Innovation Anthology #546:

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When it comes to forest reclamation after oil sands mining, tree seedlings need a lot of help to grow.

That’s where Dr Joshua Sloan comes in. He’s a specialist in forest regeneration at Purdue University.

DR. JOSHUA SLOAN: On a reclamation site a lot of times, we’ll see a very high pH which is not good for plant growth. It leads to low nutrient availability. We see a loss of soil structure and a loss of organic matter in soils on these reclamation sites which reduces nutrient holding capacity. It reduces the native level of fertility of that particular soil . And we also see sometimes problems with high sodium levels. So there are a variety of things that happen with these soils when they’re disturbed, when they’re mixed up, stockpiled and then brought back. Which may get very problematic to simply plant a seedling and walk away. We would have weeds come in that would out compete the seedlings before the slower growing seedlings would have a chance to establish themselves on these harsh reclamation sites.

As Dr. Joshua Sloan reported to the CONRAD Symposium, he is researching the use of different types of fertilizer to help white spruce and aspen seedlings survive on oil sands reclamation sites.

Thanks today to Syncrude.

I’M CHERYL CROUCHER

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Syncrude

Program Date: 2013-03-28