After oil and gas wellsites are decommissioned they undergo reclamation; when these wellsites have met legislated criteria they are issued a reclamation certificate. However, reclamation is a complex process and recovery of ecological function may continue long after this certificate is issued. The effectiveness of reclamation post-certification in Alberta’s cropland, native prairie and forest land is not presently monitored and published studies suggest that vegetation communities at reclaimed sites often differ from undisturbed areas. Thus, it is important to understand how reclaimed soils and the subsequent trajectory of vegetation and other biota recover in reclaimed sites compared with undisturbed sites. In this talk I will introduce ABMI’s Ecological Recovery Monitoring program, which is establishing long-term monitoring protocols to assess ecological recovery at certified reclaimed wellsites across Alberta.
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