A message from NAIT Applied Research:
What should a forest do? In a way, that question is central to the work being done by NAIT's Dr. Amanda Schoonmaker, NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Boreal Reclamation and Reforestation.
In many cases in Alberta, the answer is that it should do everything it did before it supported industrial activities. That is, an intact forest should provide wildlife habitat, sequester carbon, purify water, and more. Once resource extraction is over, the Alberta Energy Regulator says it expects that companies have a plan to "return the land back to how it looked and how it was used (or similarly) before development took place," allowing it to resume its own natural, day-to-day operations.
Based in NAIT's applied research department at the Centre for Boreal Research near Peace River, Schoonmaker is dedicated to ensuring the success of that reclamation process. To that end, she and her team are supported by ConocoPhillips Canada, operator of the Surmont in-situ oil sands site near Fort McMurray and the Montney development, an unconventional resources play in northeastern B.C.
This fall, the company committed $1.5 million over 10 years for studies at both locations, adding to investments made starting in 2014. The funding will go toward exploring new directions in reclamation and continued monitoring of previous efforts at its sites.
The work is already paying off. "I was on all of these sites when they started," says Schoonmaker. "I saw what they looked like initially, and what they are now."
Every time she has a chance to revisit a study location and take new measurements, Schoonmaker is amazed, she adds, "because it's becoming forest."
Read the rest of the story in techlifetoday to find out more about expanding the toolset for reclamation.
Learn about NAIT Applied Research's commitment to land reclamation.