Reclamation of boreal forest after oil sands mining: anticipating novel challenges in novel environments

Abstract

Boreal forests in northern Alberta have a growing anthropogenic footprint due to a rapidly growing oil sands mining industry. Although land reclamation is a necessary aspect of responsible industrial development, these activities nearly always affect higher order landscape components such as the broader landform, and its hydrology and biogeochemistry. Recent anthropogenic impacts are then believed to result in new environmental conditions and obstacles under which the boreal forest is developing, potentially leading to irreversibly different environments that could be characterized as novel ecosystems. Reflecting an emerging trend across the field of restoration ecology, these novel ecosystems are not necessarily undesirable. Instead, they are an unavoidable consequence of pervading anthropogenic effects on natural ecosystems. It is our view that successful reclamation outcomes can still be derived so long as policy and regulatory requirements are afforded the necessary scope and economic flexibility to account for the development of hybrid and novel ecosystems among highly disturbed mine sites. Hence, this analysis seeks to situate current and anticipated challenges affecting the reclamation of boreal forest following oil sands mining by describing (i) how regulatory criteria shape reclamation practices and targeted end goals and (ii) how these approaches embody latest trends and priorities in the area of restoration ecology.Key words: land reclamation, equivalent land capability, boreal forest, oil sands, novel ecosystems. Résumé :Les forêts boréales du nord de l'Alberta subissent une empreinte anthropique croissante due à l'expansion rapide de l'industrie des sables bitumineux. Alors que la réhabilitation des sites est un aspect essentiel d'un développement industriel responsable, ces activités affectent presque toujours des composantes majeures du paysage telles que son relief, son hydrologie et sa biogéochimie. On suppose que les impacts anthropiques récents créent des conditions environnementales et des obstacles nouveaux pour le développement de la forêt boréale, ce qui pourrait mener à des environnements irréversiblement différents qui pourraient être qualifiés d'écosystèmes nouveaux. Reflétant une tendance émergente en écologie de la restauration, ces nouveaux écosystèmes ne sont pas nécessairement indésirables. Ils sont plutôt une conséquence inévitable des effets anthropiques invasifs sur les écosystèmes naturels. Nous sommes d'avis que la réhabilitation des sites peut encore donner de bons résultats dans la mesure où on accepte que les exigences politiques et réglementaires aient l'ampleur et la flexibilité économique nécessaires pour prendre en compte le développement d'écosystèmes hybrides et nouveaux dans des sites miniers hautement perturbés. Ainsi, cette analyse vise à identifier les défis actuels et anticipés de la réhabilitation de la forêt boréale à la suite de l'exploitation des sables bitumineux en décrivant (i) la manière dont les critères réglementaires influencent les pratiques...

Coarse Woody Debris as a Land Reclamation Amendment at an Oil Sands Mining Operation in Boreal Alberta, Canada

“…Oil sands mining results in the complete removal of forest ecosystems to access the oil sands ore followed by ecosystem reconstruction during land reclamation [12]. This reclamation process involves landform construction of overburden or tailings dumps, which are subsequently capped with cover soils rich in organic matter of either upland or the wetland origin.…”

Effects of land use on the structure and function of leaf‐litter microbial communities in boreal streams

“…The lack of reliable, and ecologically relevant means of determining recovery rates and trajectories is a significant challenge in restoration ecology and ecosystem management (Ruiz-Jaen & Aide, 2005). Defining, setting and measuring benchmarks will require different indicators of ecosystem state and function (Audet, Pinno & Thiffault, 2015), and microbial communities in streams may be useful as one of these indicators.…”

Reclamation strategies for mined forest soils and overstorey drive understorey vegetation

“…() and Pinno and Hawkes (). This probably resulted from reduced resource availability in the understorey with increasing overstorey canopy closure and standing biomass as stands age from stand initiation stage to stem exclusion stage (Audet et al., ; Bartels & Chen, ; Chen & Popadiouk, ; Halpern & Lutz, ; Pinno & Hawkes, ; Zhang et al., ).…”

“…Time since restoration or reclamation also affects understorey vegetation (Audet, Pinno, & Thiffault, 2015;Pinno & Hawkes, 2015;Rowland, Prescott, Grayston, Quideau, & Bradfield, 2009). Typically, canopy closure increases over time from stand establishment to maturity (Chen & Popadiouk, 2002;Oliver & Larson, 1996).…”