Glahder, C.M., Boertmann, D., Madsen, J., Tamstorf, M., Johansen, K., Hansen, J., Walsh, A., Jaspers, C. & Bjerrum, M. 2010: Biological baseline study in the Ramsar site “Heden” and the entire Jameson Land, East Greenland. National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University. 86 p. – NERI Technical Report no. 769.
In 2004, Quadra Mining Ltd. was granted an exploration license that covered the Malmbjerget area in East Greenland and late 2008 the mining company was granted an exploitation licence. Early 2008 an Environmental Impact Assessment and an Interim Feasibility Study was presented by the mining company. The mining company plans to exploit a large molybdenum ore body estimated to be mined for 20-25 years. In the north western part of Jameson Land, around Gurreholm (Fig. 1), the mining company plans to construct a port with a large container terminal, a gravel road from the port and c. 75 km north to the production camp along the east side of the Schuchert River and a c. 2,000 m long air strip situated 3-4 km northeast of the port and connected to the road by a perpendicular gravel road (Figs. 45, 46). These constructions cover about 1 km2. In the production phase the period July-October will be the most intensive period, with an estimated arrival of one ship every second week and a maximum of 7 trucks (c. 50 tons) per hour that will arrive or leave the port site. Every second week a Hercules plane will land and about 2 medium sized jet planes will land per week.
The port, airstrip and about 20 km road in the Gurreholm area are planned to be located inside the Ramsar site “Heden”. A Ramsar site is a wetland of international importance for e.g. staging and breeding birds that holds a minimum of 1% of the total flyway population of at least one water bird species. The Ramsar site “Heden” was designated in 1988 primarily to protect internationally important populations of moulting Pink-footed geese and Barnacle geese. The area held at that time 3% of the total flyway population of Pink-footed geese and 9% of the total Barnacle geese. Of importance for the designation was also other breeding birds like Red-throated diver, Long-tailed and Arctic skua, Dunlin and Turnstone, and uncommon breeding birds like Sabine´s gull, Whimbrel, Red and Red-necked phalarope. If “urgent national interests” are claimed by the national state resulting in a reduction of a Ramsar site, the Ramsar Secretariat must be informed about alternatives and a proposal for the designation of a replacement area. In a dialogue with the Ramsar secretariat the Greenland Self-Government has informed that the mining project is of “urgent national interests”, meaning that the project can proceed provided that the impact of the activities are monitored and that an appropriate replacement area is found in advance.
The relatively large construction works planned inside the Ramsar site ”Heden” will affect the area in two ways: Some areas will be lost due to the constructions, perhaps temporarily dependant of remediation measures, and some areas will be disturbed so that animals, especially moulting geese, will be displaced permanently or temporarily from the areas. The purpose of the present reported baseline studies performed in July 2008 in Jameson Land was to census the number and distribution of moulting and breeding geese and of other birds prior to the mine start. The studies were performed in four study areas: the possible affected Gurreholm area, the reference areas Tyskit Nunaat and Draba Sibirica River, and the planned replacement area in Ørsted Dal (Fig. 1). Also, the purpose was to map the vegetation of the entire Jameson Land.
The 2008 field studies show that the Gurreholm study area is very rich in bird species and individuals compared to the other study areas. The reason is that Gurreholm is a lush tundra wetland area rich in smaller and larger lakes and rivers, fens and coastal salt marshes. The number of breeding and moulting Pink-footed geese (more than 800 individuals in families and c. 4,000 moulting birds that constitutes more than 20% of the Jameson Land total) as well as other breeding birds (11 species with 64 successfully pairs) is high. Sabine´s gull and Whimbrel, classified as “near threatened” in the Greenland Red-list are breeding in the area. Only about 3% of the total moulting population of Barnacle geese in Jameson Land use the Gurreholm area.
