The Kichwa Añangu Community lives in Ecuador's Yasuní National Park. As a community, they have chosen to dedicate their livelihood to community-owned tourism, or what is commonly called turismo comunitario in Ecuador. Tourism brings multiple, ongoing challenges to the Añangu Community. Shifting market demands, growing regional and transnational competition, and large-scale climate events each present ongoing vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the Añangu do not own rights to the petroleum reserves quietly resting under their land. Nonetheless, they persist in their tourism project and have become recognized as a model for community-owned tourism in Ecuador. In part, this thesis seeks to explore why the Añangu Community has chosen to not only pursue, but expand their involvement in community-owned tourism. This research will demonstrate that tourism is locally embraced as a vehicle for livelihood wellbeing, environmental stewardship, and cultural reclamation. The key question then becomes, why is the Añangu Community’s tourism project successful? Here, I argue that through community agency and governance, the Añangu Community is able to practice economic, environmental, and cultural self-determination via their local control of the tourism project.

Vegetation establishment on mine wastes is ultimately limited by the edaphic properties of the wastes. This thesis examines, characterizes and interprets the physical properties of some southern British Columbia mine wastes:- to elucidate the feasibility of various reclamation procedures. Vaste areas, including both mill tailings, rock dumps and adjacent natural soils are characterized. The project primarily addresses three areas in British Columbia affected by sulfide mining activities; the Princeton area, the Highland Valley area and the Kimberley area. Waste materials examined were derived from the Similkameen, Copper Mountain, Lornex, Bethlehem and Sullivan mines. Minor examination of the now revegetated Jersey Mine tailings located near Salmo, B.C. was also included. Field work involved mapping waste materials and natural soils and then systematically sampling the various units delineated. Laboratory methods were employed to define and compare the properties of samples collected. Limited water storage capacity was found to be a major problem in waste rock dump material. Mill tailings were found to have acceptable available water storage capacities. Some mill tailings may have aeration porosity deficiencies when wet. Cation exchange capacities, while usually adequate in waste rock dump materials, are sometimes very low in mill tailings; a factor that will present serious fertility problems in revegetation. Some adjacent coarse coniferous forest soils were found to have similar properties to waste rock dump material while some adjacent grass dominated soils were found to have similar properties to the mine tailings. Waste rock dump material appears best suited to eventual revegetation by aborescent species, while mill tailings appear best suited to eventual revegetation by grass or forb species. Soil processes were found to be both active and rapid in both types of waste material. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

Anthropogenic disturbances are increasing in arid lands, as are expectations to successfully minimize impacts to natural resources and reclaim sites to publicly acceptable levels. This research explores the effectiveness of reclamation practices on a 60 mile natural gas pipeline constructed in September of 2014 that spans from west of Tucson to the border of Mexico. First, a controlled field experiment was conducted to assess the effects of seeding, grazing, and trampling (vehicular, cattle, and human foot traffic) on the reclaimed pipeline Right-Of-Way (ROW). Vegetation establishment (native plant cover; undesirable plant cover; species richness; herbaceous biomass), soil movement, and plant functional group community development was compared among the treatments. Reclaimed ROW areas left to recover without seeding resulted in similar vegetation cover, species, and community composition as undisturbed desert areas, although the presence of undesirable species was greater. The combined impacts of grazing and trampling resulted in reduced vegetation establishment and increased soil erosion. Second, the impacts of the pipeline construction on ephemeral wash channels were analyzed in terms of channel morphology and riparian vegetation changes. Channel cross section dimensions were measured upstream of the ROW, downstream of the ROW, and within the ROW before and after the 2015 Monsoon season to evaluate impacts on channel morphology and erosion processes. High resolution aerial imagery taken before and after pipeline construction was used to evaluate changes in riparian vegetation cover. Reduced herbaceous vegetation cover downstream of the ROW was detected, which may have been the result of increased channel scour within the ROW and increased sediment deposition downstream of the ROW. This research improves our understanding of and may aid in selection of appropriate reclamation practices.

