Wetland Inventory of Permanently Reclaimed Sites at Suncor Oil Sands Base Plant

Suncor has permanently reclaimed over 2000 ha to date, with approximately 48 ha classified as wetlands. Aerial photos suggested additional opportunistic wetlands have established in Suncor’s permanently reclaimed sites. This project updated Suncor’s base plant reclaimed wetland inventory by reassessing boundaries of permanently reclaimed wetlands and identifying, classifying, and delineating wetlands that have developed opportunistically on permanently reclaimed sites. Phase 1 of this project consisted of aerial photo interpretation/remote sensing analysis and Phase 2 involved field-level verification and comparison to results from the first phase, resulting in an updated inventory of reclaimed wetland area.

Phase 1 resulted in delineation of 673 wetlands, which were assigned 3 wetland types: marsh (90), shallow open water (300), and intermittent wetland (283). Most were assigned to the category “semi-permanent’. An additional 41.56 ha were added to the 48 ha classified previously. Phase 2 field verification found Phase 1 was effective for predicting wetland existence but not extent: it underestimated wetland area by 16 to 78%. 35% of the 673 wetlands were visited, leading to a total estimate of 210 ha of opportunistic wetlands. Overall, this study found that wetlands comprise 15-20% of the total reclaimed landscape. Most appear permanent and persistent, but function and sustainability of these ecosystems is uncertain; more work is needed.