Meeting the societal need for resources (e.g. oil and gas, timber) and the environment can be challenging. As the human population grows, so does the need for resources for that population. Developing sustainable resource development remains a global challenge. In the PoeschLab, we strive to help develop and improve sustainable resource development in relation to aquatic ecosystems. For example, industrial activities related to the exploration and development of natural resources have created large networks of roads that we’ve shown to negatively impact aquatic ecosystems (Maitland et al. 2016a). Prioritization methods that consider at-risk species can help mitigate problem these problem stream crossings (Maitland et al. 2016b). Other projects in the PoeschLab include assessing the impact of oil sands development on aquatic ecosystems (Donner et al. In Press; Shotyk et al. In Press; Sun et. al. 2017), assessing spills and determining bio-accumulation of metals in aquatic ecosystems.