Field and Laboratory Tools and Instruments for Boreal Reclamation

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NAIT Boreal Research Institute (NBRI) is a satellite campus of NAIT located in Peace River, Alberta, 500 km northwest of Edmonton. Resource industry growth in the Peace River Oilsands is placing pressure on the boreal forest ecosystem, including a backlog of 15,000 abandoned oil and gas well sites in northwest Alberta. The Province of Alberta has introduced stringent environmental regulations to guide forest reclamation. Oil and gas companies are motivated to meet and exceed these regulations. To be successful, oil and gas companies face an urgency to find science-based, cost effective reclamation techniques. Industry is further motivated to build the capacity of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) reclamation enterprises and commercial greenhouse, as these SMEs are a vital part of the forest reclamation supply chain. NAIT secured funding through Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Government of Alberta and, in addition to NAIT's direct funding, constructed a research greenhouse and associated laboratory facilities to produce seed banks and to propagate plants suitable for forest reclamation. ARTI funds are incremental but complementary to these existing greenhouse and laboratory facilities. In particular, ARTI funds will add important analytical capability. The ARTI-related laboratory equipment allows for soil, water, and plant chemistry analyses and for seed viability and plant physiology tests. Understanding "how" and "why" seeds and plants used in forest reclamation perform in the field, and under specific physical and chemical soil conditions, will significantly improve reclamation research outcomes. The equipment will enable landscape-scale ecosystem assessment through a network of environmental and watershed monitoring stations. Ultimately, applied research in boreal reclamation will benefit industry, and provide ecological outcomes of value to the general public.