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She admits that restoring habitat involves considerable trial and error as different techniques are applied, assessed and tested. “There’s no recipe book for this because it hasn’t been done before. It’s the first for industry. But if we are going to build this, the best chance of success is by working collaboratively.”

Performance indicators are integral to the process, she adds. “After 10, 20 or 50 years, we have to know if we are on the right path and determine if the biological or biophysical properties will make us confident it will be self-sustaining. We don’t really know today. What we do know is there is a lot of really good science coming out of this.”

As manager of environment and regulatory for Fort McKay First Nation, Dan Stuckless, says his community has witnessed many years of reclamation projects. For Aboriginal communities, the concern has always been over putting the land back in a way that is going to support the same level of use and enjoyment for community members.

It remains to be seen if the land will be clean enough or the ecosystems will function the way they’re supposed to without supervision, he says. “It’s really too early to see if biodiversity will resume. It’s not easy to mesh ecosystems. And some areas will be tougher to reclaim than others. Some of the questions will take decades to answer.”

While he believes no one is quite there yet, pooling talent and resources to get more bang for the buck shows promise. “Having more people involved in that kind of work and developing best practices could be positive – as long as they’re productive. I know they are spending an awful lot of money, time and brain power to improve practices in the region.”