2017 Mine Site Reclamation Research Report
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COSIA Land EPA 2017 Mine Site Reclamation Research Report April 2018 Introduction This report summarizes progress for projects related to mine site reclamation of the Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) Land Environmental Priority Area (EPA). Please contact the Industry Champion identified for each research project if any additional information is needed. COSIA Land EPA 2017 Mine Site Reclamation Research Report. Calgary, AB: Canadian Natural Resources Limited*; Imperial; Suncor Energy Inc.; Syncrude Canada Ltd.; Teck Resources Limited. * In 2017, Canadian Natural Resources Limited purchased Shell Canada Energy’s Albian Sands operation. All COSIA Land EPA projects previously supported by Shell Canada Energy were transferred to Canadian Natural Resources Limited. Permission for non-commercial use, publication or presentation of excerpts or figures is granted, provided appropriate attribution (as above) is cited. Commercial reproduction, in whole or in part, is not permitted. The use of these materials by the end user is done without any affiliation with or endorsement by any COSIA member. Reliance upon the end user’s use of these materials is at the sole risk of the end user. This report is funded by: Canadian Natural Resources Limited Imperial Suncor Energy Inc. Syncrude Canada Ltd. Teck Resources Limited April 2018 COSIA Land EPA 2017 Mine Site Reclamation Research Report i Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................i INSTRUMENTED WATERSHEDS ..........................................................................................1 Aurora Soil Capping Study: Program Overview .............................................................................................. 2 Aurora Soil Capping Study: Evaluation and Modelling of Soil Water Dynamics to Determine Land Capability of Coarse Textured, Hydrocarbon Affected, Reclamation Soils ........................................... 4 Aurora Soil Capping Study: Hydrocarbon Degradation and Mobility ............................................................ 8 Aurora Soil Capping Study: The Roots of Succession: Relations Among Plants, Soils and Mycorrhizal Fungi in a Reclaimed Site .......................................................................................................... 11 Aurora Soil Capping Study: Soil Carbon Dynamics and Nutrient Retention in Reconstructed Sandy Soils ..... 14 Aurora Soil Capping Study: Re-Establishment of Forest Ecosystem Plants, Microbes, and Soil Processes in Coarse Textured Reclamation Soils ................................................................................... 17 South Bison Hill Instrumented Research Watershed (Clearwater Overburden) Soil Capping Research Synthesis ....................................................................................................................................... 21 Evaluating the Success of Fen Creation ........................................................................................................ 26 Sandhill Fen: Research Watershed Program Overview ................................................................................ 40 Sandhill Fen: Water and Carbon Balance of the Constructed Fen ............................................................... 43 Sandhill Fen: Forest Reconstruction on Upland Sites in the Sandhill Fen Watershed ................................. 48 Sandhill Fen: Hydrogeologic Investigations of Sandhill Fen and Perched Analogues .................................. 52 Sandhill Fen: Early Community Development of Invertebrates in Sandhill and Reference Fens – Local Effects of Vegetation, Substrate, and Water Quality ............................................................... 55 NSERC – Syncrude Industrial Research Chair in Hydrogeological Characterization of Oil Sands Mine Closure Landforms .................................................................................................................... 58 NSERC – Syncrude Industrial Research Chair in Mine Closure Geochemistry .............................................. 67 Coal Watershed Research and Development Program ................................................................................ 73 Applying Natural Analogues to Constructing and Assessing Long-Term Hydrologic Response of Oil Sands Reclaimed Landscapes ............................................................................................. 78 FORWARD III: Modelling to Contribute to Cumulative Effects Management in the Canadian Boreal Forest .......94 WETLANDS ...................................................................................................................... 101 Criteria to Assess the Ecological Function of the STP Wetlands Complex and Diversion Channel ............ 102 COSIA Land EPA 2017 Mine Site Reclamation Research Report ii Ecohydrogeologic Investigation of Opportunistic and Constructed Wetlands on Syncrude’s Mildred Lake Lease ..................................................................................................................................... 105 Peatland Reclamation Markers of Success ................................................................................................. 108 Reclamation Wetlands Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) .................................................................................. 110 Wetland Inventory of Permanently Reclaimed Sites at Suncor Oil Sands Base Plant ................................ 113 COMPENSATION LAKES AND AQUATICS ........................................................................ 115 Horizon Lake Fisheries Monitoring ............................................................................................................. 116 Compensation Lake Studies ....................................................................................................................... 121 Fisheries Sustainable Habitat Committee: Refinement of Fish Habitat Pre-Disturbance Models ............. 124 Assessing the Role of Habitat in Determining Age and Growth Relationships of Fish ............................... 126 Assessing the Productive Capacity of Compensation Lakes ...................................................................... 130 SOILS AND RECLAMATION MATERIALS ......................................................................... 135 Surface Soil Stockpiling Research ............................................................................................................... 136 Nutrient Biogeochemistry 2: Tracking Nutrient Fluxes Through Reconstructed Soils ............................... 139 Potential Limitations of Stockpiled Soils – A Case Study ............................................................................ 142 The GERI (Genomics Enhanced Reclamation Index) Stockpile Project: Creating Ecologically Viable Soil Stockpiles for Future Reclamation ............................................................................................ 144 Reclamation Soils Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) ....................................................................................147 Lean Oil Sand Soil Capping Synthesis and Risk Assessment ....................................................................... 149 REVEGETATION ............................................................................................................... 151 NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Forest Land Reclamation ................................................................... 152 Developing a Functional Approach to Assessment of Equivalent Capability: Utilizing Ecosystem Water, Carbon and Nutrient Fluxes as Integrated Measures of Reclamation Performance .... 158 Native Balsam Poplar Clones for Use in Reclamation of Salt-Impacted Sites ............................................ 162 Selected Willow Clones for Use in Reclaimed Ecosystems Impacted by Elevated Salt Levels ................... 164 A Forest Fertilization Trial in a Mildred Lake Jack Pine Stand .................................................................... 166 Plant Community Succession of Oil Sands Reclamation ............................................................................ 168 Oil Sands Vegetative Cooperative .............................................................................................................. 172 NSERC Terrestrial Restoration Ecology Industrial Research Chair .............................................................. 175 Jack Pine Establishment ............................................................................................................................. 178 COSIA Land EPA 2017 Mine Site Reclamation Research Report iii Establishment of Ericoid Mycorrhizal Associated Shrub Species (Blueberry, Labrador Tea And Lingonberry) in Oil Sands Reclamation Soils ....................................................................................... 181 Effects of Non-Segregated Tailings (NST) on Growth of Oil Sands Reclamation Plants ............................. 187 Long-Term Plot Network ............................................................................................................................ 191 WILDLIFE RESEARCH AND MONITORING ...................................................................... 193 Wildlife Monitoring – Horizon Oil Sands .................................................................................................... 194 Monitoring Avian Productivity