Table 2.

Summary of baseline vegetation cover within the development (DA) or local study areas (LSA) of mines with approval to operate granted by March, 2011

	Horizon mine	Mildred Lake and expansion	Suncor Basemine	Muskeg and expansion	Jackpine mine– phase 1	Kearl mine	Suncor Steepbank and Millenium mines	Fort Hills mine	Aurora North mine
Bank	West	West	West	West	East	East	East	East	East
Units	ha in LSA	ha in LSA	ha in LSA	ha in LSA	ha in DA	ha in LSA	ha in DA	ha in DA	ha in LSA
Terrestrial vegetation	17,040	14,662	16,745	2,775	4,408	15,416	2,806	3,350	17,733
Peatlands	5,355	1,870	16,813	3,075	1	9,986	6,422	751	19,714
Riparian communities	2,600	708	0	1,216	1,434	7,804	100	1,012	199
Graminoid marsh	318	0	0	36	523	1	19	6	435
Shallow open water	332	175	61	61	21	42	8	0	249
Wetlands subtotal	8,605	2,753	16,874	4,388	1,979	17,833	6,549	1,769	20,597
Lakes and rivers	267	175	61	43	1,359	561	0	0	580
Disturbed land	1,874	909	1,300	5,270	38	206	0	419	1,197
Total	27,786	18,499	34,980	12,476	7,784	34,016	9,355	5,538	40,107
% wetland	31	15	48	35	25	52	70	32	51
% terrestrial	61	79	48	22	57	45	30	60	44

The west bank is typically drier and supports more upland habitat relative to the east bank, which supports more wetland habitat. As a part of their environmental impact assessments (EIAs), mine operators designate DAs, which represent the footprint of all facilities directly associated with mining, i.e., mine pits, tailings storage, bitumen recovery plants, etc., and LSAs, which include both the DA and a buffer around the DA that is intended to accommodate any potential indirect effects of the proposed development. Baseline conditions are typically presented for either the DA or LSA, but not for both. The vegetation cover values were obtained through a review of baseline studies in EIAs and the most recently updated reclamation, conservation, and closure plans (see SI Text for references).