scholarly journals Maximizing Natural Trembling Aspen Seedling Establishment on a Reclaimed Boreal Oil Sands Site

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. D. Pinno ◽  
R. C. Errington
2012 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley D. Pinno ◽  
Simon M. Landhäusser ◽  
M. Derek MacKenzie ◽  
Sylvie A. Quideau ◽  
Pak S. Chow

Pinno, B. D., Landhäusser, S. M., MacKenzie, M. D., Quideau, S. A. and Chow, P. S. 2012. Trembling aspen seedling establishment, growth and response to fertilization on contrasting soils used in oil sands reclamation. Can. J. Soil Sci. 92: 143–151. Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) is an important tree species for land reclamation. This study determined trembling aspen germination, establishment, initial growth and response to fertilizer on contrasting oil sands reclamation soils. In a greenhouse, eight soils varying in total nitrogen and available phosphorus were treated with no fertilizer (control), phosphorus and potassium (PK), nitrogen (N) and all three (NPK). Soil had the greatest impact on aspen growth when no fertilizer was applied with the best growth occurring on organic-mineral material soils where growth was positively correlated with extractable and foliar potassium but not to nitrogen or phosphorus. With PK and N fertilizer, growth increases were positively correlated with foliar phosphorus concentrations of the corresponding controls. NPK fertilizer caused greater growth, bud set and root:leaf mass ratio compared with PK or N fertilizer. Soil type had little impact on germination and establishment, indicating natural aspen seedlings can potentially regenerate on all of these soils. In oil sands mining reclamation where these soils are used as surface materials, organic-mineral mixes had the greatest potential without fertilizer. With fertilizer, NPK provided maximum growth and developmental benefits.


2019 ◽  
pp. 297-307
Author(s):  
Yuqing Yang ◽  
Shongming Huang ◽  
Robert Vassov ◽  
Brad Pinno ◽  
Sophan Chhin

Climate-sensitive height–age models were developed for top height trees of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.), and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) in natural and reclaimed oil sands stands. We used stem analysis data collected from the Athabasca oil sands region in northern Alberta, Canada, and climate data generated by the ClimateWNA model. Height–age trajectories differed between top height trees in natural and reclaimed stands for jack pine and white spruce, but not for trembling aspen. At a given age, white spruce top height trees were taller and jack pine top height trees were shorter in reclaimed stands than those in natural stands, suggesting that it is easier to achieve similar forest productivity for oil sands sites reclaimed with white spruce stands than for sites reclaimed with jack pine stands. The principal climate variables were growing season (May to September) precipitation averaged over the previous 10 years for trembling aspen and jack pine and summer (June to August) precipitation averaged over the previous 10 years for white spruce. These variables had positive effects on the height–age trajectories.


2020 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 546-557
Author(s):  
Ryan S. Lalonde ◽  
Bradley D. Pinno ◽  
M. Derek MacKenzie ◽  
Nicholas Utting

Managing fluid fine tailings (FFT) present a major cause of industrial and environmental concerns in oil sands surface mining production. A potential management solution is to dewater and cap the FFT solids for use in land reclamation. A 16 wk greenhouse study was conducted to assess whether FFT centrifuge cake with caps of various reclamation soil mixes (forest floor mineral mix, peat mineral mix, and a mixture of both) and depths (0, 5, 10, and 20 cm) would support growth of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides — native broadleaf tree) and beaked willow (Salix bebbiana — native broadleaf shrub). Beaked willow had a much greater survival rate (100%) when grown directly in FFT cake compared with trembling aspen (16.7%). Plants grown directly in FFT cake were negatively impacted by high water content, low nitrate supply rates, and high metal concentrations with beaked willow seedlings having 10 times higher foliar concentrations of Al, Cr, and Ti compared with any other treatments. Adding soil caps substantially increased aboveground biomass for both species, but differences among soil cap types and depths did not have as significant of an effect on plant growth. Results from this study show that capping FFT substantially improves woody plant growth, and S. bebbiana and P. tremuloides are potentially suitable species for tailings reclamation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Corrie Grosse

From 2011 to 2014 fossil fuel corporations trucked tar sands processing machinery along rural Idaho highways. The machinery was bound for the world's largest deposits of tar or oil sands, a heavy crude oil substance called bitumen, located in the western Canadian province of Alberta. These loads of machinery, what became known as megaloads, encountered much resistance. Throughout Idaho and the surrounding region, a network organized opposition. Neighbors, grassroots organizations, nonprofits, and the Nez Perce and other tribes all collaborated. They held information sessions, protested, waged legal battles, monitored the loads, and blockaded highways. What oil companies hoped would be a cost-effective solution for transporting their megaloads became a David versus Goliath, Coyote versus the Monster—to reference the Nez Perce creation story—struggle to protect rural and indigenous ways of life and sovereignty, and the planet.


CIM Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Goris Cervantes ◽  
S. P. Upadhyay ◽  
H. Askari-Nasab

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