Management practices for growing a forest in a post-mining industrial landscape

Coal-fired power companies in Alberta need to conduct afforestation of thousands of hectares of previously mined lands, as the province transitions from coal-fired to gas-fired power plants. Identification of management practices that address soil building, erosion control and manage ruderal vegetation concurrently is critical to facilitate reclamation efforts. This study will implement an integrated set of beneficial management practices (BMPs) and provide a basis for quantifying the value of these practices for facilitating soil building, erosion control, and weed management in former mine sites. We will test these management practices with three field studies of similar environmental conditions at two different coal mines (Genesee and SunHills) owned by Capital Power and TransAlta Corp., respectively, in the Parkland region of Alberta. The management practice changes developed will benefit our industrial partners

Faculty Supervisor:

Amanda Schoonmaker;Mark Baah-Acheamfour

Student:

Partner:

Capital Power;SunHills Mining

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Construction and infrastructure; Mining

University:

Northern Alberta Institute of Technology

Program: