SENIOR ECOLOGIST PROFILE
Linda Sober, B.Sc., (Hons) Major: Animal Behavior
Ecologist
L.L. Sober brings over twenty five years of combined ecology experience from posts in both private and public sectors.
Early training in the provincial government spanned traditional forestry, fisheries and large game management planning of the late 1980s.
Provincial posts were beneficial to apply academic science to actual field research and subsequent input to land use in Ontario. This included integrating ecology into Timber Management Plans incorporating innovative modeling techniques and authoring long term land use plans including a White-tailed Deer Management Plan.
L.L. Sober has compiled extensive data considering “Land Use Effects and Development Setbacks for Conservation of Natural Areas” integrating refered field science studies for defensible and understandable testimony at tribunals.
Sober has been a requested member of provincial scientific teams pioneering new policy, whether for significant woodland determination, or characterizing plant communities in our province. Ms. Sober toured much of Northeastern Ontario in 1995 to establish the first test plots for the then fledgling Provincial Ecological Land Classification (ELC) project. Scientific rigor was useful in designating fen, bog marsh and swamp wetland vegetation sample plots. This assisted the Northwest Science and Technology Transfer Unit and Lakehead University (Ph.D. Harris) as a step toward characterizing these habitat types by ecological region and ecological district.
Regional multi-year environmentally sensitive area projects include the Muskoka Natural Heritage Areas Program, the development of a Natural Heritage System for the City of Owen Sound, policy guideline development for upper tier governments including authoring more rigorous performance standards for conducting and authoring environmental impact assessments in Ontario.
Other multi-stakeholder and multi-year natural heritage projects involve a biodiversity incentive where sensitive species and vegetation removed for a Hydro One corridor in southcentral Ontario are transplanted and planted as a seedbank on First Nations lands located on the Bruce Peninsula of Ontario.
Sober provides natural heritage study, review and expert witness testimony. Clients have included both the private and public sector.