Three Bureau of Reclamation projects, which represent a broad cross-section of the eleven total in Utah, are studied in order to shed light on the value of the invested resources to U.S. taxpayers, the people of Utah, and the local farmers. The bureau's nonmultiple-purpose projects in Utah are termed "supplemental" as opposed to "full-service" because some amount of irrigation was already in place. Recent findings from field trials of yield vs. evapotranspiration for major crops grown in the Western states were employed to assess the annual productive value of existing river water rights had the three projects not been built. Annual estimates of crop values or revenues for each project were obtained from Bureau of Reclamation publications. However, an allowance for annual crop production costs is needed in order to arrive at annual project net incomes (net benefit streams). Cost per acre data were obtained from published intermittent farm studies and reports of farm budgets beginning as early as 1910. This information was then converted to a series of trends in annual production costs by linking to reported indices of farm prices paid as reported by the USDA for the past 80 years. Projects are arbitrarily judged to be "economically efficient" if the estimated internal rate of return at least exceeds borrowing cost to the U.S. Treasury at the time that each project was built, e.g., from 3.5 to 4.5 percent. Only the Strawberry project results suggest that the borrowing rate was exceeded. The Newton project has realized a slight positive return of less than 1 percent, and the Hyrum project has realized negative returns. Thus, the economic results of the bureau's irrigation program in the state have been mixed. Claims of great benefits from water development are not substantiated by the study results. The only unambiguous beneficiaries are farmers whose included lands had very poor or no water rights prior to project construction.

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No description available.

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Extraction and production of viscous petroleum or bitumen in Alberta, Canada has rapidly developed in the last 30 years, and in 2022 the average daily production was nearly 4 million barrels/day. As a result of the increased global demand of crude oil and technical improvements in the extraction process of surface mining and in situ technologies, this daily output of crude oil is expected to increase further. Surface mining operations are required to invest and implement long-term reclamation strategies in order to properly reduce/manage the large volumes of oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) and tailings and convert the surrounding mining area into an environment similar to its initial state. Commissioned in late 2012 within Syncrude’s Mildred Lake mining site is Base Mine Lake (BML), the first full-scale demonstration of Water Capped Tailings Technology. This aquatic reclamation environment serves as the first of many oil sands pit lakes proposed in the surrounding region, therefore, it is crucial that a comprehensive assembly of scientific pursuits are incorporated into the monitoring and research programs of BML. The presence of petroleum-associated organic compounds, such as Hydrocarbons and Naphthenic acid Fraction compounds (NAFC), remains a top priority for evaluating how BML meets surface water guidelines, but also plays a larger role in the scientific understanding of how biogeochemical and physical processes can impact the environmental fate and transport of these organic compounds in future oil sand pit lakes. This master’s dissertation is focused on the use of ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry to determine the molecular profile of NAFCs extracted from BML in 2019. In this thesis, electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FT ICR MS) was used to investigate: i) how particular experimental variables impact the qualitative measurements of oil sand NAFCs, and ii) the spatial variability of NAFCs within the BML water cap and FFT with the aim of providing novel insights to key biogeochemical processes and potential transport mechanisms for continued NAFC inputs in the water column. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Symbiotic interactions among various organisms are often necessary for one or both individual's survival. These symbiotic relationships must be considered in restoration projects to allow for the successful establishment of the species. Rhizobia are nitrogen-fixing bacteria found in symbiotic relations with legumes. By utilizing this relationship, restoration practitioners can establish native legume species more successfully while repopulating soil microorganisms into degraded soils. Despite the potential benefits a rhizobium inoculant can have on restoration efforts, minimal research has been done to understand the impacts this treatment has on specific species and the systems they are employed within. Our research goal was to assess the efficacy of applying a commercial rhizobium product (EXCEED ®) and indigenous rhizobium strains on two lupine species (Lupinus argenteus Pursh and Lupinus sericeus Pursh), commonly used for rangeland seedings in the Great Basin region of the western United States. We conducted laboratory and field trials to meet this research goal, with the results of the laboratory experiments shared in chapter 1 and findings from the field reported in chapter 2. In chapter 1, we evaluated in the laboratory whether indigenous rhizobia strains could be isolated, cultured, and applied as a liquid inoculant or a seed coating to induce root nodulation and increase plant growth. The performance of these inoculums was compared against the commercial rhizobium product. Additionally, we tested in a trial if compost could be applied within the seed coating to improve the efficacy of the rhizobium treatment. Our research demonstrated that the commercial inoculum induced root nodulation, and in one of three trials, this treatment improved plant growth. We also found indigenous strains effectively formed nodules on the plant roots when applied through a liquid culture or a seed coating. However, the number of root nodules and the presence of a pink color (indicating nitrogen fixation) were typically higher in the commercial product than in the indigenous strains when applied through a seed coating. These short-term laboratory studies generally provided minimal evidence that rhizobia impacted plant growth. However, data indicated that having compost in the coating alone improved shoot biomass by 33% (P = 0.025). In chapter 2, research assessed the performance of the same rhizobia inoculums tested in the laboratory trials on a mine in northern Utah at two waste-rock sites, one comprised of crushed waste rock and the other made of waste rock amended with topsoil. One year after seeding, we had high plant recruitment at both study sites, and there were more plants, which were more vigorous, in the amended site (P<0.001). These results demonstrate that reclamation efforts on mineland overburden can be improved when topsoil is incorporated into the growing medium. At this stage in the study, there was no difference in plant establishment and vigor between any seed treatments, but future research is planned to assess these metrics in the next growing season. The lack of improvement in plant growth from a rhizobia treatment in some of our laboratory and field trials may be due to the short period of these studies. Nodules that form on mature root systems provide more nitrogen-fixing benefits than those formed on immature roots. Hence, future research should consider conducting trials for more extended periods to understand how the treatments influence the growth of mature plants. Because we found in the laboratory that the rhizobia inoculums were successful in nodulating the test species, we anticipate that future studies will find that these treatments can improve plant performance and subsequently restoration success.

