Alberta
Wetlands spontaneously forming in oil sands region’s reclaimed boreal forest
Suncor Energy employees monitoring wetlands in the oil sands in northern Alberta. Photo courtesy Suncor Energy
From the Canadian Energy Centre
By Will GibsonWetlands and peatlands are a crucial part of the boreal forest’s ecosystem
A zoologist by training, Jan Ciborowski has spent more than three decades wading through wetlands in the Great Lakes and northeastern Alberta. During that time, he has come to appreciate how nature can change the best laid plans of even the smartest scientists and engineers.
Ciborowski and a team of undergraduate and graduate students are now studying a recently documented phenomenon that highlights nature’s guiding hand: spontaneous wetlands forming in reclaimed areas in the oil sands.
These so-called “opportunistic wetlands” began developing on oil sands sites reclaimed and planted to become forests decades ago at Suncor Energy’s Base Mine and Syncrude’s Mildred Lake Mine north of Fort McMurray.
“Up to 18 per cent of the reclaimed area expected to become forests have seen wetlands spontaneously forming. We are investigating whether they are likely to persist and forecast whether they will be able to sustain themselves,” says Ciborowski, who has held the NSERC/COSIA Industrial Research Chair in Oilsands Wetlands Reclamation at the University of Calgary’s Department of Biological Sciences since 2019.
“We can make forecasts about what will develop over hundreds of years when you reclaim an area but it’s not in our hands. Nature makes those decisions.”
Wetlands and peatlands are a crucial part of the boreal forest’s ecosystem, serving as vital habitat to hundreds of species of wildlife, including waterfowl, songbirds, and mammals such as beaver and moose. They act like sponges, absorbing precipitation and run-off that prevents flooding, and providing water during dry periods to the surrounding upland forests. Peatlands also serve as sinks to store carbon.
Because oil sands companies are legally committed to reclaim their leases to a status equivalent to prior to disturbance, they benefit from wetlands on their reclaimed sites.
The two oldest mining operations — Suncor’s Base Mine and Syncrude’s Mildred Lake Mine — have constructed man-made wetlands on reclaimed sites, where the companies have conducted research.
This is why the presence of opportunistic wetlands, which have been forming on their own, have created a great deal of interest within the industry.
Ciborowski’s team is studying 120 wetlands in the region ranging from two to 40 years of age. Half are on reclaimed oil sands sites and the other half are not.
“These are all very young compared to mature peatlands that have taken hundreds of years to develop. We are monitoring water quantity, water quality, landscape disturbance, and the colonizing plants and animals to understand how conditions develop and to forecast wetlands’ succession,” he says.
Outside of the oil sands, opportunistic wetlands can form when water balances change after forest fires consume the trees, or when beaver activity causes ponds to start forming.
“These can be our frame of reference for comparison with the wetlands forming on reclaimed landscapes. The real challenge is being able to understand whether those wetlands will remain when the trees grow to maturity,” he says.
While it is hard to forecast the future for opportunistic wetlands, Ciborowski has seen how early studies have influenced the science of reclamation and practices within the industry.
“What’s exciting about our work is we’ve gathered experts in a number of different disciplines — hydrology, geosciences, plant ecology, aquatic ecology to name a few — to work together on reclamation science. My belief in research is that collaboration is crucial. One can’t expect to find the necessary breadth of expertise to do it in a single lab.”
News release from the Province of Alberta
The Alberta Sheriffs have shut down a problem property where suspected drug activity threatened nearby playgrounds and other community spaces.
The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) unit of the Alberta Sheriffs obtained a court order against the property owner of 5222 42 Street. The property will be closed for 90 days, beginning on Oct. 7 at noon. All individuals must vacate the premises, including the property owner.
The community safety order, obtained in the Court of King’s Bench, bars all people from the property until the closure period ends on Jan. 5, 2026, and prohibits certain individuals from accessing the property altogether, while the order is in place. The property will be boarded up, fenced and all the locks will be changed. SCAN members will continue to monitor the property for activity while their investigation remains ongoing. Community safety order conditions remain in effect until Jan. 5, 2028.
“SCAN now adds Olds to the long and growing list of Alberta communities that have benefited from its diligent investigative work. My thanks to members of the southern SCAN unit and the RCMP for the closure of another disruptive problem property that posed a risk to nearby playgrounds and the surrounding community and threatened public safety. Criminal activity has no home in our province. I encourage all Albertans to report suspicious activity where and when they see it.”
“Close collaboration with local police was essential for a successful investigation of this property and I thank the Olds RCMP for its partnership on this file. Residents are relieved to see this property close, putting an end to the illegal activities centred around it. Here and across Alberta, SCAN is dedicated to maintaining the peace and safety of neighbourhoods and communities.”
