Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance and University of Calgary Celebrate Pioneering Wetland Reclamation Research

/EIN News/ -- Calgary, AB, March 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) and the University of Calgary (U of C), today, celebrated a pioneering program in which Dr. Jan Ciborowski has been appointed the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)/COSIA Industrial Research Chair in Oil Sands Wetland Reclamation.

COSIA has committed $1.25 million in funding, matched by NSERC, to the five-year partnership between COSIA, NSERC and the University of Calgary. The program will develop measures to assess oil sand wetland reclamation success.

“Wetlands play a key role in the ecosystem in northern Alberta and around the world in terms of water filtration and management, and in capturing and storing large quantities of greenhouse gases,” says Wes Jickling, COSIA’s Chief Executive. “Oil sands companies have become leaders in wetland reclamation, and this Chair is the next big step. Not only will this research help ensure wetlands can be sustainably reclaimed in the area of Canada’s oil sands, but learnings have the potential for application in a national or global context.”

Dr. Ciborowski, who has been studying reclaimed and natural wetlands in the oil sands region for over 20 years says, “We’ve learned enough so that companies could start building full scale wetlands on disturbed land at mining sites. Now the wetlands are four or five years old they look really good, they are lush, green and full of wildlife, but there isn’t a framework or a standard set of measures we can use to assess young constructed wetlands and predict their future success, which is what this effort will seek to establish.”

Dr. Ciborowski’s team includes specialized experts, post-doctoral scholars, undergraduate and graduate students. The work includes sampling at over 100 different wetland sites over consecutive summers to study the functionality, water quality and surrounding features of newly, and sometimes naturally, forming wetlands in the post-mining landscape. They also gauge the ecological health of various wetlands by sampling aquatic organisms, studying developing vegetation and observing bird species, amongst other things.

The Chair program was celebrated at a virtual event co-hosted by COSIA and U of C earlier today. It is one of many partnerships COSIA has with government and academia to enable environmental innovation and research in the oil sands.

Visit COSIA at www.cosia.ca. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

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About COSIA:

Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA) is a unique alliance of oil sands producers focused on accelerating environmental performance in Canada’s oil sands. COSIA enables collaboration and innovation between thinkers from industry, government, academia and the wider public to improve measurement, accountability and performance in the oil sands across our environmental priority areas of greenhouse gases, land, water and tailings. COSIA members search the world for solutions to our toughest problems. And we have some of the best minds on the planet working on technologies to enable further responsible and sustainable development.

About the University of Calgary

The University of Calgary is a global intellectual hub located in Canada’s most enterprising city. In our spirited, high-quality learning environment, students thrive in programs made rich by research, hands-on experiences and entrepreneurial thinking. Our strategy drives us to be recognized as one of Canada’s top five research universities, engaging the communities we both serve and lead. This strategy is called Eyes High, inspired by the university's Gaelic motto, which translates as 'I will lift up my eyes.' For more information, visit ucalgary.ca/eyeshigh.

For more information, visit ucalgary.ca. Stay up to date with University of Calgary news headlines on Twitter @UCalgary. For details on faculties and how to reach experts go to our media center at ucalgary.ca/mediacentre.

Attachments

• Suncor employees monitoring wetlands_Courtesy Suncor Energy Inc.
• Syncrude reclaimed wetlands_Base Mine Lake_Courtesy Syncrude

Helen Nguyen Tran
                    Canada's Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA)
                    403 617 3650
                    helen.nguyentran@cosia.ca
                    
                    Erin Guiltenane
                    Faculty of Science, University of Calgary
                    403 606 9913
                    eguilten@ucalgary.ca