Bitumen extraction in the Athabasca oil sands causes significant disturbance of landscapes originally rich in wetland and forest ecosystems, which now require reclamation as mandated by the Alberta Government. However, most research to date has focused on upland-forest ecosystems with little attention on wetland-peatland ecosystems, which are considered more challenging to construct due to salinization potential from ubiquitous salts used in the oil sands extraction and treatment processes; with particular focus on elevated Na+ due to its detrimental ecological effects. Syncrude Canada Ltd. (SCL) has constructed an upland-wetland system, the Sandhill Fen Watershed (SFW), to advance the understanding of wetland reclamation in the oil-sands region. The SFW is a highly engineered and managed system. Water is supplied from an artificial fresh water source and drainage is enhanced through a constructed surface outlet and an under-drain system intended to provide a downward hydraulic gradient to inhibit the upward movement of salts from the underlying waste material. The objective of this research is to understand the hydrochemical response of the SFW to variations in hydrological management with respect to sources, flow pathways and major chemical transformations of water as it moves throughout SFW. Through surface and pore water sampling, the electrical conductivity and major ions were measured throughout the growing season of 2013 and 2014. Results indicate that the combination of freshwater inflow, flushing of the system with the outflow pump and open underdrains in 2013 kept the overall salinity within the SFW relatively low, with most lowland sites under 1000 µS/cm. Major ion results indicate that most water throughout the SFW classified as Ca-HCO3 or Ca-SO4 in 2013, with higher concentrations in the uplands however Na+ concentrations did not exceed 250 mg/L at any sampling sites. With minimal management in 2014 and consequent limited freshwater input and flushing of the system, the overall salinity of the SFW increased considerably and EC at most sites in lowlands exceeded 1000 µS/cm. Na+, Ca+2, SO4-2 and HCO3- concentrations increased across the SFW, with higher concentrations in the uplands than the lowlands. Although most sites classified as Ca-SO4, the most notable change in 2014 was the presence of several Na+ “hotspots” along the southern hummocks in the SFW, where water samples classified as Na-SO4 and Na+ concentrations reached as high as 886 mg/L. Results provides evidence of modelled upward movement of Na+ from underlying waste materials and subsequent seepage from hummocks with limited pump management in the SFW. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)