As a person deeply involved in Syncrude’s land reclamation efforts, Clara Qualizza knows you can’t fool Mother Nature, but you can learn from her. Accordingly, Clara and her colleagues have embarked on a major research initiative to track and understand the complex interactions between and within climate and the components of our reconstructed landscapes - things that ultimately determine reclamation success.

Says Clara, "Syncrude has a vision of what we’d like our reclaimed landscapes to look like, and to achieve it, we are working to understand the fundamentals of ecosystem performance through the research watersheds we have established on several of our reconstructed landforms."

Clara explains that watersheds are one of nature’s building blocks. Understanding how they evolve will help Syncrude reconstruct a sustainable boreal forest ecosystem on land that was once used for oil sands mining. Says Clara, "This type of research goes well beyond typical reclamation science, which aims to understand how well a plant grows in a certain soil; it allows us to learn the story of the entire ecosystem and gain valuable design information for the future."

When it comes to achieving our reclamation vision, Clara believes that discovering nature’s way is the best way of all.