Since 2019, Blazing Star Environmental has collaborated with HIFN Laurentian University, and McMaster University to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the impacts of the 2018 PAR033 forest fire and the Henvey Inlet Wind Energy Centre on SAR reptiles on HIFN Reserve #2. The project aims to understand the responses of SAR reptiles to various factors, including wind farm construction, post-fire landscape succession, climate change, and mitigation measures. Focused on the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake, Spotted turtle, and Blanding’s turtle, with secondary targets such as the Eastern Hog-nosed snake, Eastern Foxsnake, and Eastern musk turtle, the program has achieved success in capturing individuals, locating new overwintering sites, and engaging local community members. The proposal builds on the long-term vision, emphasizing capacity building within HIFN to eventually lead the project. The current proposal aims to focus on capacity building by training youth in conservation ecology techniques, assessing the effectiveness of artificial overwintering habitat, and adopting a two-eyed seeing approach to understand impacts on SAR reptiles and wildlife. The project involves three cycles of repeated activities, and this proposal covers the last three years (2024–2026) of the first cycle. Notably, this scale and duration of post-impact monitoring have not been conducted in Canada, emphasizing the integration of western science with Traditional Knowledge and building HIFN’s capacity for project coordination on their land. The initiative contributes to SAR recovery strategies and demonstrates the effectiveness of a two-eyed seeing approach in understanding how long-lived species respond to disturbances.

Blazing Star Environmental was awarded $468,889 over the next 3 years ($148,889 in 2024, $171,111 in 2025 and $148,889 in 2026).