Monitoring Site Reclamation

Tracking the Return of Vegetation at Oil, Gas, and Mine Sites

After oil and gas, and mining companies stop activities at their sites, they must restore those sites back to the state the land was in before they started working there; this is called site reclamation. We monitor reclamation performance at those sites by analyzing satellite imagery for vegetation recovery trends. To assess these changes, we classify land cover into 11 classes, such as mixed forest, wetland, and exposed/barren land. Site reclamation is required and monitoring this process helps the Alberta Energy Regulator determine if companies comply with the regulations and when they can receive the certificate for successfully reclaiming a site.

 

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