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Fall 2020

Brown, Nicholas

While bitumen is one of the oldest construction materials in the world and currently provides an important fuel needed to sustain our modern lifestyle, the disturbances caused by extracting and refining this material are considerable, with 895 km2 of land being disturbed in Alberta as of 2018...

Spring 2020

Buss, Jennifer

Soil stockpiles are used around the world to reclaim sites affected by industrial activities. Oil sands surface mining and in situ extraction activities in Alberta, Canada, have directly impacted more than 900 km2 of land, with more development expected in the future. Soil stockpiles will be...

Fall 2020

Bony, Laura

Salt affected soils are common around the world from natural causes or anthropogenic activities. Over 1030 million hectares of land worldwide are affected by salt or at risk of being affected. In Alberta, saline and sodic soils may occur with oil and gas production, increasing the risk of...

Fall 2020

Trepanier, Kaitlyn E

Oil sands mining is a significant disturbance in the Canadian boreal forest. One objective for reclamation after mining is to create a self-sustaining ecosystem, which includes establishing a native plant community. For this thesis, study one evaluates the different plant assembly mechanisms,...

Fall 2020

Humble, Shaina N

The dissertation is concerned with how Inuit artists are reclaiming knowledge from early ethnographic texts. Early ethnographic texts, such as the writing, photographs, and cultural products produced or acquired by Danish-Greenlandic explorer Knud Rasmussen during the Fifth Thule Expedition...

Spring 2020

Hudson, Jessica Jacquelene

Herbaceous forbs hitchhiked, or co-grown, with a woody species, is a solution to establish both native woody and herbaceous species at recently disturbed sites. The broad study objectives were to (1) assess the growth of fireweed hitchhiked with three deciduous woody species and one conifer over...

Fall 2018

Hazell, Mallory

I investigated peatland reclamation factors in a wetland built on a former open-pit oil sands mine in northern Alberta, Canada. The primary research objectives were to investigate the persistence of peat placed in a newly constructed wetland, the survival and establishment of Carex aquatilis...

Spring 2018

deBortoli, Leah A.

Reclamation efforts that promote the re-establishment of native tree and plant communities subsequent of large-scale oil sands mining land disturbances are crucial in restoring natural ecosystems. It is important that reclamation procedures capable of facilitating the establishment of native...

Fall 2018

Baydack, Micki

The impacts of mining activity on human-caribou relationships in the Northwest Territories have been a focus of study in both the natural and social sciences for decades. Guided by Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation elders and harvesters, this study used dendrochronology methods and best practices for...

Fall 2018

Valek, Erika Rovena

Forest reclamation sites are often located in areas not suited for agriculture and therefore have poor soil conditions. To assist in the rehabilitation of forests on these types of sites, organic amendments can be used. Close to large urban centers, compost derived from municipal organic waste...