Name: Megan Schmidt
Twitter handle: @smilingmegs
Past experience: I finished a diploma in Land Reclamation at Olds College, AB in 2015 before transferring and completing my B.Sc. in Land Reclamation at the University of Alberta in 2019. At the UofA I worked as an undergraduate research assistant on greenhouse gas production in permafrost peatlands and thermokarst ponds and on disturbance ecohydrology of a central Alberta peatland complex. I wrote my undergraduate thesis on determining the developmental history of a permafrost peatland pond by macrofossil analysis.
Project title: Impacts of reclamation treatments on peatland seismic line greenhouse gas exchange
Project summary: Hundreds of thousands of kilometers of seismic lines have been cleared through the peatlands of Alberta for oil and gas exploration. Clearing of vegetation and compaction by heavy equipment creates long-lasting changes to soil, hydrology, and vegetation, in turn delaying recovery and leading to increased greenhouse gas production, most notably methane (CH4). In collaboration with the NAIT Boreal Research Institute and Mount Royal University we are investigating the efficiency of different mounding techniques at restoring ecological function and carbon uptake on the lines, with the aim of creating reclamation guidelines for industry.