Innovation Anthology #176:

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The next project for Syncrude’s reclamation research team is the reconstruction of a fen watershed.

A fen is one type of peatland in the boreal forest of northeastern Alberta. Syncrude’s attempt to rebuild a fens complex hydrology after removing the oil sands below will draw on the knowledge gained from something called the HEAD project.

Syncrude scientist Clara Qualizza explains.

CLARA QUALIZZA: That’s some very fascinating research that the team out of the University of Alberta that’s headed up by Dr. Kevin Devito and Dr. Carl Mendoza are doing down in the Utikima area of Alberta. They are working on a project called HEAD which is Hydrology, Ecology And Disturbance in Boreal Wetlands. They are really studying the mechanics, the nuts and bolts of why wetlands exist in the boreal forest, in a place that has a moisture deficit.

Research from the HEAD project shows that the boreal sports a unique feature. Water runs uphill.

For Qualizza’s team, this means designing a fen landscape that supports trees with roots that will transport water from the fen uphill into the upland forest.

Thanks today to the Syncrude Canada.

I’M CHERYL CROUCHER

Guest

Steve Herman,

Water Next – Western Canada’s Water Accelerator, Calgary, Alberta, Canada,

Sponsor

Syncrude

Program Date: 2008-10-16