Evaluating the success of fen creation in the post oil sands landscape

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In the oil sands development areas near Fort McMulTaypeatlands comprise up to 65% of the landscape. Oil sands mining of over 250 km2 disturbs large tracts of these peatlands, which require reclamation to a functioning natural ecosystem. Essentially, a fen peatland must be created from fen peat bOlTowed from new lease areas, along with a watershed designed to supply the requisite water and dissolved minerals that result in a self-sustaining ecosystem that is carbon-accumulating, capable of supporting a representative assemblage of species and resilient to nonnal periodic stresses. This has never before been attempted. In addition to assisting Suncor Energy comply with its legal obligation to reclaim fens in the post-mined landscape, this research is essential to understanding design implications and thus to the development ofmore optimal designs and cost-effective protocols. The fundamental problem for fen construction is to design a groundwater system that can support the inflows required to sustain the hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological processes and