Reclamation and Remediation
Role of Biologists in this Practice Area
When human activities make an impact on natural landscapes, reclamation and remediation are fundamental to the goal of restoring the land as a functioning unit within the ecosystem. The process involves remediation of the soils, water and air to remove contaminates detrimental to the ecosystem, followed by reclamation of the surface to return the land to its original – or an equivalent – land use. Successful reclamation and remediation requires Professional Biologists, working closely with colleagues in other disciplines, to restore human impacted sites so they no longer pose a risk to the life of all living organisms.
Steering Committee
TBD
Contact
Steering Committee Chair Elvie Reinson
Practice Area Function & Goals
- Developing reclamation plans to restore the land back to equivalent land capacity, including re-vegetation and ecosystem trajectory, through detailed site assessment
- Assessing migratory pathways and receptors for many anthropogenic impacts in evaluated criteria usage
- Assessing how ecological receptors are, or will be, influenced by contamination in various media and how that contamination will influence future ecological function
- Developing bioremediation and/or phytoremediation and/or many other remediation options used to remediate contaminated soils and groundwater
- Developing risk management plans and assessments which determine the risk of anthropogenic chemicals to biological receptors such as fish and wildlife
- Determining if, indeed, a site has been reclaimed back to original, or equivalent, capacity within the context of a healthy ecosystem