Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The paucity of research on the rehabilitation of upland and wetland habitats in subarctic and high boreal biomes impedes efforts to develop suitable rehabilitation protocols for severely disturbed environments. This is especially true for the Hudson Bay Lowland. This research proposal has four specific objectives to begin to fill this void at the De Beers' Victor Mine within the Hudson Bay Lowland: 1) ) to test whether peatland rehabilitation techniques developed for mined peatlands in northern temperate and southern boreal peatlands are suitable in a subarctic context and to modify them as required; 2) ) to identify suitable plants for the rehabilitation of newly created upland areas through a functional inventory of local native plants; 3) ) to characterize existing upland areas as rehabilitation targets for newly created upland deposits; and 4) ) to develop soil amendment protocols for newly created upland areas to make them adequately fertile and erosion resistant to support local vegetation. This research will benefit De Beers Canada by determining protocols for the successful rehabilitation of disturbed upland and peatland habitats associated with the mining activities at Victor Mine. This proposed research will not only be applicable to the Victor Mine, but will be an invaluable knowledge base to restore severely disturbed terrestrial environments in Canada's north, in particular those associated with other mining operations. It will advance the field of ecological rehabilitation globally. At Laurentian University, this research will enhance its well known experience and expertise in the rehabilitation of degraded environments and its efforts to build knowledge on responsible mining in Canada and worldwide.