations (IPTOs) representing more than 150 First Nations communities from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario to establish the largest community-led, collaborative approach to health transformation in Canada at the time. These IPTOs have gone on to pursue some of the most ambitious health transformation initiatives in Canada and in September 2018, were granted $68 million in funding support by the Government of Canada. If health leaders are looking at an alternative approach to closing the gap in Indigenous health, alignment thinking has shown promising results.