Reclamation and Horticulture
Reclamation, horticulture, and restoration occurs on a large scale and requires different resources than the personal, community or commercial use of native plants. Private and public lands that are disturbed by most industrial activity are required to be reclaimed to the adjacent reference community or to equivalent land use – often a native plant community. How are Albertans meeting this challenge that will see 4,800 square kilometres of boreal forest disturbed by surface mining? Likewise for the thousands of kilometres of pipelines and energy transmission lines in all of our ecological subregions.
Below are links to the regulatory response to the use of native plants in reclamation; and the academic, industry and professional-sponsored research into the restoration and reclamation techniques at the ecological community scale.
LINKS TO ACADEMIC, PROFESSIONAL AND INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS DOING RECLAMATION AND RESTORATION WITH NATIVE PLANTS IN ALBERTA
Native Plant Revegetation Guidelines for Alberta
Invasive Plants in Alberta. Native Rangeland
Prairie Plants at risk in southern Alberta
Revegetation using native plants: guidelines for industrial development sites
Guide to common northern rangeland plant communities and their management
ANPC Iris Newsletter No. 89 Winter 2022: Establishing Native Plant Communities: A Primer
Canadian Land Reclamation Association: The CLRA is the association of all professions working in industrial reclamation in Alberta.Their publication “Canadian Reclamation” is a valuable source of information on reclamation in practice.
CEMA (Cumulative Environmental Management Association). See the Reclamation Working Group Library for study documents on native shrub propagation, long term vegetation monitoring, plots, wetlands, and other native plant restoration/reclamation recommendations for oilsands in the boreal forest.
Grasslands Restoration Forum: Native grassland range community guides, recovery strategies for dry mixed-grass, mixed-grass, northern fescue and foothills fescue, foothills parkland and montane subregions, and native seed sources.
Reference materials available through the Grasslands Restoration Forum include the Ecological Site Restoration Risk Analysis Tool: https://grasslandrestorationforum.ca
“Establishing Native Plant Communities” addresses the specifics of native revegetation and methodology that are not covered in the provincial government’s Native Plant Revegetation Guidelines for Alberta.
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex6123
Planning is the best way to avoid the common pitfalls of reclamation. This document is provided from the AER and outlines BMP for pipelines that has some very good information.
https://www.aer.ca/documents/applications/BestManagementPracticesPipeline.pdf
Boreal Research Institute: research support for forest and peatland rest/rec, seed technology
Society for Ecological Restoration, Western Canada Chapter: connects ecological restoration practitioners with best knowledge and practice through their journal and website, and advocates restoration to a multi-sectoral audience
Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) is an alliance of oil sands producers focused on accelerating the pace of improvement in environmental performance in Canada’s oil sands through collaborative action and innovation. Their website: http://www.cosia.ca/initiatives/land
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