“Olds RCMP remains fully committed to building safer communities by working in partnership with our community as well as through investigative and enforcement efforts to achieve this goal. Olds RCMP would like to thank the Olds RCMP crime reduction member on conducting an excellent investigation and the Alberta Sheriffs SCAN unit for its assistance during this project.”
The Alberta Sheriffs work with other law enforcement agencies to shut down properties being used for illegal activities. The SCAN unit operates under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, which uses legal sanctions and court orders to hold owners accountable for illegal activity happening on their property.
Since its inception in 2008, Alberta’s SCAN unit has investigated more than 10,000 properties and has issued more than 135 community safety orders. Most complaints are resolved by working with owners to stop the illegal activity on their property.
Quick facts
- Between February 2022 and May 2025, the RCMP attended the property 65 times for various types of calls for service.
- The RCMP executed three search warrants between January 2024 and April 2025, during which stolen property, illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia were recovered.
- SCAN investigators and the RCMP continued to receive complaints of suspected drug and criminal activities at the property throughout the course of their investigation and observed activity consistent with drug dealing.
From the Canadian Energy Centre
Heartland leaders welcome proposed new natural gas connector
As a lifelong farmer, entrepreneur and community leader, Alanna Hnatiw knows first-hand the crucial role energy plays in a strong and diverse economy.
The mayor of Sturgeon County, a sprawling rural municipality northeast of Edmonton, Hnatiw has spent much of the last decade working to protect its agricultural roots while building new industries that support the jobs and services families and businesses rely on every day.
Hnatiw says there is widespread appreciation among the county’s 20,000 residents for the opportunities afforded by the province’s oil and gas resources. That’s why she joined other leaders in Alberta’s Industrial Heartland region to applaud a major new natural gas pipeline planned for the area.
“Natural gas is an integral to all the industrial operations in Sturgeon County and the surrounding area. It goes beyond just burning it to turn turbines, it is the feedstock for all kinds of value-added processing. From fertilizer and plastics to petrochemicals and hydrogen, natural gas is the lynchpin for us into the future,” she said.
Filling growing demand
Hnatiw is one of more than a dozen community and industry leaders who sent letters of support to the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) last year endorsing ATCO Energy Systems’ proposed Yellowhead Pipeline project.
The project achieved a significant milestone in August when the AUC approved ATCO’s application determining the pipeline is needed.
The largest infrastructure investment in the company’s history, the 230-kilometre pipeline from Peers to Fort Saskatchewan will transport more than 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day when operational in late 2027.
For context, Alberta produced about 11 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas in 2024, according to the Alberta Energy Regulator.
Proposed route map of the Yellowhead Pipeline. Map courtesy ATCO
The Yellowhead Pipeline will boost deliveries to the greater Edmonton area as demand continues to grow for power generation, manufacturing, petrochemical processing and residential use.
Industrial customers have reserved 90 per cent of the pipeline’s capacity to meet their future needs.
This includes Dow Chemical, which plans to build an $8.9-billion net-zero ethylene processing facility in Fort Saskatchewan, Heidelberg Materials’ Edmonton facility that aims to be the world’s first full-scale cement plant equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS), and McCain Foods, which requires more natural gas for a planned expansion of its French fry factory in Coaldale.
Prosperity driver
Edmonton Global CEO Malcolm Bruce described the Yellowhead Pipeline as a “visionary” infrastructure project in his letter of support to the AUC.
“The [project] will create jobs, enable billions in new investment and drive Alberta’s hydrogen roadmap and natural gas vision and strategy.”
ATCO’s projections show the pipeline will generate substantial economic benefits. The company estimates that during construction, it will support 12,000 jobs and contribute $1.6 billion per year to Alberta’s economy.
Once in operation, the pipeline is expected to support 23,700 jobs per year and add $3.9 billion annually to Alberta’s GDP.
For Sturgeon County, the project also provides much-needed certainty that natural gas will be available for the $30 billion in new industrial investments the region is hoping to attract in the coming years.
Future plans
The municipality is already home to major operations including the NWR Sturgeon Refinery and Nutrien fertilizer plant, both of which capture carbon dioxide emissions that are transported through the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line for deep underground storage near Clive, Alberta.
Hnatiw said future development may include hydrogen production with CCS, petrochemical processing, gas-fired power plants and large-scale data centres.
“With our operations running near capacity right now, this new pipeline helps alleviate the uncertainty around gas supplies for industrial developers,” Hnatiw said.
The county’s industrial goals are inextricably tied to ensuring its farming sector continues to flourish, she said.
“Eighty per cent of our land base is agricultural, but it only accounts for one per cent of our budget as far as taxes go, so we need our industrial residents to support our rural way of life,” she said.
“We don’t want people to have to leave our community to make a living. We want a future that is full of opportunity, and one that is also sustainable for the families that produce our food, our fuel, and all the other value-added products we can provide.”
ATCO’s next step is to file for AUC approval to build the pipeline later this year. The company expects construction to begin in 2026.
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