The possible effects of the mining activities on geese and other bird species in the northwestern part of the Ramsar site ”Heden” is evaluated in relation to three disturbance scenarios, expressed by the distance at which birds are predicted to be displaced. The size of these three zones of 1.5, 5 and 10 km (Fig. 45) are based on knowledge from reactions of moulting geese to helicopter disturbances and breeding geese to airstrips and walking persons. When a large helicopter approached moulting Pink-footed geese they stayed alert at a distance of about 10 km from the plane and fled to a lake or river at distances of 7-8 km. A smaller helicopter caused the two latter reactions at distances of 4-6 km. When geese, still able to fly, are searching for suitable moulting sites they probably will avoid moulting habitats that are inside the 10 km disturbance zone. This is based on observations of Pink-footed geese that avoided a valley in Jameson Land in late June after passage of large helicopters at distances of about 5 km. No geese moulted in the valley that year. Breeding geese are more tolerant to disturbances and observations indicate little or no effects at distances of 1-2 km from the source. According to these observations we have chosen a disturbance zone of 1.5 km to breeding geese and other breeding birds. A worst case scenario is represented by the 10 km disturbance zone inside which we expect that no geese will start moulting (Fig. 45). The more moderate scenario anticipates the geese to initiate their moult in areas situated more than 5 km from the disturbances, but inside the 5 km zone no geese will moult. Breeding geese and other breeding birds are expected to avoid the area inside the 1.5 km disturbance zone.
Inside the disturbance zone of 10 km about 4,900 moulting Pink-footed geese and 530 moulting Barnacle geese were observed in 2008, while the disturbance zone of 5 km held c. 3,900 moulting Pink-footed geese and 400 moulting Barnacle geese. Inside the 1.5 km disturbance zone a minimum of 150 Pink-footed geese in family flocks (equal to c. 30 successful pairs) and a minimum of 8 breeding pairs of other breeding birds were located. It is likely that all lakes used by foraging non-breeding Sabine´s gulls will be affected by the constructions. Supplementary studies on breeding birds, performed in June 2009, will be reported separately.
The size and quality of a replacement area depends on both the chosen disturbance zones and suitable areas in East Greenland. Ørsted Dal is the only relevant potential replacement area in Jameson Land. To delimit the replacement area the starting point could be to evaluate if the Ørsted Dal study area would be a sufficient replacement area. In this area we observed 400 moulting Pink-footed geese and 700 Barnacle geese, family birds of 50 Pink-footed geese and 120 Barnacle geese and 30 breeding pairs of 5 other bird species. It is obvious that this area is not sufficient to replace especially moulting and breeding Pink-footed geese. It is doubtful if the area is sufficient to replace the diversity of other breeding species. On the other hand, Barnacle geese are fully replaced.
Therefore, it is necessary to extend the Ørsted Dal area to that depicted on Fig. 45. The replacement area shown on the figure is smaller than the proposed optimal replacement area (Fig. 51) due to two existing mineral licence areas. This area holds c. 3,000 moulting Pink-footed geese or about 60-80% of the 3,900 – 4,900 geese potentially lost inside the two disturbance zones in the Gurreholm area. In return, the extended Ørsted Dal area supports c. 4,700 moulting Barnacle geese giving protection under the Ramsar Convention to an extra 7% of the Barnacle goose flyway population. This is of importance because the population is still relatively small despite its current rapid growth. It is difficult to judge if the replacement area can fully compensate the loss of breeding Pink-footed geese and other breeding birds. The southeastern part of the area is suitable only to moulting geese and not to most breeding birds because of snow and ice coverage until late June. A preliminary spatial model indicates that the replacement area has no substantial spare habitats for the moulting geese displaced from Gurreholm.
Because of the uncertainties to assess the impact of the mining activities on the moulting and breeding birds in the northwestern part of the Ramsar site it is suggested to introduce a monitoring program when mining starts. If the proposed replacement area can not compensate for the loss of moulting and breeding birds in the Gurreholm area, yet another replacement area should be delimited elsewhere along the East Greenland coast. Studies performed in 2009 and planned in 2010 should prepare for such a situation.
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